Who are you and what do you do?
I am Kate Beinder and I paint
in acrylics on canvas and, more lately, in watercolours. My subjects vary from
portraits and animals to landscapes. As my lifestyle has changed over the
years, my time for painting has increased as has my passion for it.
How do you work?
I am lucky to have a
conservatory that is really my studio. The light is great and it is my space!
However, when the weather’s good, it is really too hot to work in watercolour
so I move to our kitchen table.
Time for me is tight so I often
neglect the planning stage although I am trying to be better about that.
How has your practice changed over time?
I am a great believer in there
always being new things to learn so my practice is evolving all the time.
Although I haven’t had any formal training in art (not since a long forgotten A
Level!), I love attending workshops and demonstrations to see how other artists
work and learning from them. As well as dvds, books and the never ending source
of advice and help that is YouTube, I attend Clay Cross Art Group. It is good
to work in a supportive atmosphere with other artists.
What work do you most enjoying doing?
This is difficult for me to
answer, as the disciplines of watercolour and acrylics are so different. I only
started doing watercolours a couple of years ago after attending a workshop by
the artist, Bil Lupton. I had always believed that I couldn’t paint in
watercolours but I was encouraged by the loose style that he used and became interested
in the way that watercolour paint behaves (or doesn’t behave itself!). I am definitely still learning on that score.
However, I do like painting in
acrylics as it gives me more control and the chance to go back and change
things that haven’t worked. I am very interested in tone so the monochrome
paintings that I do are especially enjoyable.
What themes do you pursue?
In my portraits, I like to know
a back story so that I can try and capture more about the subject. I generally
work from photographs and haven’t done any live sittings since school. I like
to see the relationships between people in the painting I am doing.
Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?
The monochrome painting of the
Afghan man with his daughter is based on a photo in a Sunday magazine about the
devastating effects of malaria. I wanted to capture the father’s desperation as
well as his love for his daughter. A donation from the sale of the painting or
the prints goes directly to Oxfam to buy mosquito nets.
What jobs have you done other than being an artist?
Too many to list here
What inspires you?
All sorts of things,
really. Beautiful skies, the
tranquillity of a place, people’s faces and their interactions with each other,
a good story behind a photograph or painting. As I am sure any artist will tell
you, you do start to look at things around you in a different way.
Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
As my job is fairly hectic ( I am a teaching assistant at Highfields
School), painting is a peaceful time for me, so loneliness doesn’t really come
into it. However, Radio 6 music and Radio 4 are often my companions.
Favourite or most inspirational place ?
Although I live and work in
Derbyshire, which I love, my favourite place has to be the Lake District.
Childhood holidays there forged a strong link with The Lakes and now that my
brother, Steve, lives in the Newlands Valley, I spend as much time there as my
job allows! Painting outside in The Lake District can be a problem… as I sit
here writing this, in Steve’s living room, the rain is absolutely lashing down
outside… again. So I often work from photographs that Steve (an excellent
photographer, by the way) has taken.
Thankyou kate!
The gallery is always open Tues- Sat 10 -5 and some Sundays 11-4 but check our facebook page first to be sure. http://facebook.com/www.studio61gallery.co.uk
