I am a painter specialising in light-filled watercolours. My painting practice began in Singapore in 1996 when I went back to my love of portraiture and was asked to undertake commissions. After my return to the UK in 2006, I opened a studio/gallery in the World Heritage City of Bath, England and now paint daily to commission and exhibition from my hillside studio nearby.
Here is a short video explaining my painting practice:
I specialise in contemporary watercolours and have become absorbed in experimenting and exploiting pigment behaviours using a method I have termed “gravity painting”. These cascading techniques enable paints to mingle and run to create delicate veils of colour, as well as collide and interact to create chemical effects. I demonstrate and explain these techniques to art groups in workshops and demos and run my own intensive one day Bath Watercolour Workshops, as well as write articles for the Artist Magazine.
I am particularly drawn to larger-than-life sized head and shoulder portraits where there is space for cascading watercolours to flow and “sing”. By casting my subjects in strong lighting and controlling the way light falls. I love to work to commission to create intimate records of families and individuals.
My paintings hang in private collections worldwide, including the Singapore Presidential Palace and have been gifted to HRH Prince Edward by the British High Commission in Singapore. I have exhibited with the Royal Watercolour Society and Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour and I am a Member of the Society of Women Artists, exhibiting annually at the Society’s summer exhibition. You can find my exhibition archive here.
Links:
Society of Women Artists
44AD – gallery and studio space, Bath
Royal Society of Portrait Painters
Royal Watercolour Society
Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour
Imagianation Gallery, Bath
Widcombe Art Trail
Combe Down Art Trail
First View Gallery, National Trust Stourhead
Wilson and Fay
Copyright © 2020 catherine beale swa. All rights reserved.
