Focus on Kate Wilson
Kate Wilson explains to Oliver Bevan the process by which she turns life into art

An article by Oliver Bevan that appeared in Artists & Illustrators,  May 1996.

Kate Wilson is one of those particularly English artists, like Stanley Spencer or Carel Weight, who make their art out of excerpts from their own lives, and use distortions, whether of drawing or colour, to tell their stories more vividly.

One of the main influences on her style was a trip to Russia which she made as a student: "I saw icons for the first time, and they really changed my ideas about what art could be.  They had gold backgrounds, or used yellow to give a glow I got the idea that you don't need proper space; you can change space and reality to fit what you want to say."

In her painting set on Victoria Station, Saying No to the Egg Man, a couple are either meeting or parting on the platform, overlooked by a poster showing a bowler-hatted man with a fried egg.  At the time Kate didn't know if she was going to marry, or break up with her man (now happily her husband): "The poster was for an airline," she explains, "and if you didn't fly with them you had egg on your face; I think it was timed to coincide with the Magritte exhibition at the Hayward Gallery."

This is typical of Kate's approach to subject matter: it always stems from personal history, acting as a kind of visual diary.  Her working method is continually evolving.  A certain place will trigger her imagination; she'll take photos and make on-the-spot sketches in black ball-point, then draw from memory while the photos are being developed.  After that she'll draw again from the photos and return to the site as often as she needs for extra information.  By the time this new material has all been absorbed, the composition may have drifted off and lost its original character.  More drawing and preparatory  studies are then made to retrieve it in egg tempera, watercolour, pastel or oil paint.  Each painting is thoroughly rehearsed; all the visual information is driven by her own personal story.  Spontaneity does not come into it.

Kate's handling of the paint is more deliberate than exciting, though her surfaces are always animated.  Saying No to the Egg Man was executed on a timber panel primed with white thixotropic alkyd primer into which, when dry, a mixture of cadmium yellow and yellow ochre was rubbed.  This coat was then scratched into or drawn on while wet with a turpsy rag.  Impasto colour was added (without white), applied with a palette knife, then rubbed or scraped back to reveal parts of the ground.  Modifications to the colour were made with layers of glazing, which obviated the need for white in the mixture.

Mid Ocean is a huge canvas in unearthly pale greens and blues.  The first impression is of a dramatic split level composition, made possible by a daring perspective invention.  The source of the painting was a series of ferry crossings to France: "I was amazed at this huge thing, as big as a building, cutting through water which looked frighteningly powerful."  Fear, wonder and excitement are the dominant emotions; the stripy waves seem like predatory beasts prowling round the ship.

Technically, the painting had to be on canvas, as a board of this size would be unbearably heavy; as it is, the stretcher is hinged to get through doors.  Never one to get into a technical rut, Kate sorts out new methods and materials for new subjects.  The waves, for instance, are as formally realised as Hokusai's.  How did she manage this?  "I took photographs of water, then made a large drawing in chalk and charcoal from a tiny bit of the photograph, defining shapes as much as I could.  At other times I'll spread sheets on the studio floor, drawing the folds and wrinkles for waves."

I wondered how she had arrived at the unfamiliar colour combinations for Mid Ocean: "My first studies were ochres and oranges, like the London paintings, but they looked completely wrong.  I had no idea how to solve this problem.  I had been teaching collage to a summer school, getting them to paint papers with a range of colours.  I found myself attracted to some of the pale green and blue papers left over, so I started a collage with Mid Ocean in mind.  It's sometimes easier to use a found colour than to try mixing into the unknown!  I made small studies in oil, but also in pastel, which I had never used before.  It seemed to suit the pale colours I needed for this subject."

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