About Cathy Read
Early Life and Inspiration
Career Beginnings
Artistic Development
Since making this life-changing decision, Cathy has dedicated herself to her artistic career, learning and evolving along the way. Her distinctive style, originally centred around circle-based abstracts, developed into colourful urban landscapes. This change was driven by her lifelong fascination with architecture and memories of the towering cotton mills in her hometown of Middleton.
Exhibitions and Recognition
Personal Life and Studio
Cathy lives in a converted chapel near Buckingham with her husband, close enough to London to get urban architecture inspiration whenever she wants. She can usually be found splattering paint and singing enthusiastically in her Milton Keynes studio, or steering a canal boat along the British waterways, wielding a windlass.
Cathy’s Artistic Approach
Through her art, Cathy captures the atmosphere of the city. She believes every building has a story to tell and invites viewers to open their imaginations. Cathy’s unique perspective on the urban landscape brings these scenes to life in her paintings. By fusing structured masking with expressive paintwork, the familiar city is envisioned in a myriad ways.
From groundbreaking designs of cutting edge architecture to the decaying remnants of a glorious past, Cathy reflects the city in all its glory through her watercolour and acrylic ink paintings. Drawing with masking fluid and using vibrant colours, she conveys the mundane and ordinary beside the glorious and spectacular.
Unique Perspectives
Cathy looks for perspectives that capture a childlike sense of wonder at looming buildings, which tower overhead, and a fascination with everyday features that we take for granted, such as drains, keyholes and railings. Her figures, when present, merge with the built environment they inhabit, becoming a permanent feature that remains long after the people have moved on. Like ghosts or spirits, their essence is captured and kept alive in a vibrant landscape, forever an anonymous part of the narrative of that day.
Commissions and Contact
Cathy creates original paintings and accepts commissions for bespoke artwork.
Visit the Office Art and Commissions page for more information. For an informal discussion about your requirements, contact Cathy on +44 (0) 7818240116 or [email protected].
