Kathrine Amble
Kathrine Amble
Kathrine Amble started the year 2024 with the happy and awarding news of winning the prestigious prize AWS Silver Medal of Honor and that one of her watercolors, “Winter Mountains” is curated to be shown at the «American Watercolor Society`s» 157th annual exhibition and another «Spring is here» will represent the Nordiska Akvarellselskapet (Nordic watercolor society) on the 27th ECWS Exhibition in Tampere, Finland. And yet another one, “Into the woods”, is chosen for the International Watercolor Festival at Cordoba, Spain.
Kathrine started her career as an artist in the 1990s after studying at Oslo tegne- og malerskole (Oslo School of Drawing and Painting) and South Devon College of Arts and Technology. In recent years, she has been able to focus more on her art career. She now combines being an artist with a part-time position as a gardener. This makes it possible to work continuously for longer periods in her studio. In addition, she is always close to nature during the periods when she is not painting and can research her motifs outdoors.
Kathrine herself says about painting with watercolor:
Earlier in my studies I used to paint with oil and acrylic. A few years ago I started with watercolor, this medium gave me real resistance at first, but when I started to master it, I fell in love. I love watercolor for the resistance it gives me, the fact that I can never fully control it. I find that the watercolor painting can accommodate an infinite number of forms of expression and can be extremely raw and delicate at the same time. It allows for a brightness and translucency that other media do not possess.
I am fascinated by the reaction between pigment and water when you release the pigments onto the sheet. Each pigment has its own unique character. I work quickly and intuitively, but normally I plan the image well in advance, and often make many sketches before I start.
I strive to capture the fleeting moment, like when the sun hits a building, turning the ugliest part of the city into the most beautiful, when it suddenly starts to blow in the winter mountains, the contrasts between light and shadow. Describing this becomes the most important thing for me, as it is changing and will never be the same.
I focus on the contrasts between untouched nature and the urban. I want to describe the totally different moods, from the silence and meditative calm of nature, to the hectic life and wonderful chaos of the city. I love both.