KATHY FRANCIS ART
GALLERY AND SHOP
MY STORY
Born in Birkenhead, UK, attended University in Newcastle where I received a BA(Hons) Degree in Graphic Design. After teaching Art for 31 years, I am now concentrating on my painting. I am a keen advocate of gouache paint, my work embodies a sense of whimsy in its use of colour. I strive to create extraordinary images out of our environments. Even where a scene appears beautiful I like to transform it and introduce a playful and complex language of colour. My philosophy is to "take a moment" to look at what is around us, then using a vibrant palette, I transform our living landscapes into a kaleidoscope of colour.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Bringing the Art to You
I think of my paintings as a way of discovering the extraordinary in the ordinary. They are vibrant representations of city scenes, of forgotten areas, abandoned, dilapidated, perhaps scenes of everyday life, beautiful in themselves but transformed by the arrangement of complex colour patterns.
My work aims to invite the viewer to reveal more than their eyes can see. I pull out colour, shape, structure, texture, highlight and shadow in an attempt to create an imaginative landscape.
Working with gouache, bodies of colour are placed to maximise detail, pulling the landscape out of the ordinary.
I want to engage the audience with a fresh way of seeing. I want to make viewers look harder, making visible that
which is often overlooked in our daily lives.
To beautify the visible and invigorate. To question reality and ask
ourselves what’s extraordinary in ordinary things? Capture that moment in time, a
snapshot of a world that can be simultaneously - beautiful and ugly.
"The world is but a canvas to our imagination"