Artist Kate Flood studied painting at Sheffield City Polytechnic, Psalter Lane (now Sheffield Hallam University). She recently settled in Abergavenny following 13 years living in Bath and 20 years in London, where she was one of the first studio holders at Lewisham Arthouse.
The main subject in Kate’s paintings is the natural world. Working in oil on wood panels, she creates atmospheric works in which layer on layer of flower- and plant-inspired forms and colours collide in a beautiful tangle.
Kate’s dramatic colour palette, handling of light and lush flower forms bring to mind Old Master still lifes, in this case deconstructed into stunning semi-abstract compositions.
As with the majority of Gala Fine Art’s artists, colour is central to Kate’s work. Her ideas for colour combinations come from numerous sources, including textiles, digital art and colour theory. She also refers to the work of painters who are colour specialists, like Howard Hodgkin and Matisse.
When Kate starts a painting she doesn’t have a plan or preliminary drawings; the first mark dictates the second and so on. Working in oil on wood makes it possible to rub back into the previous layer and build up a painting in multiple layers.
Kate’s work has been shown in a number of solo shows including at the Victoria Art Gallery and Walcot Chapel in Bath. She has been selected to take part in many group and open exhibitions including the RA Summer Show, the Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries (twice) and the Bath Society of Artists annual Open Exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath several times, most recently in 2022.
Gala Fine Art has showed Kate’s paintings at Affordable Art Fairs several times: Battersea Affordable Art Fair in October 2022 and March 2024, and Amsterdam Affordable Art Fair in November 2023.
