Kate Giles' Paintings in Visions of Sugarplums

AKA contemporary's Winter Show 2022 - 23.

We are in AKA contemporary admiring Kate Giles’ paintings. We have a moment imagining a bird’s eye view of her studio while she creates these wonderful works and then our own feelings merge into their presence. They are very emotive English landscapes; within the first glimpse of these three paintings we recognise a deep connection with the subjects, a blustery moment between river and trees, here lie qualities only found in the work of great landscape masters, of Constable, Chrome and also Cézanne!

Giles’ paintings arise from a fascination with East Anglia’s Bure and Nar river valleys, conjured with her innate skill as she knows the stuff of paint.

Giles’ studio is full of reference material, studies and sketches for the compositions drawn “en plein air”. 



Giles has a pallet the size of a table top and selects two different painting supports, sized marine ply which provides a rich red warm background allowing blue hues of sky and water to shimmer, the second linen on a deep stretcher the bounce of canvas builds a repertoire between the action of painting and slipperiness of the wet on wet technique. Giles describes the combination of paint and ground as 'incredibly allowing” giving her the freedom to follow the process, embracing the unintended and uncontrolled constant play with the illusion of space and perspective.

These three paintings are three familiar moments in time which intrigue us as they shift forward and back catching the ebb and flow of the water glistening the falling of blossom and leaf. These are Giles’ physical and emotional responses to nature and while we look so deeply into the surface it becomes ours too. 

"The illusion of space powerfully persists, despite the constant reminder of its construction. We can clearly discern the broad strokes that make the cloud, perfect gestures of paint, and yet the evocation of wind, vapour and light is so compelling you can almost feel it.”