Catherine has felt compelled to create personal portraits since school and began her professional artistic practice in Singapore in the 1990s. Fascinated with the challenge brought by our innate ability to detect the most subtle nuances in faces, she captures likeness in oils and watercolours, setting her subjects in dramatic one-directional light. Her exhibited portraits reference self-contained female subjects with a strong presence and this is helped by her choice of innovative surfaces such as ridged watercolour board and gessoed wooden panels. In 2013 Catherine’s oil portrait “The Butterfly House” won The Artist Editor’s Award at The Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition.

Catherine’s other passion is history and on arrival in Singapore, Catherine witnessed the demolition of swathes of intricate heritage buildings. Determined to document these before they disappeared, she developed a range of architectural studies which sold at exhibition and were printed for galleries, airports and hotels. Commissions followed, including a series of watercolours of the British High Commissioner’s Official Residence to mark it’s centenary, a painting of the former US Embassy building, The British Club and Reuters House, to name a few. Since her return to Bath, UK in 2006, she continues to capture portraits and the Regency City in her bright, tropical colour palette. 

Catherine’s watercolour painting style has developed into a loose technique she calls “gravity painting”. Through this filter, her subjects have abstracted and merged in a controlled cascade of pigments. Incorporating minerals such as Hematite and Amethyst her paints merge and react to create her colour chemistry. She is a registered SAA tutor and enjoys teaching techniques across England and Wales to Art Societies, on weekend retreats and corporate away days. 

Exhibitions:  
2013 onwards: Society of Women Artists, Mall Galleries, London
2014 elected Associate SWA   2013 SWA Award – Editor’s Choice, Artist Magazine
2018, 2013, 2011, 2010 2007 Bath Society of Artists, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath.
2014-2017 First-View Gallery, Stourhead, Wiltshire
Dec 2018-March 2019 Circle Bath Hospital
2018 onwards Combe Grove Manor Hotel landscapes exhibition
March-Sept 2016 Solo exhibition, South corridor Royal United Hospital, Bath
Oct-Nov 2017 Artist in Residence, Imagianation Gallery, Bath
2016 & 2018 Solo Exhibitions 44AD artspace, Bath
2018 Bath Art Fair
2013-2019 Widcombe & Combe Down Art Trails, Bath. Wylye Valley Art Trail.
Pre-selected Royal Society of Portrait Painters 
2013 Saatchi Showdown (online) – painted faces
2012 Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery, London
2011 Institute of Painters in Water Colour, Mall Galleries; 
2011 Royal West of England Academy Autumn Exhibition, Bristol
2011 Trowbridge Gallery, Castle Cary
2010 Holburne Portrait Prize, exhibition finalist, Bath
2008 Selected Royal Bath & West Show, Somerset
2005 solo exhibition – the Courtyard, Kuala Lumpur
1999 solo exhibition – CHIJMES, Singapore
1998 solo exhibition – British High Commission Residence Singapore

Commissions:
1996-present: Ongoing private and corporate commissions.
2017 Singapore Realtor - International Series of 13 architectural studies of Singapore. 
2017 Monkton Combe School, Bath: Headmaster’s leaving gift & second commission for Housemaster.
Bath Sculpture Projects:
2018 Bath Owls project - commission for Combe Grove Manor Hotel, Bath
2010 Lions of Bath Sculpture Project - “Bullion” for Principal Investments, Queen’s Sq. 
2008 King Bladud Pig Sculpture Project “Progressive Pig” commissioned by Bath Audi 
2004 British High Commission of Singapore Centenary - series of 4 watercolours (main view of residence - gifted to British Royal Family and Singapore Presidential Collection -the palm room/staircase/the verandah and printed to raise funds for British High Commission charities.)
2004 British Club of Singapore - 2 paintings of Clubhouse and Sports Complex used for presentations and corporate gifts.

Other Collaborations: 
2019 Series of large artwork giclee prints: 4 Queen’s Street, Bath.
2017-19 Mentoring Plus Ltd Bath creating Wellness Retreats and art projects
2019 The Drawing Rooms - private members club - resident artists
2019, 2017, 2016 Larmer Tree Festival Workshops
Yogadoo delivering corporate training and experience content
Victoria Community Arts Centre (Radstock) "Hang it" Project for local schools.

Publications:
2019 Society All Artists Tutor Profile, SAA Magazine
2016 book illustrations - Wilson & Fay, Coniston, Cumbria
2014 onwards - Articles for The Artist Magazine

Instagram: catherinebealeart
Facebook: @catherinebealeart