Scottish artist Catriona Campbell derives most of her inspiration from humans and animals, often using photographic evidence such as family photos or photos from newspapers for her “racing” pictures. She has great admiration for the 16th century painter, Pieter Bruegel and for Rogier van der Weyden. More recently she has also taken inspiration from the paintings of Degas, Stanley Spencer and Joan Eardley.
Aiming to communicate the excitement of the unlikely or impossible, Catriona uses movement and speed to emphasise a sense of tension and expectation. She has an excellent visual memory and a knowledge of anatomy, which enables her to create images directly from her imagination.
Describing her work as figurative, eventful and painterly, Catriona conjures up scenes of the surprising, unlikely and impossible; people performing impossible balancing acts for instance, or two men sitting under a zebra, holding it aloft by its hooves.