Katharine Nicholls

Not THE Summer Exhibition perhaps, but it was important to me as opportunities to do a solo show don't come along that often.  It's a very interesting process, trying to decide what's in and what's out.  If you are quite prolific, there is a lot to choose from and it forces you to become a harsh editor of your own work, to recognise what is good and what is not so good on a wall. Most of the images I have made in my working life have been done for a reason, a narrative in a book or a film or to enhance a piece of writing in a magazine so its been quite an adventure to make work for no other reason than the image itself.  I'm still not sure it's really me but it has been liberating. Here are a few pics from the exhibition, more to come. I tried to make the most of this exhibition and even dedicated some of our family rainy camping holiday on the Scilly Isles to painting.  Most of the work that made it through the curating process was lan...

Here are some images I did for a picture book earlier in the summer in collaboration with the jeweller Alex Monroe. He wanted to produce an illustrated story around which he would theme his exhibition of jewellery at Penhaligons, the perfumiers in Covent Garden. The book was called 'The Gardener' and was about a little girl who discovers the delights of city gardening on a friendly old man's allotment. Style wise it allowed me to work towards the kind of illustration I admire which is fresh and immediate. I'm putting together a younger children's version of the book at the moment.