Biography and CV

KATTY  MCMURRAY

‘Katty’s landscapes and seascapes are deceptively simple and serenely evocative’ – ‘Cool blue-greys and earthy shades infuse her work, even close to home she gives a fresh perspective’ – ‘The Latest’, Brighton

Katty McMurray was born in London in 1970. After graduating from the Chelsea School of Art in 1991 she moved to Brighton where she paints from her seafront studio. Over the last decade she has exhibited widely throughout the UK and her paintings have acquired a huge following.

Always a passionate traveller she draws inspiration from her travels – places such as Morocco, Spain, India, Italy and many parts of England and Scotland have been her subjects. She is at present working from a trip to Norfolk and Suffolk alongside a visit to the south of Italy last summer.

Katty’s work stems from her love of drawing. While away on location, she spends her time sketching; quickly and often using a single line, she records her immediate impressions of a place.

On returning to her studio, these drawings are used as a base for her larger paintings in oil on canvas, keeping the strong lines and using colours to recreate the atmosphere of the particular place.

Over the last few years Katty has had a series of successful solo and mixed shows, and continues to exhibit with galleries in London and around the UK, such as the Ingo Fincke Gallery, Lena Boyle Fine Art, Cambridge Contemporary Art, The Curwen Gallery, and The Fairfax Galleries.

Kattys work has been published as limited edition prints by Artizan Editions where she creates her original handmade screenprints, these are either taken directly from her sketchbooks or are full colour ,using layers to create the final prints. She is currently working on two new colour Brighton Prints.

In 1999 she was selected to be the Brighton Festival Poster artist and has been commissioned for a painting on the Cunard Cruise Liner the ‘Queen Victoria’, and recently a series of 10 paintings for ‘Harbour Way’ apartments by Taylor Woodrow for Bryant Homes.

 Katty has also had cards published by the Art Group and the Cannes Down Press.

 In 2006 she was commissioned by  ‘The Hoxton Hotel’. The Hoxton Hotel is Sinclair Beecham’s (co-founder of Pret A Manger) new hotel in London. Katty was asked to draw a series of London Landmarks to be reproduced over 200 times on a scale of 3 metres each.