Flowers can be beautiful on a canvas, but for the painter Catherine Throne they are more than a pretty picture. The Auckland artist has exclusively painted flowers since working on her Master of Fine Arts at Elam, where she began exploring the relationship of flowers to femininity. “What I’m painting now are the fleeting qualities of the feminine that I see in nature,” she says. “Courage and tenacity, constancy, the joy of uniqueness and also the sense of community. When I paint wild flowers in a meadow or roses hanging on the wall, I wonder what they would be thinking or feeling right now? “

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Katherine uses oil paint for its materiality and the way it can be manipulated, but says it’s how light can travel through layers of oil paint, creating depth and of the brightness that makes her addicted. Her larger paintings are often her favorites because they give her space to make the brushstrokes and tempo transitions that she is naturally inclined to create. “I am an expressive painter and there are a lot of gestures and movements in my work. Rhythm is important, and a big part of the composition is determining how the eye will move across the canvas and where it will be drawn or allowed to rest.

See his work on katherinethrone.com, instagram.com/katherinethrone and during a group exhibition at Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland, in December 2021.

MY FAVORITE THINGS

American Credence of Martinsville: We brought it back from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and it reminds me of our time there.

Family adventures: We’re in the mountains most weekends and it’s the best family time ever.

Treasures: I love the artwork created by my daughters Emma and Hailey.

Flowers in the house: Especially when they take on that wonderful, week-old patina of decay.