KATHY WATSON - NEW ZEALAND ARTIST
Welcome to my Studio!
Sketches Folio
Kathy worked as a nurse for many years before fulfilling a lifelong desire to go to art school. She has sketched and painted all her life, and after her children became independent, spent several amazing years at the Whitecliffe School of Art in Auckland completing a Diploma of Fine Art.
The family sailed a traditional kauri sloop on the Hauraki Gulf for some years, which gave her the opportunity to paint the beautiful island anchorages in all weathers, and the many features of life at sea.
The family sailed a traditional kauri sloop on the Hauraki Gulf for some years, which gave her the opportunity to paint the beautiful island anchorages in all weathers, and the many features of life at sea.
Marine Folio
For two decades her work mainly Marine and Narrative paintings (see below), was exhibited in Auckland galleries, including Art by the Sea and Art of this World galleries in Devonport, and the Studio of Contemporary Art, Newmarket. Highlights of those years were working as a resident artist at Lake House Arts Centre in Takapuna, and organising the Stars and Stripes gallery in Auckland's Viaduct Basin during the 2000 Americas Cup Regatta.
NZ Landscape and Gardens Folio
Kathy recently moved to the rural Waikato with her husband to live near family, built a new studio and began a new series, 'NZ Landscape and Gardens' depicting rural New Zealand's landscape and gardens, finding it a great way of becoming acclimatised.
'The wide open skies, the green pastures, trees - both native and exotic, mountains, rivers and lakes, together with isolated signs of habitation such as fence posts, farm houses with colourful gardens - and water tanks set high on a hill.
AND A HUGE SENSE OF SPACE AND FRESH AIR THAT MAKES IT ESSENTIALLY NEW ZEALAND.'
'The wide open skies, the green pastures, trees - both native and exotic, mountains, rivers and lakes, together with isolated signs of habitation such as fence posts, farm houses with colourful gardens - and water tanks set high on a hill.
AND A HUGE SENSE OF SPACE AND FRESH AIR THAT MAKES IT ESSENTIALLY NEW ZEALAND.'
New Work Folio
'Pop Tondo Series' - she recently decided to have a complete change for a while from the landscape painting of many decades, and use the knowledge acquired in producing digital drawings for her husband's text book (on geothermal energy!).
A colourful series of tondo canvases emerged - 700 mm in diameter and using mixed media. The ideas are created digitally, using her own original imagery together with Corel graphics software, and then brought to life on the support in numerous stages, using acrylic paints, pigment inks, acrylic media of various types, gold leaf, bronze castings etc.
A colourful series of tondo canvases emerged - 700 mm in diameter and using mixed media. The ideas are created digitally, using her own original imagery together with Corel graphics software, and then brought to life on the support in numerous stages, using acrylic paints, pigment inks, acrylic media of various types, gold leaf, bronze castings etc.
Narrative Folio
This work follows on from an earlier series of Narrative paintings.
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Her work is held in private and corporate collections in N.Z. and Overseas, including Carter Holt Harvey, New York; Graeme Hart; Telecom NZ; Dennis Conner, Stars and Stripes Americas Cup Syndicate; and the Prada Americas Cup Syndicate.
Awards: Finalist Telecom Art Awards 1992
The New Zealanders Toss Woolaston and James Nairn, the English artists J.M.W. Turner and John Constable, the Americans, Edward Hopper and Winslow Homer, and the Australian Heidelberg Group have been a source of inspiration in landscape and marine work. Wassil1y Kandinsky's work has always held a fascination for her with his wonderful use of colour and innovation. |