Cat Outram Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1959 -

“I was born in 1959 in Nairobi, Kenya, a country my dads’ family have lived in since the early 1900s. We emigrated to the UK in 1966, settling in Edinburgh. I went to school here, ending up at the Art College, doing Drawing and Painting from 1977 to 1981.

After working for a few years, first at Thins bookshop and then at the newly re-furbished Fruitmarket Gallery, I was made redundant in 1989. Luckily I qualified for the Enterprise Allowance scheme which I did as a Printmaker, becoming officially professional in 1990.

Meanwhile, I have two sons.

I exhibit regularly in small galleries in and around Edinburgh, at Craft fairs, Charity exhibitions, Open exhibitions and members shows at Edinburgh Printmakers, which is where I make my etchings.”

I draw anything that strikes me as beautiful. As an etcher I am drawn to the linear around me. I love the tracery of winter branches against a clear sky, the shape of things against a bright window, or the contrast of textures, the pattern of shapes. But it is light especially, that moves me, the way shadows and highlights mark an image, the way sunlight is captured.

For many years I have made my living marketing images of Edinburgh, benefiting hugely from living in such a picturesque city. At the same time I have brought up two boys. Now they are grown, I have time to explore the medium more, to try to be more ambitious, more personal in my choices. I have been looking at different ways of adding colour by incorporating collograph and mono-print techniques and I mean to explore further the possibilities of deep intaglio.