Norton artist Catriona Stewart explores nature and mystery in Scampston Walled Garden show

Her exhibition in the garden café explores themes of nature and mystery and will be on show until the end of October, when the walled garden closes for the season.

Originally from the Scottish Highlands, Catriona ran her own international design business for many years, and although she still designs carpets to commission, she is now a practising painter.

Birdsall, Last Of The Snow, by Catriona Stewart. Picture: Nigel Holland

From her North Yorkshire studio at Highfield Racing Stables, she paints mainly in oils and acrylic, working primarily as a colourist. "My subject matter is my immediate world, both visible and invisible," she says.

“Whether I'm painting a landscape, an abstract work, or a subject from my imagination, I'm aiming for something I would describe as a deeper truth, which I hope will be conveyed through the whole harmony and structure of the colours and the shapes.”

Catriona has chosen paintings for Scampston that relate to nature and gardens. "They mostly have an added element of mystery or 'otherness', something which I feel is there in all our surroundings: in the power of nature, and the beauty of flowers and gardens. It can be magical, strange, or sometimes threatening,” she says.

Birdsall, Last Of The Snow, by Catriona Stewart. Picture: Nigel Holland

Isobel Pritchard, Scampston Walled Garden's marketing and visitor services manager, says: "We're thrilled to have Catriona’s beautiful work on display in the café. The garden café is a lovely bright space which opens on to the walled garden itself.

"Catriona’s exhibition follows a summer of exhibitions from Caroline Oates and Garry Courtney; it's wonderful to see how the space adapts and is transformed by the work of a talented artist.”

Scampston Walled Garden and Garden Café is open Tuesdays to Sundays, 10am to 5pm. The gardens close on October 30.