About the Artist
I'm Catherine - a psychotherapist, writer, artist and storyteller - who lives on the edge of the moors in Ilkley, Yorkshire, UK.
My art is shaped by my connection to nature and my experience of surviving breast cancer twice, alongside living with ME, chronic illness and pain.
Many of my paintings come from the views from my benches and views on Ilkley Moor, ancient local woodlands discovered on my roll and strolls, flowers from my coffee table, and wild places I've visited and found myself in awe of.
And then there is the wild within.
My inner wild paintings turn towards that internal landscape - the emotions, energy, instinct and aliveness that aren't always visible from the outside.
They are bolder, more abstract and intuitive, allowing colour to take over where my words often cannot.
Art became such a powerful source of healing and hope for me during difficult times. It helped me reconnect with creativity, self-expression, meaning and joy - and, perhaps most of all, with colour.
Since cancer, I experience the world so much more vividly - and colour has become even more of an emotional language for me. I'm instinctively drawn to bold, exuberant colour as an expression of joy, aliveness and the intensity with which I now experience the world.
Verticals and horizontals run through much of my work, bringing rhythm, order and structure.
My paintings are small, energy accommodating, mixed media works, created from a corner I've carved out in my bedroom, or from bed, using whatever feels right in the moment: oil pastels, acrylics, gouache, watercolour, acrylic pens, collage, and sometimes my iPad.
I take huge inspiration from the iconic Bradford artist David Hockney - not only through our shared Yorkshire landscape and his fearless use of colour, but because a Hockney inspired art class, gifted to me by my friend Jess after cancer, helped bring me back to making art.
I want to capture something of what it feels like to really notice the world - its colour, wildness, beauty and extraordinary aliveness - when my own world has got significantly smaller because of chronic ill health.
I make art from that place.
A place that doesn't require words. A place born out of limitation, but which gifts me freedom of expression.
My art is shaped by my connection to nature and my experience of surviving breast cancer twice, alongside living with ME, chronic illness and pain.
Many of my paintings come from the views from my benches and views on Ilkley Moor, ancient local woodlands discovered on my roll and strolls, flowers from my coffee table, and wild places I've visited and found myself in awe of.
And then there is the wild within.
My inner wild paintings turn towards that internal landscape - the emotions, energy, instinct and aliveness that aren't always visible from the outside.
They are bolder, more abstract and intuitive, allowing colour to take over where my words often cannot.
Art became such a powerful source of healing and hope for me during difficult times. It helped me reconnect with creativity, self-expression, meaning and joy - and, perhaps most of all, with colour.
Since cancer, I experience the world so much more vividly - and colour has become even more of an emotional language for me. I'm instinctively drawn to bold, exuberant colour as an expression of joy, aliveness and the intensity with which I now experience the world.
Verticals and horizontals run through much of my work, bringing rhythm, order and structure.
My paintings are small, energy accommodating, mixed media works, created from a corner I've carved out in my bedroom, or from bed, using whatever feels right in the moment: oil pastels, acrylics, gouache, watercolour, acrylic pens, collage, and sometimes my iPad.
I take huge inspiration from the iconic Bradford artist David Hockney - not only through our shared Yorkshire landscape and his fearless use of colour, but because a Hockney inspired art class, gifted to me by my friend Jess after cancer, helped bring me back to making art.
I want to capture something of what it feels like to really notice the world - its colour, wildness, beauty and extraordinary aliveness - when my own world has got significantly smaller because of chronic ill health.
I make art from that place.
A place that doesn't require words. A place born out of limitation, but which gifts me freedom of expression.
I hope my paintings bring a little of that aliveness and joy into your home and your space too.
*Some of my work will be available to buy at the Tinker Gallery in Ilkley as part of 'Abreast'. The exhibition runs from 1st-31st October, 2026.
www.catherineasta.com