Sally Gatie

Sally Gatie


Sally Gatie is a contemporary figurative painter, working from her studio at Woodend, in her home town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

The human figure has been Sally’s main source of inspiration, and continues to be central to her work, in conjunction with her exploration of colour, texture and pattern. The figure is an important starting point for her work, often an expression or a pose is her inspiration for the next composition. Working from sketches and photo montages, Sally creates her paintings using a grid system, which she has recently developed. ‘My working system is always in a state of flux, developing in small steps from painting to painting.’ She gives great importance to her thoughts whilst painting; Sally believes that the finished painting is a product of both her consciousness while painting, and her developing techniques as an artist.
ally paints both large-scale and small-scale artworks, using oil on canvas. Her love of pattern and texture is obvious in her expressive mark making techniques, depicting the figure gently cradled within a sea of patterned fabric. At first glance, the figures look at rest and peaceful, but steadily the viewer becomes aware that in fact the paintings are energetic, restless and animated. Sally uses the folds, shapes, intricate patterns and lively use of colour and brushwork to make the eye move around the canvas surface. There is a tension between the tenderness of the figure and the unease of the chaos created by the patterned surface.

Sally studied Fine Art Painting at the University of York’s Scarborough campus, under the tutorship of the realist painters Clive Head and Steve Whitehead. Sally shows her work at Art Fairs in London, Bristol and Edinburgh, and exhibits with Artsbank in Saltburn on Sea.

Sally’s influences include artists such as Albert Moore, Frederic Lord Leighton, Gustav Klimt, Lucien Freud and Alison Watt.


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