Of Land and Sea

Of Land and Sea by Kathryn Fenton - This abstract landscape has been inspired by the typography surrounding the Cornwall coastline and the history and legend the Tintagel Castle ruins where supposedly King Arthur was born.

These extraordinary lofty cliffs, shrouded in a carpet of mossy green vegetation rise up from the azure seas that for ions have weathered the craggy shapes into what we see today.

There is so much to be intrigued by this landscape, the natural carved rock formations interlaced by steep walking tracks and connecting bridges.  Geometric rocky mounds that dot the hillsides pertaining to houses of early traders from 1000 years ago.

The subject matter lends itself well to abstraction and the mixed media of acrylic, charcoal and pastel enable this work to emulate the network of tracks and bridges that divide the sections of the jutting cliffs.

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My formal art training began at Queensland College of Art studying Visual Communication and Graphic Design as well as filmmaking. I later won a scholarship at the Australian Film and Television School and pursued a filmmaking career for 18 years and finally returned with a passion for visual arts.
During my art/painting practice in these past 30 years I have experimented with many mediums and in all genres, but what continues to hold my interest and where I consistently revisit is the landscape and objects within the landscape. I also like to explore the concept of dual worlds where order and chaos compete with each other - where the representational morphs into elements of abstraction.
A lot of my figurative landscapes are allegorical set against sweeping abstracted skies which set the stage for the drama to unfold. My work practise finds my doing a lot of research and preliminary paint sketches and the ideas may come from a piece of poetry, mythology, ancient history or from my own photography. In recent years I have been preoccupied with 18th century Baroque and Rococo eras.
I have been fortunate to have been selected as a finalist in the National Still Life Art Prize for the past 6 years as well as winning landscape and portrait awards in the Coffs Harbour and Sawtell Art Prizes over the past 12 years. In 2019 my painting was featured in the Television Series, The Block.