About my art
I make quietly powerful landscape and still life paintings that respond to the spirit of place.
My art is an act of openness to beauty in the real world, in its small and vast forms: the huge bowl of evening light on a beach, a glance of sunlight on a windowsill. For me, painting is a way to invite and reflect life-enhancing experience, whether of stillness or turbulence.
Most often, my art encapsulates moments of quiet, reparative appreciation.
I work in both abstract and representational ways, using acrylic and oil paint, graphite, charcoal and pastel. I seek balance in my work, but this means oscillating between modes of making. I work in the landscape and in my home studio. My work is handmade, not digital.
If you would like further insights into the way I work, you may enjoy my studio notes. Read more here.
About me
My passion for painting is fuelled in part by having come to it a bit later in life. After a career in communications in London, I moved to the North of England and pursued writing, my first creative love. I earned a PhD, published stories and poems, and taught novel- and story-writing at university.
The more I wrote, the more I wrote about art. Feeling a longing to make my own, and have tangible work in the world, through my own hands, I began to draw and paint for the first time.
I designed my own fine art education, according to my loves and skills. I have learned from Louise Balaam, Louise Fletcher, and Nicolas Wilton, among many others. There are so many artists whose work I admire. Among the most important to me are Vilhelm Hammershøi, Gwen John and Ben Nicholson.
I am always searching for new ways to engage creatively with the world. But I have always looked at the world through an image-maker's eyes.
Biography
Kathryn Pallant Dixon grew up in Birmingham, UK and on the Gold Coast, Australia. She holds a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Manchester, and Master’s degrees from the University of Queensland, Australia and The University of Manchester, UK.
Her critical writing at the University of Manchester focused on the art of Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson; her novel was about three generations of women artists.
Kathryn began her art and design studies at Bolton College from 2023-2025. At the end of year show in June 2025, she sold her first painting to the College, and was recipient of the Principal’s Award. She has since studied with Norman Long NEAC and has also completed online studies with Louise Balaam NEAC, RWA and Nicolas Wilton.
Kathryn’s 2026 exhibitions comprise:
The Harris Open (group show)
The Blackburn Open (group show)
Kama Muta, The Old Lock Up Gallery (group show)
The Secret Postcard Exhibition, The Old Lock Up Gallery.