Part of the New Light Prize Exhibition 2020

Catherine MacDiarmid is a Kendal based artist whose work is influenced by the human form. She gained a First Class (Hons) Degree form De Montfort University in 1994, and her work has been exhibited across the UK: including the BP Portrait Award; Royal Watercolour and Pastel Society; and the Artists and Illustrators Artist of the Year. She was a semi-finalist in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 and is a member of the Lakes Artists Society and Contemporary British Portrait Painters.

Catherine splits her artistic practice between portrait commissions and creating her own thematic figurative compositions. She works in oils, watercolour and charcoal, and loves to explore human displacement and disguises. Behind the Doll Paint is part of a series of face painted portraits inspired by her own children's love of dressing up and becoming another character.