Caroline Cornelius is a painter whose works has been exhibited in prestigious art
institutions and galleries including Royal Academy and Royal Watercolor Society.
Caroline's emotionally eloquent, subtle watercolours explore a certain fragility and
fleetingness inherent in life and in particular, a woman's life. Using intimate scenes from
her personal experience as her main source of inspiration, her work is an exploration of
the female form and the duality of ageing and maturing: the mutability of beauty and the
confidence that comes with self-acceptance.
"Motherhood has brought a perspective on the particular angst experienced by teenage
girls - raising questions about body image and being comfortable in your own skin, often
seen through the lens of my own teenage daughters - pictured on seemingly idyllic
holidays - lying by a sunlit pool, skiing or hiking in woodlands."
Caroline draws on her past experience as a textile designer to search for incidental
patterns using a limited colour palette to simplify and stylise her work. Inspired by the
sparsity, patterning and flattening of the picture plane found in Japanese woodcuts,
Caroline has mastered the medium of watercolour - creating her own vocabulary of colour
washes, areas of resistance, and a soft dreamy palette that echoes the themes of her
work.
Education I Art Foundation, Chelsea School of Art; BA Fashion Design with Printed
Textiles, Brighton University
Awards I Winner of the Royal Watercolour Society Social Media Award
Solo Exhibitions I Moment Exhibition, Alison Milne Gallery (Canada), 2021
Group Exhibitions I Royal Watercolour Society Contemporary Competition 2022; False
Starts. The Old School Gallery (Northumberland) 2022; A Room of her Own, Irving
Contemporary (Oxford) 2022; WOP4 Blue Shop Cottage (London) 2022; Royal Academy
Summer Exhibition (London), 2021; A Chorus of Bodies, Lilya Gallery (London), 2021;
Figurative Now! Summer 2021 Federation of British Artists, Mall Galleries (London), 2021;
Everything is Water if you look long enough, Coles Gallery (Leeds), 2021; Christmas
Group Show 2020, Prince and Pilgrim Gallery (London), 2020; Art on a Postcard, Annual
Auction, 2020; Royal Watercolour Society's Contemporary Competition, Bankside Gallery
(London), 2020; Wells Contemporary Art Show, Wells Cathedral (London), 2019; Royal
Watercolor Society's Contemporary Competition, Bankside Gallery (London). 2019:
Hatch Gallery Fresh Show, Christchurch (Dorset), 2019; Royal Watercolour Society's
Contemporary Competition, Bankside Gallery (London), 2018; Royal Watercolour Society's
Contemporary Competition, Bankside Gallery (London), 2017
