About me – Catherine Nessworthy

I grew up in a village in a valley beside the sea, right on the tip of Africa.

*The village of Hout Bay in South Africa, where I grew up.* [wikipedia]

I now live on the holiday island of Gozo in the Mediterranean sea, with my wonderful husband Matthew and our adorable Scottish terrier, Matilda.

One of Gozo island’s harbours, where artist Catherine Nessworthy now lives. [wikipedia]

I developed an interest in art, music and literature at an early age and have pursued these interests ever since. For many years I have written about art and humour, street art and tattoos online. Writing about these topics and seeing the styles used in these art forms influenced my own art style, combining the abstract African art influences that I came across as a child with contemporary popular culture. Some of my designs are beautiful, while others are slightly more bizarre. Most of my art works are self portraits, because I am the one subject that I know a lot about.

My art is a visual diary of my life experience.

In 2017 I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder and depression, two conditions that developed because I had many dysfunctional relationships in the past.

My art is my therapy, because it is where I explore my thoughts and feelings. As I heal myself psychologically from the difficulties I have experienced, I put my revelations, my ideas and realisations into my art. I talk about my psychological art process on my social media accounts in the hopes that I can get others to think about their own attitudes and belief systems. I believe that people who think for themselves are better able to empower themselves and so I try to motivate others to explore what their opinions are by showing my own opinions in my art works; opinions that are often different from the social norm.

This picture is from one of my posts on Instagram, a place where I feel comfortable to talk about my mental health journey, my day-to-day feelings and my life experiences.
This particular mental health art work is about the moment when my anxiety hits and I feel like I can’t catch a breath.

I have a great respect for the oddballs, the thinkers and philosophers of the world and so I try to be an oddball philosopher myself.

I am a big believer of self-love and self-care and seeing to your own needs and then helping others, because if you can’t help yourself, you probably can’t help others. So I’m hoping that my healing journey can be an inspiration to others who struggle with mental health problems, and that I can lead by example; by taking care of my physical and emotional health, using creativity as a therapeutic tool. I believe that everyone is an artist – we just have to find our own style of self-expression.

*Here I am in my previous art room on Gozo island, holding a work-in-progress self-portrait.*

My art processes

Pencil and ink on card

One of my favourite methods of creating art is to use ink pencils, watercolour pencils, and colouring pencils on card stock. I start with a drawing, which I do free-hand. I then start adding layers of pencil work, with a layer of spray fixative between each layer. Sometimes I use glitter glue on these art works because I have a fetish for all things sparkly.

This video shows how I use glitter glue in an art work, even though it is not a conventional fine art medium. I feel it adds to the personal nature of my art works because it expresses my love of all things kitsch and sparkly.

Oil paint on card

By painting several layers of gesso (essentially chalk paint) on both sides of card, I’m able to use oil paint, oil pastels and safflower oil on that card.

*This is an oil on card portrait that I painted of my friend George Grosman, a highly talented jazz musician living in the US. You can listen to his music on Spotify*

Appliqué mixed media art works

Another favourite art style of mine is appliqué. I cut shapes out of cloth, felt and EVA foam and then sit on the couch and stitch beads, ribbons and sequins on to the shapes, which I then sew on to a canvas, usually while filming a vlog for my YouTube channel. Each art work takes months, but I enjoy it very much so I don’t feel like it’s a waste of time.

*Here I am posing with one of my completed appliqué art works, called “I like having boobs” because I like having boobs and I thought it would be a fun sentiment to celebrate in my art.*

Painting on canvas

Painting is another one of my favourite ways to create art. I’m currently exploring ways to use both acrylic paint and oil paint in the same painting, by using layers, or glazes, as it is called in the painting world. I’m not big on smooth gradients; I enjoy making interesting effects and textures with the paint.

*Here I am working on an acrylic painting of a mandala.*

This close-up of a work-in-progress painting shows my painting style. I add layer after layer of colour, building up depth and texture with painterly lines, hatches and blotches of colour. This painting is several layers of colour glaze away from being finished.

Pottery!

I started taking the occasional pottery class in 2021 and I’ve made plenty of cat-themed items, like the two cat planters in the picture below. I’m currently learning how to “throw” pots on the potter’s wheel.

The pot plant holder that I’m showing here is called “Grumpy cat”. After the second firing it will have the same finish as my “Giant kitty planter” in the background. Both of these pottery pieces were made using the coiling method.

Felties; embroidered felt decorations

I make myself happy by making endless amounts of felt toys and Christmas decorations. I stuff these with scraps of yarn, felt, fabric and embroidery thread from other projects.

*This is one of my Backpack pets; a feltie that can be attached with the brooch pin to a backpack so you can take your cat feltie with you wherever you go.*

I love yarn

In winter there’s nothing that I love to do more than cuddling with my dog on the couch and crocheting or knitting. I’ve been crocheting since I was ten years old and I took up knitting in late 2018 and I have taken to trying to combine the two yarncrafts to create knichet patterns. Many of my winter blog posts will focus on my very quiet, solo adventures in the soft and safe world of yarncrafts.

Matilda the Scottie loves to burrow into my crochet blankets where she's toasty and safe from the winter weather. — *Matilda the Scottish terrier loves to burrow into my crochet blankets where she’s toasty and safe from the winter weather.*

Please visit my Contact me page to find links to my social networking accounts. I can also be reached via email at [email protected]

I am happy to give interviews, or to provide any additional information to journalists, bloggers and podcasters.