Catharine Davison’s landscape paintings were brought to my attention as a result of this year’s Lynn Painter Stainer’s Prize, which the artist won for her work ‘The Craggs at Dawn (from Calton Hill)’. The Jackson’s Art Blog wanted to find out more about Catharine Davison and how she found 2014.
The Painter Stainer Prize-winning painting is of a landscape from an elevated viewpoint looking across a city. The buildings are sometimes only suggested by outlines, sometimes more detailed, but almost all ghostly. The man made constructions are clearly placed over a brooding, majestic rural landscape, a big black hill jutting out at one side serves to remind us of nature’s power and the relative insignificance of man. Davison’s paintings often have no obvious focal point, and the result is that the eye dances around the composition , emphasising the chaos and claustrophobia of the urban world. Her colours are often earthy but always colourist, adding a poetic quality to the work. There is something about the work that is evocative of early Auerbach landscapes: paint applied in a loose manner that celebrates its materiality and intuitive mark making which indicates a real engagement with the subject.
Lisa: Does recognition for your work, such as winning this year’s Lynn Painter Stainers Prize, influence your studio practice?
Catharine: There is no question that winning the Lynn Painters Prize has given me great boost but this has not resulted in a relaxation of my ethos. I have always made work because of an innate personal need and I am by nature driven to work hard. Although I was receiving some recognition prior to the award, I am aware of a sense of expectation that did not exist before. ‘The Craggs at Dawn’ was a milestone painting in many ways- technically, scale and I remember having to leave it to one side for some weeks before I was able to resolve it. There are things I learned and will take forward and develop but my situation, my focus and intentions have also shifted and I would expect this be revealed in my work.
Lisa: What work have you been most pleased with in 2014?
Catharine: I am excited by some mono prints that I have begun to make at The Edinburgh Printmakers Studios. I received funding through an Edinburgh Visual Artists Award for professional development to be used in the production of a new body of work. As a ‘plein air’ painter I wanted to address the possibility of making work in a studio environment. I am by no means a fair weather painter but I had identified that my time could be used more effectively- I wanted to be able to make work irrespective of the weather. My attempts at studio painting have been disastrous. Initially I thought that I would focus on the etching process to reproduce drawings and paintings but through the mono printing process I have found a way to develop imagery that I hope will feed back into my painting. I have also been working with watercolours in the studio and after several horrible works on expensive Fabriano paper returned to my favourite locations and my fluency returned – see ‘From Calton Hill’. I had been nominated to become a member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and had to present 3 works to the AGM when members would vote and so now I am delighted to be an RSW. The watercolour is now on show beside the original painting ‘The Craggs at Dawn’ at The City Art Centre in Edinburgh in an exhibition Calton Hill: Site of Memory, until 18 January 2015.
Lisa: What has been your favourite exhibition this year?
Catharine: I went to see Matisse Cut-Outs at the Tate Modern in the summer. The simplicity of the cut out and its potential really appeals to me and I am finding myself thinking about Matisse as I make stencils for mono prints. I have also just been looking at Michael Raedecker, in particular the way he uses the stitched line to describe forms. His exhibition at Galerie Max Hetzler in Berlin was closing the day I discovered his work and I was so excited that if I could have got a flight to Berlin I would have gone.
Lisa: What have you learned this year?
Catharine: I realise that if I want to travel and make work that I need more time and less materials. In the summer I set off to London on a painting trip with a car stuffed full of materials that I would normally use. I used to live in Berkshire and so I do have knowledge of the geography and I felt I was able to anticipate some of the practical issues. After 2 weeks walking, carrying lots of materials and absorbing everything without a filter I became exhausted and frustrated. In the end I retreated out of the city and used my friends bicycle to explore the city along the Thames. I reduced my materials load carrying only a soft back A3 skechbook and a biro and began making simple linear drawings that are quite different in compositional terms from my Edinburgh work. Although I am using the drawings to inform my mono prints- I left London feeling that I had just started something.
Lisa: Did you face any creative struggles in 2014 and if so how did you overcome them?
Catharine: At the start of 2014 I bought a house with my boyfriend- artist Robbie Bushe – www.robbiebushe.co.uk. The house had a double garage and so it was our plan to convert this to a studio and this was completed in the Autumn. I found it all consuming and not making work doesn’t sit easily with me but I do recognise the value in taking time away. It is never easy getting back into work after a break but for me I go out drawing.
Lisa: What are you looking forward to in 2015?
Catharine: Settling down to a intense period of uninterrupted time making work. I have my second solo exhibition in May at The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh.
Lisa: What colour could you have not done without this year?
Catharine: Olive Green – a lovely transparent warm green that I mix with Lamp black for my underpainting. I use Robersons’ Glaze medium and buy transparent oil paints so that I can play with layers. If I want opaque colour then I just add white.
http://www.catharinedavison.co.uk/
1 thought on “Catharine Davison, winner of the Lynn Painter Stainer’s Prize 2014”
Wonderful painting. The oil works remind me of early Renaissance German painters. So inspiring. What a great talented painter.
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