Kate has been painting for over 25 years, using oil on canvas to create her distinctive seascapes. Her works are created in series always linked to her original 'Sea Senses' series yet always progressing, through colour and form seeking new ways to capture an elusive element.  each series informs the next, creating  momentary diversions and differing aspects.   Inspiration for her work comes from the dramatic North East coastline, the west coast of Scotland and the Cornish Coastline.     -   ( The Greenstage Gallery.)

"Goliath" by Kate Van Suddese

'In the best of marine painting the sea is not the subject: it is a screen on which the deepest feelings and emotions of the artist are projected.   Turner knew this, and so does the Northumberland painter Kate Van Suddese..... Kate through the power of personal experience, has turned it into an emotional catalyst: "A place where we may find a better understanding of ourselves"     - Anne Ellis (Uptown Magazine)


Artist Statement

I have been influenced throughout my painting career to a great extent by the wonderful drama and light in Turner's work and the iridescent beauty captured by the Pre-Raphaelites.  In all, my interest is in beauty, light and otherworldliness, where the mundane becomes extraordinary and the familiar becomes surreal . I have been working on seascapes for a number of years and they remain an ever fascinating subject for me.  The sea is a wonderful catalyst for every emotion experienced and stores a wealth of history, whimsy and Drama in its folds.  I constantly strive to capture this mystical sense between the sea, land and observer.  Beauty, light, power and drama is everything, to transform the ordinary into something magical and extraordinary is all.


 

Sea Senses

"Where the sea meets the land
it creates a place of magical effect.
 A mystical space where the unseen is seen,
and where dreams are conceived .
ferociously alive, powerful yet comforting,
soothing in its ever changing beauty.
It is parent, lover and listener.
Where I see the unseen I see myself
and I find peace." -   (Kate Van Suddese)

Someone  asked me recently WHY I painted i can only say "because I must".

I tried to pin point various aims etc and realised that these change with my moods and are so varied that I can't give a single answer.  

Reasons why I pick up a brush:::::

The sheer joy of using the paint, watching it breathe, finding colours that take your breath away.

The delight of being able to control it but feeling the excitement of knowing there is an element that has no control too.There is always the Unexpected when the paint takes over.

Catching my memories both old and more recent and hopefully reflecting a few of the observer's.

Recreating a space and all it encompasses on a 2 dimensional surface, catching the energy and presence and holding it, moulding it.

Giving substance to something beautiful , seek the sublime.

Wanting to exorcise the thoughts in your head, ease the energy and frustration in your soul.

The need to understand yourself and your place in the world

To give substance to a line of poetry, a hymn or a memory

To capture a fleeting moment or play of light or colour that makes you feel something

To simply just paint what you see in front of you for the joy of the scene , the light, the mood, the beauty of what is around you.

Build a bridge between myself and others, share a mutual moment of understanding and appreciation

The sheer joy of trying to paint something so variable and complex as the sea, a body of contrast between finite and infinite.

Just the fun of being stuck in this world of paint and energy

The sudden elation when realising you have unknowingly put the last brush stroke on the canvas and you have to stop.  

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