Personal Space: Belle Print

“Catherine is an artist who reaches beneath the obvious. In doing so she creates more than just a painting. Whole other identities or personas are captured in her work.” Catherine lives with her three teenage children in her hometown of Kendal and works from her studio there. Her art work draws inspiration from the people around her, especially her close connection to her family and friends, within the genre of portraiture. Catherine is particularly interested in studying what makes a portrait a true reflection of ourselves and how people create masks and guises in different situations. Whether that be what we choose to wear in a sitting, physical masks like face paintings, or studying interactions in group portraits. She has twice been selected for the prestigious BP Portrait Award, 2001 and 2002, and her work is included in the first 500 Portraits, a book by the National Portrait Gallery, 2011. Catherine appeared in Sky Portrait Artist of the Year three times, getting to the semi-finals in 2019. Catherine has won various awards including the Pegasus Art Prize in Artist and Illustrators Artist of the Year 2017, second prize in the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in 2016 and the Morison Watercolour Prize in 2020, as well as first prize in the Brewery Open 2002. Catherine was elected a member of the prestigious Lakes Artists Society in 2014 and exhibits regularly in their summer exhibition in Grasmere. She is also a founder member of Green Door Artists in Kendal and South Lakes. Catherine teaches a variety of art courses at the acclaimed Brewery Arts Centre in the town, and also works leading Art Holidays for HF Holidays and Higham Hall. She has also delivered one off workshops and demonstrations for Cowshed Creatives in Staveley, various secondary schools 6th forms, art societies and the Abbot Hall Museum and Art Gallery.