Catherine MacDiarmid won the Watercolour Award in the Jackson’s Painting Prize this year with her work Personal Space: Dancer. In this interview, she discusses a series of personal works, the unpredictability of watercolours, and the role that experimentation takes in her practice.
Above image: Experimental watercolours in progress in Catherine’s studio
Josephine: Could you tell us about your artistic background. How did you become an artist?
Catherine: I have drawn and painted for as long as I can remember, and before that my mum reminds me that I wasn’t interested in anything else. I went straight from school to a college Fine Art Foundation course, and from there to complete a Visual Arts degree in Leicester at De Montfort University. Afterwards, I was determined to give being an artist a go and continued to paint back in my hometown, Kendal. I quickly got involved with the local arts scene and arts centre. I helped set up affordable artists’ studios in Kendal, now called Green Door, which grew into a notable South Lakes collective of artists. I have quite a good work ethic; I used to often put in 12-hour days, working various jobs and then painting in my studio.
Now, I teach, face-paint, do portrait commissions, and try to paint for myself as much as possible. It’s never been easy, but I still have the passion and ideas for painting and drawing, it’s just finding the time to do it all. I keep as active as I can in the art world, applying for competitions like Jackson’s, and being an active member of Art Collectives, like The Lake Artists Society and The Contemporary British Portrait Painters (theCBPP).
Josephine: Personal Space: Dancer is a fantastically original use of watercolour, both in your composition and your treatment of light. Did you consider this an ambitious piece?
Catherine: This watercolour was a turning point in my painting. It was my first watercolour after a very long break from the medium. I’d been working on a series of drawings and oil paintings called Personal Space, inspired by the people around me – friends and close family predominantly – within social settings, parties, weddings etc. The group of work contains a lot of hidden narratives and records these situations the way I see or recall them. In hindsight they also exposed the awkwardness some family members felt in these very busy environments, which later I realised spoke to their sensory difficulties and feelings of isolation. To me they represented a memory, relationship, event, or even a feeling, making each piece very personal.
Personal Space: Dancer depicts my niece, lost and looking very overwhelmed by the sensory experiences she was having at the time on a dance floor. I loved the light, partly cast by the coloured spotlights, and partly by her light up pom-poms. The narrative connects to my personal observations of children in my family with hidden spectrum disabilities.
Josephine: What originally interested you about watercolours? Have you always worked in this medium?
Catherine: My love of watercolour was rekindled a few years ago in a quest to loosen up in oils. It was the first paint I ever used at school, but I was lured in by oils during my Degree years. Watercolour is, ironically, one of the most challenging paints to use. I am still surprised by watercolour after all these years as you cannot fully predict what it will do, which can be both a joy and a challenge.
The difficulty for me is making the painting look fluid, with interesting marks, whilst being in control of the image. It is such a vibrant medium that, if used whilst retaining the light of the paper shining through, can exude light in a way that oil can’t. It can be as much about where you don’t paint as where you do. This is what I love about watercolour.
Josephine: Can you explain your decision to break up the work into different sections of paper? Was this from a conceptual or practical standpoint?
Catherine: This was more of a practical decision, although developing a piece of art by fixing sections together can allow for a constructive and experimental approach, where areas can be changed and altered without affecting the whole. This adds to the out-of-place vibe that I felt my niece was experiencing at the time. It can also be less daunting working on small watercolour paintings. The separate sections meant I could keep the watercolour fresh and strong, working wet-into-wet. Most of the painting is constructed using only two layers of colour. I have since grown in confidence with watercolour and it is now one of my preferred mediums.
Josephine: Do you keep a sketchbook?
Catherine: A sketchbook is very important and is a real personal thing to me and not many people get to see them. I usually have several on the go at once, in different formats, big and small. I use them to explore compositions, sketch my kids, my cat, or anything that I fancy really. I take bigger sketchbooks into the life room and have several of those full of charcoal, pastel, watercolour, and graphite sketches. I will sometimes post images from them on my Instagram feed, but only a select few.
Josephine: Which historical or contemporary artists have influenced you the most?
Catherine: I particularly enjoy the art of Brendan Kelly, whose use of light from windows and lamps is very atmospheric. I admire Diarmuid Kelley for his dedication to working from life – it is not always easy nowadays to work exclusively from life, as everyone is so time-precious, and it can be costly to hire models. Jenny Saville is an astonishing talent whose work can be very challenging to the eye. It is her drawn layers that fascinate me. Also, her ability to capture expression and gesture with her marks is amazing. There always seems to be hidden angst in those bodies and faces.
Contemporary watercolour artists that I admire are Grayham Dean, Martha Zmpounou and Robert O’Brien. I love dark watercolour, anything that goes untraditional or against the norm. All these watercolourists show an experimental approach to the medium and a willingness to allow water to do its thing. As a schoolgirl I remember being transfixed by an old Ingres painting in the Louvre, La Bagnante Valpincon. My grandad had taken me to see the Mona Lisa, knowing my love of art. But we couldn’t get near, so we spent time just wandering where the crowds weren’t.
