Catherine Anholt: Cover Artist, Arts to Hearts Magazine Issue 10

Arts to Hearts Magazine stands as a global platform dedicated to celebrating the voices and visions of women artists those who create with depth, courage, and emotion. With each edition, we continue our mission to honour their stories, amplify their art, and bring their brilliance to a worldwide audience.

For its 10th edition, Arts to Hearts Magazine proudly features Catherine Anholt on the cover an artist whose work feels like a heartfelt conversation with life itself. Known for her soft, layered paintings that blend memory and imagination, Catherine captures the beauty found in stillness, intimacy, and everyday wonder.

Her art tells stories that breathe of mothers and children, sunlight on patterned fabrics, and the quiet companionship of nature. Every stroke carries tenderness, nostalgia, and reflection, inviting viewers into a world where simplicity feels sacred and emotion runs deep.

Her cover painting for this issue is not just an artwork but an embrace a visual reminder that life’s quietest moments often hold the most meaning. Through her gentle palette and layered textures, Catherine reminds us that beauty doesn’t always demand attention; sometimes, it simply whispers.

In celebrating Catherine Anholt, Arts to Hearts Magazine reaffirms its belief in the transformative power of women’s creativity a power that heals, inspires, and connects us all.

Who is Catherine Anholt?

Born in 1958, Catherine Anholt grew up in a large Irish Catholic family as one of eight siblings. Her mother was a nurse, her father a potter, and their home was filled with both care and creativity. In the lively rhythm of family life, Catherine found her sanctuary in silence wandering through the countryside, sketchbook in hand, letting the beauty of nature sink deeply into her spirit. Those quiet wanderings became the root of her lifelong connection to the inner world a place she still returns to every time she paints.

From an early age, Catherine began keeping visual diaries intimate handmade journals that hold her sketches, thoughts, and emotions. These journals became her companions, a space to process life, memory, and feeling. To this day, she has filled thousands of them, and many of her larger paintings are born directly from their pages.

Her art celebrates what it means to be alive to love, to nurture, to grieve, and to grow. Through her brush, she paints the experiences of being a woman, a mother, a partner, and now, a grandmother. “Sometimes when life is hard, painting becomes a form of therapy,” she says. Her works reflect the dappled quality of life itself tender, transient, and infinitely layered. Though she grew up in the Cotswolds, Catherine feels an unbreakable connection to her Irish roots.She shares,

My DNA is 93% from Galway, and I am convinced that the rhythms, colours, and storytelling traditions of that magical place flow through my work

Education and Background

Catherine’s Creative path began with a strong foundation in fine art. She studied at Falmouth School of Art in Cornwall, graduating with First Class Honours, and later earned her Master’s degree in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, London in 1985.

Her early years as a student were full of exploration experimenting with colour, form, and composition, while also developing a deep respect for traditional painting. After completing her studies, she spent years working as an illustrator and designer, creating hundreds of beloved children’s books that continue to inspire young readers around the world

But painting was always her true calling. Over time, Catherine found herself drawn back to the canvas to the tactile joy of colour, the patience of layering, and the peace that comes from painting by hand. That return marked the beginning of her distinctive visual style: textured, tender, and emotionally rich.

Her years in illustration still echo through her paintings you can see it in the storytelling quality of her work; in the way her figures seem to belong to both real life and a quiet dream.

Artistic Style and Themes

Catherine Anholt’s paintings feel like gentle reflections of life tender, layered, and deeply human. Each piece holds a quiet story, capturing moments that often go unnoticed: a child dreaming by the window, flowers blooming wildly in the garden, or a woman lost in thought. Her work reminds us that even the simplest moments carry beauty and meaning.

There’s something comforting about her art the way she blends memory with imagination, and the real with the dreamlike. Patterns, colours, and textures come together like layers of emotion, creating scenes that feel both familiar and softly magical. You can almost sense the rhythm of life within them, joy and loss, stillness and change all held gently on the canvas.

Catherine finds inspiration in artists like Henri Rousseau and Henri Matisse, admiring their fearless use of colour and form. Yet her work has a voice that is entirely her own warm, honest, and observant. She draws from traditional and devotional art from different cultures, giving her paintings a quiet spirituality that lingers.

Through recurring themes of motherhood, family, love, and nature, Catherine paints the emotional bonds that tie us together. Her art speaks to belonging to finding our place in the small, tender spaces of everyday life. With every brushstroke, she reminds us that the layers of living its joys, its heartbreaks, its fleeting moments are what make it beautiful.

Creative Process of Catherine Anholt

Catherine’s creative process is patient, layered, and deeply emotional much like her paintings. She works on several canvases at once, returning to each one over and over again, allowing them to grow and change naturally. She explains.

I work on several paintings at once, going back to each time and time again. I love the layered effect that is finally achieved very much like the multi-layered life we all lead

In her Devon studio, the world outside becomes part of her work the sound of waves, the shifting light, the scent of the garden. Her process isn’t rushed; it’s intuitive. She paints what she feels, often inspired by memories, emotions, or moments from daily life.

Her workspace, surrounded by books, flowers, and personal treasures, feels like a reflection of her art warm, inviting, and full of stories. Each painting begins as a thought or sketch, but as layers build, new meanings emerge. It’s a quiet, ongoing conversation between the artist and the canvas.

Through this slow and thoughtful approach, Catherine creates paintings that feel alive — textured like memories, soft like dreams, and full of heart.

Exhibitions

Catherine Anholt’s art has found its way into galleries around the world, touching hearts with its sincerity and emotion. Her exhibitions are often described as calm, reflective spaces — rooms filled with color, warmth, and storytelling.

Some of her most notable shows include:

• Love Letters, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul (Solo Show – 2025)
• HUMAN, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul (2023)
• Love, Loss, Life (Solo Exhibition, curated by Tom Anholt), CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul (2023)
• Flower (Group Show), CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul (2022)
• Invincible Summer, Galerie Mikael Andersen, Copenhagen (2018)
• ING Discerning Eye Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
• Whelm, Leicester Contemporary
• Paperworks, Arundel Contemporary

Her works have also been displayed in many group exhibitions across Europe and Asia, each one reaffirming her place as an artist who connects deeply with audiences. Whether in Seoul or London, viewers often describe her shows as experiences of peace — an escape into color, feeling, and reflection.

Awards and Recognition

Over the years, Catherine’s paintings have received admiration from collectors, curators, and critics alike. She has exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Mall Galleries in London and the Royal Academy and has been invited to international shows for her unique ability to combine technical mastery with emotional storytelling.

Her recognition is not just for her skill, but for the sincerity behind her art. Each painting she creates holds honesty a rare quality that has earned her lasting respect in both contemporary and traditional art circles.

What Lies Ahead for Catherine Anholt?

Catherine Anholt continues to paint with the same sincerity and curiosity that have guided her all her life. Her upcoming exhibitions promise to bring new themes, new textures, and even deeper emotion to her already remarkable body of work.

Her art reminds us that beauty doesn’t always need to be bold or loud. Sometimes, it exists quietly, in the way light falls on a wall, in the warmth of a shared glance, or in the silence of a peaceful afternoon. Catherine paints those moments and, in doing so, reminds us to slow down and truly see the world around us.

As she moves forward, one thing remains constant her belief in the power of art to heal and connect. Her paintings continue to offer sanctuary, reflection, and joy to those who encounter them. They remind us that to live fully, we must embrace every layer the soft, the hard, the quiet, and the loud because together, they make us whole.

Through Arts to Hearts Magazine, Issue 10, Catherine Anholt shares her vision with the world: that art, like life, is built layer by layer and in those layers, we find who we truly are.