Continually inspired by the great painters Chardin, Morandi, Monet, and Cezanne Catherine reflects on their practices and the ongoing evocative power of still life painting. A francophile and lover of French culture, Catherine is recently back from her regular sojurn in Paris where she sets up her studio in Le Marais for several weeks. Routine days are spent drawing from Master paintings in the museums. Back in her studio Catherine reinterprets her sketches into paintings.

This year I was captivated by the works 18th C French painter Jean-Baptiste Chardin, and 20th C French artist, Edouard Delaporte, whose works hang in the Louvre. I sketched from their paintings in the Sully wing and later worked from the sketches alongside a still life composition I set up in my studio. It was summer so peaches and pears were in season and readily available from my local fruitier.

I am interested in the physical and collective nature of objects. I am compelled to recreate them in paint. My compositions allow me to investigate objects and their relationships on the picture plane. Simplicity, space and stillnes are important to me. Sometimes the objects I chose are significant, other times they are there to make sense of a composition. My palette changes with my feelings, my energy and my environments…sometimes contemplative, at other times bold. My process begins with sketches and ideas but after some time I move into a creative flow where I abandon all my ideas and outcomes and just simply respond to what is going on in the painting.

The Boulevard @ Montsalvat, 9th November 2018 - 6th February 2019

Catherine Hickson, Morning study I 201858, gouache on board, framed under glass, 33cm x 27cms