"Katie" Painting

I am a portrait artist working primarily in watercolours from my Bath studio/gallery. Before 2006 I lived and worked in Singapore and Malaysia painting to commission & exhibition.

Contrary by nature, perhaps I am provoked into painting strong portraits in watercolours by the medium's apparent rarity within the genre. Watercolours have been pegged as a "medium of amateurs", can be seen as a sketching tool before the "proper" paint is applied or useful to "dash off" an impression of the great outdoors. I think/hope this may be changing.

Instead, my watercolours are applied in a controlled studio setting, utilising current technology and a range of methods, from carefully placed layers to a myriad of juxtaposed hues applied wet-in-wet.

I primarily paint portraits of people, interested in their power to create a strong, personal encounter with the viewer. I try to make the "created meeting" feel more real by directing a subject's gaze straight at the viewer. They communicate a feeling or thought which I hold onto while I paint.

My other interest is to communicate light in paint. My painting style developed over eleven years living in the strong tropical light of South East Asia. My subjects are often shown in a single source of one-directional light. Sometimes I use graphic software to push contrast and saturation further. In this way I can loose edges and increase colour content in shadows.

The mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian cultures in South East Asia infuse daily life with saturated colour. My time there influences my colour choice.

Despite watercolours apparently fragile nature, I am often amazed at their longevity, for instance the items on display at the Tate's 2011 Exhibition "Watercolour" were drawn from the preceding 800 years!

Prior to 2006, my detailed architectural paintings of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur formed a catalogue of historic shophouses and bungalows under threat of redevelopment. In the 1990s dust clouds billowed up from bulldozers ripping up whole blocks of urban Singapore. Thanks to a rising architectural conservation movement, many remaining buildings are now safe from demolition.