Featured: Catherine de Boise

This year’s feature artist, Catherine de Boise, studied art in England. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Textile Design from the University of Derbyshire. Before that she completed a one-year foundation course working across all mediums at Wimbledon School of Art. Catherine followed her heart emigrating to Australia in 2001. She has lived in several Australian cities and has travelled extensively absorbing the moods, colours and textures of the Australian landscape. When she moved to the Mornington Peninsula several years ago, she was struck by its incredible natural beauty and the sheer diversity of landscapes and seascapes. During COVID lockdowns, Catherine taught herself to paint inspired by walks on her local beach at Balnarring. She aims to capture the sense of peaceful calm and tranquillity an escape into nature provides. Working in acrylic paints, mixing her colours and building layers before the paint dries is an exciting challenge. The shimmering reflections on the ocean, the subtle hues of the native vegetation and the changing light across the arc of the day inspire her. She particularly likes to convey the sunlit tracks leading to local beaches – the frame of the scene before it opens out to the expanse of the sea. Catherine captures the anticipation of the panorama to unfold highlighting the beauty of the journey, not just the destination. The interplay of dappled light and shadow, the muted tones of the native shrubs and bushes, the swaying grasses and the tiny pops of colour provided by native flowers foreground her beach paintings. Catherine invites viewers to walk with her as she navigates her way through the flora to the sand to stand and marvel at the patterns created by the endless ebb and flow of the ocean, the shifting sands, the moods of the seasons and the ephemeral beauty of the changing light.  

Her first ‘mini solo’ exhibition of paintings in Mia Oatley’s Petite Collection in April 2024 sold out. This is her second painting exhibition and it is likely to sell out as well. It would be wise to purchase works early to avoid disappointment. Catherine de Boise is a painter whose star is on the rise.

ANDREA LOUISE THOMAS

Arts Writer

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