Katy Jade Dobson

Yorkshire-born contemporary portrait and wildlife artist, Katy Jade Dobson is rapidly blossoming into one of the stars of her genre fold to watch with interest, as the now Lincoln-based art practitioner goes from compositional strength to strength; in terms of both her evolving skillset and burgeoning following amongst aficionados. Essentially a self-taught artist, Dobson’s mixed media, acrylic and watercoloured manifestations stemmed from a childhood engrossed in a love of all things creative where she would learn to draw and paint with abandon. Today she’s perhaps best known and admired for her detailed, yet conversely ethereal portraits and sketches, routinely featuring a host of subject matters however most recently focussing her painted attentions on wildlife. Indeed, with this natural shift towards the highly illustrative depiction of a host of animals in their more natural habitats, Dobson has begun to favour oil paints as her medium of choice, in light of discovering that the opulent tones and seemingly infinite textural possibilities within the perfect match for the graphical messages she was seeking to convey through her subsequent works.

While working in the city’s bars for a couple of years as she progressed on her course of study at the University of Lincoln, Dobson would regularly take time out of her busy schedule to attend art events and fairs so as to afford her fledgling canvas-displayed art the potential should window its talent demanded. And fundamentally it was the overtly positive and actively encouraging response with which her pictorial works were met with which inspired Dobson to throw any lingering caution to the wind and launch herself as a professional exponent of her chosen craft. Openly admitting a passion for the notably inspiring ethereal qualities found in the artistic splendour of Odilon Redon’s masterpieces, Dobson does little to mask her love for the French symbolist painter’s application of vibrant hues and saturations. It was this affection which ultimately led Dobson to the plundering of a more decadently coloured palette as she sought to capture her wildlife scenes.

That said, and of late, the much talked about Dobson has plotted new compositional coordinates, having most recently pursued a series of portraits based on iconic women of our times; markedly in the highly anticipated ‘Phosphenes’ collection which was universally welcomed with much clamour and acclaim on launch. Blending her now hallmark ethereal qualities with a more eclectically abstract approach to colour (together with personally championing a heavily embellished façade, adorned with tactile indents and brush strokes), Dobson’s effectively more spontaneous transition from wildlife to portraiture (although the wildlife exploits are said to remain prominent and evergreen going forward) has brought even more exposure; not least in the guise of appearances in a range of populist publications which can only further her already broad appeal. Namely a spread in Cliché magazine and on the cover of The Journal to name but two run-outs.
Heading into 2016 (and far beyond) we would implore appreciators of pictorially dramatic and visually harmonious artworks to stay vigilant in these parts for news and features on the continued artistic adventures of a name to be reckoned with in these contemporary circles going forward.