Catherine Gutsche
Catherine Gutsche is a self-described process painter who is inspired by her surroundings and awestruck by nature’s transient characteristics and processes. Gutsche finds beauty in how nature presents and transforms itself complete with its imperfections. It has never been her nature to expect order in her environment; nature’s eccentricities challenge her to create her own order and a new definition of ordinary. She is preoccupied by the intuitive journey that paint takes her on, with its colour and texture when working with layers that can be revealed through scratching back, rubbing away or lifting, to bring back the history of the previous layers. She does not strive to replicate nature; rather she is inspired by nature's improvisation and opens herself up to its influences.
“The specific series that I am submitting for Give A Little Bit is a series that I painted while on an artists’ residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point on Toronto Island. Each day, during the residency, began with a walk to the beach on the south side of the island, to take in the sights and sounds of the early day. On this particular morning I walked to the far end of the beach where, over the rocks, I got a view of the city. The haze in the morning gave the buildings a lovely pink hue. I have captured in this series the beach, the rocks, the sky with its birds and the city view.”