ABOUT CATHERINE HYDE
Delicate and dreamlike but firm and not at all fey...there is poetry and passion in her painting....as intoxicating as it is intriguing — Frank Ruhrmund
Award-winning artist Catherine Hyde trained in Fine Art Painting at The Central School of Art in London. She is renowned for her mythopoetic paintings and lyrical books. Her atmospheric work is rendered with a poetic sensitivity and draws on mythology and folklore to explore the nuanced intersections between the natural world and the internal landscape.
Originating from Greek, mythopoetic means "myth-making" or creating narratives. It is an approach to art where the artist invents their own symbols, creatures, and stories to explore identity, memory, and existential themes, rather than retelling established ancient myths. The artist is not just the producer of an image, but a participant within it, acting as a shaman or storyteller, often using their personal mythology to heal or find stability.
Themes & Imagery
Her work frequently explores thresholds — the liminal spaces between waking and dreaming, dusk and dawn, life and death. In her paintings of flora and fauna, she uses archetypal imagery such as the Hare, Stag, Fish, the Green Man, and the Crow to create narratives and suggest stories.
About the Hare
'It is the otherness of the hare that interests me, their elusiveness, their mythology. For many years, I have employed the earthy magic of the hare as a symbol in my paintings. I see the hare as a conduit, representing freedom and wildness, marking the seasons and pulling the year along. In many of my earlier pieces, it has been a contemplative symbol of fertility. In more recent work, it is a shapeshifter, a witch, the watcher in the landscape. It has always been an expression of the restlessness of my creative energy.'
Technique & Materials
She works primarily with acrylic on canvas using the repeated layering of paint to represent the 'adding and subtracting' of memory and meaning. She further builds the surface with metal leaf, mica flakes, coins, and seeds to connect the work to themes of earth, decay, and renewal.
Early Life & Influences
I grew up in the ancient port town of Gravesend in North Kent, experiencing a more urban than rural childhood but with the freedom, as was common in the late sixties, to roam and play outside all day. This, combined with a home full of books, visits to museums and galleries, and outings to castles and prehistoric sites, was rich fuel for my imagination.
As a child, I was lucky enough to be a precocious reader. I galloped through Grimm (with terror at my heels), constantly revisited the melancholy world of Hans Christian Andersen, and gleefully recited the poetry of AA Milne and Spike Milligan. I read everything but found I was most drawn to writers like John Masefield, L.M. Boston, Eleanor Farjeon, Elizabeth Goudge, C.S. Lewis, and the mighty Alan Garner – stories infused with layers of myth, archetype and magic.
Having studied A-level Art, English Literature, and History, I trained in Fine Art Painting at the Central School of Art in London. After three hard but amazing years, during which I learned how to paint and how to make mistakes, I was only certain that I was ready to leave city life.
Cornwall & My Practice
The move from London, exchanging city noise for the quiet of trees and gardens, was like a balm. I went back to drawing: jugs of flowers, baskets of apples, patterned fabrics, my family, myself, the cat. As I worked and walked, finding the cycles of the lengthening and shortening days reassuring, I slowed down and tuned into myself. I read, becoming increasingly fascinated by folklore, the Green Man, and the earthy magic of the hare. I discovered Ted Hughes, Robert Graves, John Cowper Powys, and looked afresh at the Neo-Romantic painters of the 20th century.
Being in the landscape, my paintings and drawings began to fill with symbols and archetypes, both real and imagined, layering meanings, creating atmosphere. Above all, I fell in love with the liminal space between twilight and dusk, dawn and sunrise, where the edges of the world seem tremulous and uncertain.
My husband and I moved to Cornwall with our children twenty-five years ago, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Our deep love and connection to the Cornish landscape, its coast, rivers and wonderful light are a constant source of inspiration and joy.
Bio
b.1960 Dartford, Kent. Foundation studies, Medway College of Design, 1978/9. BA (Hons) Fine Art Painting, Central School of Art, London, 1979–82.
Selected Galleries
Catherine's work has been exhibited and represented by galleries including Foss Fine Art, London; Beaux Arts, Bath; Lighthouse Gallery, Penzance; and Iona House Gallery, Woodstock.
About the Prints
Every print begins with the original painting, photographed under controlled conditions to capture the full tonal range, detail, and colour depth. I print using light-fast pigmented inks on Innova Soft Textured Natural White — a fine art paper with a gentle surface that complements the atmospheric quality of my work. The finished print is titled, signed, and numbered by me beneath the image. These are archival museum-quality prints, made to last.
At 300gsm the paper is heavyweight and stiff, so prints are sent flat with a backing board and protective cover inside a sturdy folding flat box. If you have any questions, please get in touch.