Painting Light, Atmosphere and Wonder
For Kathryn Thomas, painting is an act of attention: a way of meeting the shifting drama of light, colour and atmosphere before it slips from view. Trained in Fine Art Painting at Bristol Polytechnic, now the University of the West of England, Thomas has spent more than three decades developing a practice that moves beyond representation towards something more immersive. Her paintings hold the sensation of weather, horizon and celestial change, drawing the viewer into spaces that feel at once elemental, intimate and expansive.
Thomas’s work is led by instinct rather than fixed narrative. A painting begins as a feeling, carried through colour and allowed to find its own form through layered, translucent applications of oil paint. In this process, she becomes less an author imposing an image than a conduit responding to the work as it develops. The resulting canvases shift with changing light, revealing new depths, energies and associations over time.
Light has remained central to Thomas’s visual language, shaped by a lifelong fascination with natural phenomena: cloud formations, rain, moon glow, reflections, sunrises and the changing tones of the sky. Influenced by artists and photographers whose work explores luminosity and perception, including JMW Turner, Garry Fabian Miller, Hiroshi Senju and Richard Misrach, she creates paintings that invite sustained looking rather than immediate explanation.
Her recent collections, Contemplation and Wonderment, extend this enduring enquiry. From dramatic atmospheric fields to evocations of galaxies, planets and northern lights, the works offer an opening for personal reflection. Thomas does not prescribe what the viewer should see. Instead, she creates a point of entry, allowing each encounter with the painting to become a different experience.
Are you self-taught, or did you undertake formal artistic training?
Foundation Art Course in Stevenage, Herts 1982-83 and a BA(Hons) Fine Art in Painting 1985 – 88 Bristol Polytechnic/University of the West of England. I thought it was easy to be an artist as I sold everything in my Degree Show!
How would you define your visual language or conceptual approach?
Over 35 years my paintings have engaged the viewer with a power that is enigmatic and intriguing. These images conjure feelings of atmosphere, emotion, fleeting glimpses of natural beauty, energy and underlying power. It is this connection that keeps the viewer coming back for more and seeing something new not only in new paintings but also in paintings previously seen.
‘Kathryn’s ‘waves’ of colour are not abstractions, they are timeless records of the miraculous space in which we float’ Jerry Hicks, RWA, MBE 1928 – 2014.
Can you describe your creative process from conception to completion?
A painting starts with a feeling made physical through colour that needs or asks to be put down on the surface. It is present in my minds eye but not controlled by ‘me’. I am a void or vessel that enables what happens. The painting dictates what is needed. Neither of us knows when it is finished.
Does narrative, symbolism, or storytelling play a role within your work?
Not so much narrative or symbolism or storytelling per se – maybe the paintings show that there is a story within them in revealing the sensations I had while creating them – rather than depicting an event in history or referencing something in particular. The work is eclectic so sits on the shoulders of everything that has gone before.
Which artists have most influenced you historically or contemporarily and why?
Any artist with a fascination or enquiry for light. And colour. As a student I studied Scandinavian artists for my thesis, I was drawn to the dramatic power of light and with this was continually drawn back to JMW Turner, particularly his sketches and handling of paint. I had the opportunity to spend time with his sketch books at the opening of the Tate Britain Clore Gallery and this direct contact has always stayed with me.
I am fascinated by photographer Garry Fabian Miller, particularly his project the Sea Horizon, 1997.
I have been drawn to the power and vision of Hiroshi Sigumoto then Hiroshi Senju, whose quote resonates
‘When you see the many diverse colours in nature, it is an effect of light reflection. So even in the darkest times, I am painting light’
I also want to mention being hugely moved on discovering what lay within the pages of The Sky Book by Richard Misrach and more recently The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair.
And a contemporary painter who I admire is Nicholas Jones b.1965, represented by Crane Kalman. He shows me that a beautiful painting is possible.
What personal, cultural, or environmental influences shape your practice?
I feel inspired wherever I am. I am grumpy if I miss a weather effect or a natural phenomenon, happier if I have seen a sunrise or sunset or moon glow or rain fall or sun dog or reflection or anything outside day or night or in between. I remember as a young artist flying for the first time after years of painting aerial views. I flew through the cloud level, actually being within a cloud for a time and then experienced the change from day to night. Lifelong inspiration. I’m still trying to capture it. The determination of an artist continually failing to achieve keeps them painting.
Where is your studio based, and how does the space inform your creativity?
An interesting question and vital to an artists’ practice.
As a student the Fine Art Painting studios were on the ground floor, with no windows, and I really struggled to find and connect with my subject matter. I moved myself up to the Graphic and Illustration floors which were in the tower block that had sweeping views of the sky above Ashton Court in Bristol. Various studios in dockside warehouses found me absorbing light on the roof or fire escapes. I learnt the value of having a studio with a skylight to enable to paint under a constant cool north light. Otherwise, you chased a painting through the day and totally changed it at night. And painting is hard enough. I took the roof off my first house to allow north light to be cast into the top floor studio, with windows overlooking the horizon it was perfect in terms of light and inspiration. Not so perfect when you want to paint big and are limited by pesky domestic things such as door sizes, stairwells and low ceiling height. The answer was to cut a hole in the floor and drop the paintings down between the joists. My most recent studio ticked all the boxes, and three painting collections were born there over 9 years, with typically 25 – 30 originals making up each collection.
Do you have any rituals or rhythms that anchor your studio practice?
As much time as possible and to be left alone.
I can paint for hours and lose track of time, often looking up to see it has grown dark or light. I work on several pieces so one can be drying while I work on another – I invented a paintbox where I can keep paint laden brushes moist in between painting sessions – this gives me a colour reference to start with, so I don’t waste time setting up the palette and chasing yesterdays colours. I keep my dirty turpentine in various containers so the paint sediment can drop down and allow me to reuse the turps. I wear overalls and painting clothes so I can move around the studio with a freedom. They, like my easel represent numerous paintings, as does the furniture that has been in my studios over 35 years.
What bodies of work or projects are you currently developing?
These paintings are from my two most recent collections – Contemplation and Wonderment.
The Contemplation Collection
‘Contemplation’ paintings range in their intensity from thunderously dramatic to cotton-gloved softness. Some works may be more suggestive than others, but the aim is that the viewer immerses themselves into the painting, spends time contemplating and finally allows themselves to express their vision.
All the paintings on show at FLUX Exhibition are from this collection, including the title painting ‘Contemplation’.
The Wonderment Collection
A portrayal of galaxies, planets and the northern lights.
This is not an entirely new venture as it was the ‘Nightlight’ paintings which first displayed a fascination with space. But ‘Wonderment’ shows significant development in technique and understanding of celestial bodies whilst also borrowing elements from the ‘Kaleidoscopic’ and ‘Contemplation’ painting collections. The full collections can be viewed on my website.
Using the finest materials on the planet, notably handmade pure pigment oil paint by Michael Harding on the finest Berge linen stretched over kiln dried tulip wood, the colour and texture is achieved by building layer on layer so the painting will appear to be different depending on the light source. Paintings will have many, many layers of translucent colour.
‘The paintings are not about me, ultimately, they are for you. What I create is simply a starting point which allows you to feel a response from spending time with the painting, and your experience will be different each time.’
My ongoing challenge as an artist is to create a painting so breathtaking that you cannot walk away from it.
Where can collectors encounter or acquire your work?
Following a three-year invitation residency at a salon in Marylebone the remaining paintings are now on show in Dorset, UK. With viewings by appointment welcomed.
For more information visit kathryn-thomas.co.uk
