We are simply delighted to welcome Cat Croxford to the Artists Appreciation Initiative.
Cat’s artworks, like herself, have a vivacity to them, a sparkle, a ‘joie de vivre’ that invites you in to play, and then when you have entered the space become enveloped in a reassuring warmth of certainty.
Cat was born into an artistic family, and somehow that seems obvious when you look at one of her works. You would simply have to have a paint brush or a felt tip in hand from an early age, to be that deft at mark making, to be so comfortable with scale and proportion, and to have the ability to set a scene and begin a story for the viewer to engage with so immediately. It’s almost like the translation of scene is the natural extension of self for Cat. Her woodscapes are joyful places to escape into – quiet sanctuaries that invite safe and carefree passage. Once you enter one of her woodland scenes, feel the warm embrace of an ancient English Wood, and feel time stand still.
Cat says of her childhood, ‘Growing up surrounded by the beautiful English countryside, play and adventure always involved going into ‘the woods’, ancient woods with natural hideouts, dark places, kingdoms and fairylands; all places with an ambiguous sense of time.’
Of her adult artistic expression she explains, ‘My artistic practice had started as a portraitist, together with teaching art at my family’s studio. Then about 5 years ago, a life changing event caused me to evaluate my subject matter and I began to explore what had always made me happy as a child. The woods still held the same allure, but with the perspective of an adult, discovering memories, capturing moments, with a better understanding of the complex network of trees and fungus that create a living breathing time-rich space. With each season the stories change as the light and colours evolve and we witness nature moving through its eternal circle.
All of my paintings are inspired by real places in and around the South of England, I wander through the woods taking photos and absorbing the smells and sounds. Then back at my studio I paint the story, the place, starting with a black canvas over which I layer acrylic, slowing building contrasts, shapes and light with distinctive brushmarks. With this technique the experience of the painting changes as you move closer to the surface of the canvas and back out again, akin to zooming into a pixelated image, creating further compositions within the construction of marks. My ambition and
reward is to create art to stimulate sensations and memories.
Congratulations Cat, you are doing just that, and what a gift you bring with meeting your ambition. We are simply delighted to welcome you on board, and look forward to the inspired time ahead.
