In Darkling Wood is a mixed collection of Catherine Hyde’s works on canvas, panel, clayboard and paper. Many of these pieces will appear in her forthcoming book ‘Darkling: The Owl’s Song, which is to be published in summer 2024.
She describes the works as night poems and these intensely drawn and layered paintings explore the transition of dusk into night as the light sinks and colour drains into darkness. With moonrise the woodland is transformed into another landscape of contrast and pattern where uncertain shadows suggest deeper spaces. Using inks, acrylics and pouring glazes she builds and scratches into the surface of canvas and clayboard inviting the viewer to step further in.
What many people regard as Catherine’s signature animals: hare, barn owl and deer are here joined by rook, fox, otter and badger and most particularly by the tawny owl who sits and watches, who sits and listens, and calls twilight to him.
