Kitty North – Paintings at Low Wood

Buildings in the Landscape – Paintings by Kitty North, is the second exhibition to be held in the Atrium at the Low Wood Bay Hotel, Windermere. In the group of works exhibited at Low Wood Bay, many of the paintings feature buildings in a landscape or garden setting. 

The Lake District is familiar territory for the artist Kitty North. Born in 1963 in Lancashire, Kitty went to school at Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts house designed by architect Hugh Baillie Scott, and later to St. Ann’s School, Windermere.

In 1998 a solo exhibition of Kitty’s work was held at The Abbot Hall Gallery, Kendal. During 2010 /2011, Kitty was Artist in Residence at Levens Hall, the Elizabethan manor house and famous topiary garden, just south of Kendal.

Kitty studied at Chelsea School of Art, followed by Brighton University. Further studies continued with an MA at Manchester University in1987. In recent years Kitty returned to Chelsea where a number of exhibitions were held, including: Chelsea: River to Rooftops -2019 and Kitty North: All Paintings Great And Small.

I spent days sketching by the river, on the streets, in pavement cafes drinking it all in.

There are a number of works on paper in the Windermere exhibition of this area of London,including the works: Wellington Square, Onslow Square and Albert Bridge.

Kitty lists a number of influences which led her to paint, from being taken as a child to a regional art gallery to see a David Hockney exhibition, and in the same year seeing an exhibition of the British artist J. M. W. Turner. However the overriding and continuing influence on her desire to paint, has been the experience of living in the Northern Landscape. 

This part of the world is etched deep upon my soul. The landscape and the people are an unending source of inspiration.

Kitty North 2024

For the last twenty seven years, Kitty has lived and worked in Yorkshire. Her home and studio are in the village of Arncliffe in the Yorkshire Dales. The village is known by many as the original location for the TV drama Emmerdale Farm, and more recently for the filming of the TV series: All Creatures Great  And Small. 

In the more recent paintings, I’m also using acrylics, as well as oil, watercolour, and charcoal. Watercolours and charcoals are predominantly drawn directly from life. I love to be outside in the village recording whatever comes across the village green, or up on a hillside feeling the elements and trying to translate them into paint.”

Kitty North

Kitty has in recent years undertaken a number of commissions and projects across Britain. These have included projects in Oxfordshire, Bolton Abbey and Chatsworth. 

Being commissioned to paint someone’s home is a very big responsibility. The house can form the mainstay of the work, or the emotional centre of the picture. What does this place mean to them?”

The Old Rectory – Farnborough, with it’s four acre garden, was once home to the English poet John Betjeman (1906 – 1984) who lived there between 1945 and 1951. Betjeman was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death in 1984. He lived at The Old Rectory between 1945 – 1951. 

Commissions have included numerous paintings of the former textile building Salts Mill in Saltaire, West Yorkshire.  A large exhibition of Kitty’s work is currently on display at Salts Mill entitled: Continuum. The mill houses a large collection of work by David Hockney.

Gavagan Art

I first exhibited Kitty’s work in Lancaster in the 1990’s, when I was Director of the University’s Art Gallery. I am very pleased to now be able to present an exhibition of her work in Cumbria. There are more paintings in the actual exhibition at Low Wood Bay than are in this online selection.

OWN ART available for this exhibition.