Josephine: Are there any specific materials you prefer to use, and why?
Catherine: My preferred surface for watercolour is a thick NOT paper. I have tried a variety of papers, most recently the Jacksons own brand watercolour blocks, and I really liked the 300gsm Rough in their range. My absolute favourite is Archers, but as this is the most expensive, I don’t use it loads. If I spend too much money on the paper then I get tentative when I paint on it. I am loving the W&N Artists quality watercolour tubes, and they tend to be the ones I stick with, but to be honest I haven’t tried many others. I squeeze them onto my own pan palette and as they reconstitute with water they never go to waste. I paint with a variety of ProArte synthetic soft flat brushes (1 ½”, 1” and 1/2”) and No.12 and 8 round sable brush which I think are a Seawhite brand, but I have had them so long the writing has worn off! I also have a new Jacksons own brand Sable Reservoir brush which I am enjoying for the pointed detail and linear marks it can produce.
For oil paints I prefer working on stretched fine linen surfaces using Michael Harding and W&N Artists oil paint ranges. Fine linen is such a smooth but not too absorbent surface for painting on. I dilute the paints with genuine turps for loose underpainting, and a turps and oil mixture as a medium in the later layers. I sometimes use Liquin with turps to speed up the drying times of glazes. For oil paint I love using filbert and flat brushes, as well as soft blending brushes to lift out and soften edges.
I also love willow charcoal as a drawing medium. It can be so delicate and wonderful to manipulate when using putty rubbers. I like smooth/medium cartridge paper for this, but to be honest I am still looking for my favourite paper. I have been trying Canson cartridge, but I seem to prefer drawing on the smooth side.
Josephine: What role does experimentation play in your work? Are there any experiments that have influenced your style or technique?
Catherine: Experimenting in your art is vital, and I try to dedicate some time to this. Otherwise, you can get caught up in a style that can become repetitive and boring. And being prepared to experiment can mean that your style changes, or, as I like to think of it, develops. When I started using watercolour my oil painting loosened up a bit, although I would like it to loosen up further still. The Blue Room is a more recent oil painting that has been influenced by my watercolours.
Experimenting can be as simple as trying a new medium, or working from life if you are used to working from secondary images. I love to go to the life room and work directly from models. The time limits mean I must work fast, and the concentrated atmosphere limits any distractions. I took watercolours into the life room for a term when I first started back with them. This was a fantastic challenge and taught me a lot about not overworking them. Working on a different scale is also a way I like to experiment. Going from working very small to very large. Although it is a little impractical to work too large nowadays, at least 1 metre square is a good large scale for me, and I’d love to try and work on some larger scale watercolours. That’s one for the future.
Josephine: How do you deal with artist’s block or moments of creative stagnation during the painting process?
Catherine: To be completely honest I have more painting thoughts than I have time to paint at the moment. I long for a time when I can be in my studio days on end, but with family, caring responsibilities, and the need to earn a living, I rarely get struck with a block when I do get into the studio. I do know that if I did get a block, I would work a bit on the many unfinished works I have on my studio walls. Those unfinished works are my blocks, but I just start something new. Or, I would grab the mirror and start a self-portrait. There are many options. I am currently working on a series of experimental watercolour portraits called Morph, where I am creating a vague surface in watercolour, and merging faces over the top. It is my way of exploring the limits of watercolour and ties in with my themes of masking who we really are.
Josephine: How was your experience taking part in Jackson’s Painting Prize’s first independent large-scale exhibition at Bankside Gallery?
Catherine: Open exhibitions and competitions play an essential part in my artistic career as they provide a platform to showcase my work – if accepted, that is. The Jacksons Painting Prize has grown in stature, its popularity in championing early career artists is immense, whatever their age. I have struggled to gain gallery representation and am always hopeful of being approached.
This is the second time I have got to the shortlist of the Jacksons Painting Prize. The first year was in 2019 with an oil painting, Behind the White Witch Paint. I sold this painting when the prize was shown in the Hampstead Affordable Art Fair. This year, having the opportunity to show an example of my work in two venues – the Art Fair and the Bankside Gallery – has given me, as well as other artists, the opportunity to be seen by a massive audience of buyers, and is invaluable. Not only that, but Jacksons are among few open competitions that plug away on their online platforms, championing their artists continuously.
Josephine: How do you know when a piece is finished?
Catherine: I don’t really know why or how I know a work is finished, but I usually know. I think it must be an instinct that most artists have. An aesthetic eye, or something of that nature. I have several unfinished pieces on my studio wall, and these can remain there for a long time. They are usually more of the experimental pieces. If something is not working, or I dislike it, I prime over it and put it away as a surface to work on at a future date. I have had one piece on my wall for about 4 years now that I like, but know it is not finished. It’ll come to me one day, when I have more time. I hope.
Further Reading
Oil Painting for Beginners: What You Need to Get Started
A Guide to Stretching Watercolour Paper
A Guide to Oil Painting Mediums
Art Terms Explained: Watercolour Painting
Shop Oil Painting on jacksonsart.com
Shop Watercolour on jacksonsart.com
Wonderful article.