Catharine Davison RSW: Flow
'Flow' is an exhibition about being compelled to paint. Catharine's practice is founded upon the plein air tradition - drawing and painting directly from source. Inspired by the waterway of The Water of Leith, these paintings reveal how Catharine likes to move fluently through and adapt to the variances of time, space and place; both the psychological and the physical.
'Since summer 2018, The Water of Leith provided a focus for my creativity; from the source at Colzium Springs in the Pentland Hills along its course to Balerno then onto Leith. The work reflects how the waterway weaves and connects a unique rural, urban and human landscape.
Initially walking the waterway in its entirety, I realised the potential of using the Water of Leith to navigate my own adventures through the Pentland landscape and into and around Edinburgh; looking at how people use the waterway as a place to play and socialise, the numeracy of public parks and community gardens, and there are so many trees, of all types, in the forests, the parks and the gardens of the homes lining the waterway. I can be quite obsessive about a particular location and then for various reasons move on- because of practical reasons or I want to explore another part or want to revisit a spot.
My working methods are built around freedom and instinct. I try to compose with contemporary casualness using a playful vocabulary of idiosyncratic lines, marks and coloured shapes which knit together transforming perception of space and place. Covid meant a period of adjustment, working much more from home, setting up still lifes in the studio and garden. Less time organising and getting to locations meant more time painting - resulted in a greater output of greater consistency.
As lockdown restrictions eased in winter 2020, heavy snowfall changed my relationship with the landscape. Painting expeditions were limited to locations accessible on foot. The output was a series of acrylic gouache paintings on paper made in one sitting. I continued to investigate and respond to the Water of Leith and became focussed on the sense of life around Saughton Park and Murrayfield, where a skate Park, regenerated gardens and the river connect. Close to my home, it became a regular outdoor destination which I found magical and poignant; people watching, drawing, painting, listening and talking. I hope the works communicate something specific about the waterway and cumulatively begin to form a narrative.
I welcome situations where there is awkwardness or an otherness, perhaps from an occurrence in the landscape or through the handling of materials. Even with clear intention the whole experience celebrates unpredictability.'
Catharine Davison grew up in Kilkeel, a market town in Northern Ireland. She studied at Manchester Polytechnic and then at Liverpool John Moores University before gaining a Masters degree in Illustration with Printmaking at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College of Art and Design. Davison lives and works in Edinburgh, exhibiting regularly at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Edinburgh Academy, the Paisley Art Institute and Visual Arts Scotland. In 2014 she was announced the winner of the Lynn Painter -Stainers Prize for creative representational. Prior to this in 2009 she won the Cuthbert Award at the Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Arts, her painting recognised as the most distinguished by a New Young Artist. In 2013 she was shortlisted for the Jolomo Foundation Award for Scottish Landscape Painting.
