About the artist

dragonfly, fabric, surface design, illustration, textile design, woven monkey, dress making, dress, sewing, homemade

Hello and welcome! I hope you’re safe and well.

I’m currently passing a creative lockdown with my family in my home county of Essex.

Last year I returned to London for a spell after spending nine months travelling and painting in India and the Netherlands.

Prior to that I was based for eleven years in Vejer de la Frontera, a beautiful white town in southern Spain.

Here’s a bit about my art projects:

  • I’m just putting the finishing touches to my sketchbook project for the Brooklyn Art Library: Bermondsey Sketchbook Project, 16 painted snapshots of an area I love very much.

street sign, illustration, brooklyn art library, the sketchbook project, sketchbook, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, drawing, urban landscape, urban sketching, corona virus lockdown 2020, bermondsey, london, se1, southwark

pen, watercolour, water color, drawing, painting, illustration, food, map, andalucia, andalusia, annie b, spanish kitchen, vejer, cadiz, jerez, sherry, cerdo iberico, queso de cabra, goats cheese, iberian pork, retinto, beef, tuna, atun, octopus, pulpo, flamenco, squid, calamari, lemon, limon, anchovies, anchoas, prawns, gambas, atlantic ocean, oceano atlantico, mediterranean sea, mar mediterraneo, solera, spices, vineyard, bodega, chorizo, olive oil, acete de oliva

  • Sketching: I like to crack open my tin of watercolour paints for some loose drawing and splattery colouring. 

mushrooms, watercolor, puntarelle, bermondsey, london, watercolour, painting, sketchbook, pen and wash, food illustration, illustration, drawing, paint it then eat it

  • Textile design: I’ve had a number of my designs digitally printed onto fabric; so far I’ve had fun sewing cushions, scarves, skirts, dresses, a tea cosy and a couple of experimental face masks.

dragonfly, fabric, surface design, illustration, textile design, woven monkey, dress making, dress, sewing, homemade, home sewing, made to measure, invisible zip, empire line, tied back, tunic, split sides

  • Travel Blogging – I recorded my trip around India in words, photos and sketches and posted them in my latest work section. I also drew portraits and painted a few murals while staying in Rajasthan.

jaisalmar, fort, rajasthan, india, workaway, rooftop, wonbin safari hostel, pen and wash, watercolour, watercolor, painting, sketching, sketchbook, travel illustration, travel blog, illustration, landscape, painting, drawing

  • The Black Dawg – an illustrated poem about depression and hope. In 2016 I raised funds on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter to self-publish this beautiful picture book for adults which aims to raise awareness and reduce stigma around mental health issues. I made the illustrations and my friend Louis McIntosh wrote the poem. 

the black dawg, kathryn hockey, artist. illustrator, louis mcintosh, writer, poet, author, illustrated poem, depression. hope, picture book, illustration, mental health, black dog, kickstarter, snorkel, drowning, deep, dark, sea, breathe, presence, mindfulness

  • Portraits: whether ‘analogue’ in charcoal, pencil, watercolour and acrylic paints or made digitally in Photoshop these make lovely gifts and wedding cards.

wedding, card, portrait, couple, gay, marriage, greetings card, congratulations, rainbow, joint portrait, couple, happy couple, wedding day, celebration, nuptuals, digital, illustration, pencil, drawing, outline, photoshop, layers, highlights, sunglasses

  • Murals and signs: I’ve painted on windows, walls, wood, tiles, concrete and even a car door in public and private spaces in Spain, India and the Netherlands. Some of them end up getting erased or painted over but that’s the impermanent nature of the mural.

handpainted sign, signwriting, map, map making, campground, forest, woodland, camping schoonenberg, driehuis, north holland, holland, acrylic paint, wood, illustration, leaves, brambles, sign, painting, art

  • Exhibitions: In January 2018 I showed examples of my illustrations at Marcel Snyders’ book launch for his play Té Verde (I designed the cover). In the last few years I had pieces included in group shows organised by Arte Vejer, La Pinturera and Vejer Inspira. I’ve also staged solo exhibitions in London, Cádiz and Vejer.

te verde, green tea, play, marcel snyders, arte vejer, exhibition, vejer de la frontera, castle, illustration, book cover, watercolour, pen and watercolour, art, drawing, painting, poster

The writer Jackie Cornwall says

icarus mendoza, sequence, three witches, book cover, novel, illustration, jackie cornwall

“I came to Kathryn Hockey’s art through a St. Ives prism, seeing in her clear colours and careful outlines the legacy of Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood and Bryan Pearce. How wonderful then, that when I asked her to create a painting for a friend’s birthday, she gave me that most quintessential St. Ives discovery, a windowless windowsill! Her work vibrates with a life-affirming joie de vivre. Her ability to find colour and interest in unregarded objects is one of the most engaging aspects of her art.

Everything in Kathryn’s work has its own glamour, from bulging gas bottles to clustered flowers. A white skull, an elegantly strutting rooster, a squadron of peppers are almost tamed by her instinct for line and pattern, but in their exuberant colours nature has its way. A dancer’s boots, crowned with roses and creased with use, lead our eyes into a looking-glass world. Beyond her delicately wrought townscapes dance the lights of infinite possibility.

Sometimes cartoonish and stylised, sometimes lovingly detailed, her people are not strangers; they look straight into our hearts, and whether they smile, wink knowingly or merely look out at us from the sanctuary of their own thoughts, we know them and their humanity. To encounter one of her subjects is to find a friend. Her animals too, are real personalities.

Kathryn’s work would enliven any context, but in the brilliant light of the Costa de la Luz her feel for both colour and line have come together in a unique combination. She is a true artist, one who makes art out of everything she sees, and I trust that in the future, her reputation will increase as she deserves.”

You can see blog posts about all my latest creations here.