Oil, Encaustic, and Watercolour art by Catherine Radix Mansell
Catherine Radix Mansell is an artist based in Rhode Island. The artist paints in a variety of media, including oil, encaustic, and watercolour, with the latter works employing a style influenced by traditional Asian painting techniques.
Even organized into galleries according to very different media and techniques, there’s still a sense of cohesion in Catherine’s portfolio that I find quite satisfying. The artist leans into pastel colour palettes in many of her works -- her encaustic and oil pieces provide a beautiful contrast between the heavy, almost sculptural medium and airy shades of light blue and yellow. In many cases, the artist blends together multiple media and styles, producing works in oil and encaustic that draw on traditional watercolour techniques, serving as interesting visual experiments.
I also appreciate the balance between abstract and figurative work in Catherine’s portfolio. Many pieces toe the line between the two disciplines, suggesting figures that never quite resolve. In other works, the artist builds up abstract shapes that become figures in their own right.
