Catherine Taylor Parry NAPA

I left school with a paintbrush in my hand and have rarely put it down since. I work in rural Wales, surrounded by my atmospheric canvases. My work is a personal response to landscape. A fleeting moment captured from a passing glimpse of the ice covered mountain, the flash of an orange soaked sky or the silence and stillness of shining sand and mist covered water. I use colour and texture to create images full of atmosphere and memory. I use acrylics which I have used for many years, as I love its qualities of manipulation, flexibility and colour.  Despite having MS since 1996, I am breaking through my boundaries with bursts of colour and light.My work is inspired by the mountains, fields and coast. I am interested in creating paintings that evoke a mood. I paint ethereal objects which can be open to the viewers’ interpretation. I paint suggestions of ‘people’ viewing or involved in the scene, or remnants of a memory from the past. Although my access to the countryside is limited, my work reflects the distant view or the obstacles which are in my way. Shapes of stiles or circles of wheels can sometimes be seen. I love using colour and the enjoy letting the paint help to create the image. I am excited by using colours together both subdued and strong, using acrylics, but I am happy using layers of colour and texture to create the images I want. When not painting these I create 3D work using wheelchairs and parts from a wheelchair, walking sticks and lights. I have been exhibiting and working as a professional artist since leaving Art College in 1997, where I achieved a BA hons Degree in Fine Art/Painting and a PGCE in Art and Design in 1999. I had to take a prolonged break after several severe MS attacks, when I was too ill to use a brush or pencil. By 2000 I started again and set up a group of  seven working artists called ‘Enableartists’ who have MS or were affected by MS, I arranged a  tour around the UK for two years.   I also continued showing my own work, which at the time was involved with erosion, renewal and decay.  I had a daughter in 2003 and as she has got older I have concentrated on my work.

My creative life is who I am. It sustains me and makes me feel whole.