Catherine Eckersall

Artist Statement

My current practice takes heavy inspiration from folklore, particularly myths and stories from Scotland and Ireland. I am fascinated by how imagery and superstition continues to influence how people see their surroundings, even as the landscape changes and develops with the modern world. Through painting, I seek to depict the unseen landscape: human interpretations of natural surroundings composed of folklore, superstition and history. I use folktales to find the intimate connections between people and their environments, seeing their thoughts, feelings and circumstances reflected in the natural surroundings. 

Within my practice, I mainly work with oil paints as a medium, as I find it can capture the subtlety and textures of the natural world. However, I also utilise drawing, photography and collage within the research and development processes of my work. I tend to follow a process of distillation, selecting imagery from my research and narrowing these down to a series of symbols which create a narrative. The landscapes I create are exaggerated in form and colour, but ultimately carry a sense of familiarity.