Catherine Morrisey

Catherine Morrisey comes from a family of visual artists. She came to London from Toronto in the early 1980's. After receiving an Honours Degree Fine Arts from York University, and continuing education at Arts' Sake, Inc., Toronto, she earned Library Science, M.L.S. at University of Western Ontario ​"I love painting scenes of our local woods, gardens, willows along the river, paddlers, and people on the bike path. I adapt some traditions of Chinese landscape painting, especially the brushwork and the sense of distance. I am drawn to Pierre Bonnard’s colour, Chaim Soutine’s distortions, and David Milne’s thin paint sketches. An image might appear while I am painting quite by magic. A person, a house, a tree, a perfect reflection in the river. Painting intuitively I add layers of oil colour over time, often months, finding the power of the image. My challenge is to bring it to life. Painting is my way to tell you a story. Kayaking along the river, time stands still. The sky is reflected in the water, a heron flies by. He croaks and circles back. We are both floating in space. Then there is sudden symmetry. This is where my painting wants to take you." Catherine