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Whatsapp or call: +31-06-27977366 (Utrecht, The Netherlands)

Email: cath@cathduncan.com

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Expressive and abstract paintings exploring the connections between our inner nature and the natural world around us. (Utrecht, Netherlands.)

Our hike and swim at Nanjizal Beach, Cornwall is s

Our hike and swim at Nanjizal Beach, Cornwall is still on my mind and inspiring me creatively as I continue to look for ways to express what it meant to me.

I felt so alive, so full of delight and vitality that day, taking in those incredible blues, clambering over the big, glistening boulders to get to the pools, and floating in the crystal clear, luminous turquoise water.

“Vitality” is the word I chose to guide me this year, to remind me to do more of the things that give me that feeling, and less of the things that steal that feeling.

Having experienced what it’s like to feel my health and ability to do things I love slipping away when my kidneys failed and my vision and hearing deteriorated, and having fought my way back after my kidney transplant, I appreciate it so much more now that I have the health and energy to do the things I love again. Like walking, cycling, running, or swimming in nature’s beauty.

Despite having regained so much of my health, vulnerability and the risk of losing it all remains my close companion. My transplant means I’m immunosuppressed for life and significantly more vulnerable in the face of all illnesses, even the everyday endemic viruses. And there’s no way to know how much more time I have with the little vision and hearing that I have left.

I don’t dwell on the threat of this vulnerability and risk of losing more of who I am and what I can do everyday, but it’s there.

Except when I’m in touch with vitality.

The vitality in nature, and the vitality in me.

Then the vulnerability and fear is gone. And I feel alive, strong, connected, delighted, brave, full of hope and faith, grateful for it all.

Vitality.

Thats what I felt that day as I hiked and climbed and swam with my friend, Rhona, at Nanjizal Beach, and it’s how I felt when I created these 3 mixed media paintings.

(These will be available to buy. I’ll share more as soon as I have them listed on my website, but in the meantime, be in touch if you want me to set one of these aside for you.)

These were made using scraps of the cards that I d

These were made using scraps of the cards that I do colour and drawing tool testing on while I’m creating art.

They’re a fun way to explore abstract compositions, and notice unconscious marks I make. And the restriction of only “found” colours and marks (just collating; no adding any paint or drawing on top!) is a fun challenge to push me out of my habits and comfort zone!

A few abstracts on paper that I created this weeke

A few abstracts on paper that I created this weekend, practicing not-knowing, working intuitively, and layering paint and drawing tools. Inspired by wild seascapes from my imagination.

I love this colour palette. And have I mentioned how much I love the sea?

Cleaning up in my studio today, I found these 3 pi

Cleaning up in my studio today, I found these 3 pieces of paper lying close together…

The ones on the left were used for testing colours and drawing tools, and the one of the right is a sketch I made outdoors on my recent trip to Cornwall.

Sitting together, they’re practically begging me to create this painting!

Noted (And pasted into my ideas book!).

It was lovely weather again today so my guy and I

It was lovely weather again today so my guy and I took off from work and we snuck out to the beach for a walk and swim while our kiddo was at school. The sun was out, we had the beach to ourselves and the water was divine! My favourite.

Sketchbook study: inspired by our hike and swim at

Sketchbook study: inspired by our hike and swim at Nanjizal beach, Cornwall.

Still enjoying reminiscing on the breathtaking deep blues, the curve of the coves and hills, the refreshing sea breeze, and the rugged rocky outcrops jutting into the salty, tingling, translucent water… and letting it inspire my creativity.

Yesterday I shared some close-up crops of these la

Yesterday I shared some close-up crops of these landscape studies that I started painting outdoors in Cornwall and finished back home in my studio this week.

I love the way nature is always moving, especially in wild weather places like Cornwall. I love how alive it makes me feel to be out, moving or creating, in landscapes like this. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons why I love to express a feeling of movement in my landscape paintings.

And I love how the fluidity of ink or high flow acrylics gives the feeling of movement both in the sensory experience of using the inks and when you look at the completed artwork.

Violets, rusts, and sages are a gorgeous colour combination that I did not expect to find in Cornwall!

More exploration with acrylic ink, soft body acryl

More exploration with acrylic ink, soft body acrylic paint, soft pastels, and collage. I love those colours together.

I started these as just ink explorations during the course I took with @newlynartschool in Cornwall last month and continued working them up back home in my studio. These are crops of some of my favourite moments. I’ll share the complete studies soon!

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