Catherine MacDiarmid

Catherine-MacDiarmid Portrait artist of the year series 2019
biography

Working mainly in oils, watercolour and charcoal, Catherine takes inspiration from the people around her. 

‘Behind the Paint’ and ‘Personal Space’ are themes exploring both the social and isolated aspects of life as an onlooking artist and attempts to reflect the awkwardness of exposure, attention and scrutiny attracted through being in the public eye.

Catherine has a strong commitment to portraiture and has undertaken many private portrait commissions. Her portraits are honest studies, where flattery and outward beauty are sometimes sacrificed for self-reflection and meticulous detail.  

Catherine has exhibited widely, including the BP Portrait Show 2001 and 2002, and has won many awards, recently the Cass Art Prize at the 2022 Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, and the Alec Morison Watercolour Prize at the 2020 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Prize Exhibition. Her work is collected nationally and internationally.