In her London studio, Catherine enters a more inward landscape — one shaped by poetry, silence and imagination. The conversation between poetry and paint is deepened by the words of Auden, Eliot, Celan, Durrell, Akhmatova and Ratushinskaya, alongside living poets Wendell Berry, Robin Robertson and Mary Oliver.

This series takes its inspiration from T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, and in particular the quiet invocation from East Coker: “I said to my soul, be still.” Catherine’s process begins long before the first mark is made. For months, she listens daily to the entirety of Four Quartets, allowing its rhythm, language, and silences to settle within her. Only when the painting begins to call does she begin to paint.

Study 1

Oil on linen

1.6 ft x 3 ft (48.77 cm × 91.44 cm)