Her artwork arises from the need to express her deep affinity with hills and water and her fascination with colour and contrast. Kate’s home, for over 20 years, overlooks the Duddon estuary in South Cumbria providing ever-changing views of hills,tidal flows and cloud formations .These are her constant source of inspiration as are the various incredible landscapes and seascapes experienced during extensive travels in the mountains and on the coasts of Britain, Europe and North America in pursuit of her favourite leisure activities in the open air – camping,ski-ing and hiking.
Kate uses digital photos as memory prompts and design inspiration and then blends fabrics in layers to capture the reflected lights, subtle colours and ever-changing movement of nature. She constantly changes dozens of coloured threads in her sewing machine which she uses freehand like a pencil to define,soften and highlight to shape the detail . For the final layer, Kate sometimes adds hand sewn threads or beads. People have commented that from a distance her work looks like a pastel or watercolour painting but she prefers the tactile property of her chosen media and that it allows infinite change by adding /removing layers until the essence is finally captured.
Since Kate’s early retirement from “full-time employment “ in 2001, she has returned to her artistic roots and, for the past 3years, has exhibited with Cumbrian Women Artists at a number of venues and galleries in Cumbria.
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