Kate (Katharine) Cameron was an accomplished Scottish flower and landscape painter, as well as a talented etcher. She was born in Hillhead, Glasgow and was the sister of the celebrated printmaker, Sir DY Cameron. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1890 until 1893, under the innovative directorship of Fra Newbery. and subsequently at Colarossi's in Paris with Gustave Courtois.
Her early watercolours were influenced by the Glasgow Symbolists, although they are often less stylized - and always most carefully observed and full of exquisite detail.
Between 1904 and 1910 she illustrated a number of children's fairy tales and legends, but her real love remained flower painting. In 1928 she married Arthur Kay, the art collector and connoisseur.
Cameron was a prominent member of the Glasgow Society of Lady Artists and exhibited regularly both at home and abroad. Examples of her works are in the V&A, and the British Museum, London, as well as in Glasgow Art Gallery.
This is a fabulous and very sensitive botanical watercolour by Cameron. It is one of two of her flower paintings that I have for sale in my Iconic Edinburgh online store.
This fine floral study features a branch of Cameron's favourite flowers - a Mermaid Rose - in a landscape setting. It is a mixed media work with touches of black chalk underdrawing, watercolour and white gouache on the flower petals. Cameron has used a fibrous and slightly mottled buff textured paper for this study - which enables her to pick out each petal with the white paint. Her depiction of the roses is particularly sensitive. Each flower is shown with fine golden stamens - forming a decorative pattern- and her dots of dark green suggest the foliage of the flowers.
Some areas of this drawing remind me of some of the botanical studies also made on buff paper by Charles Rennie Mackintosh about the same time (Cameron was a personal friend of Mackintosh, and one of Glasgow School of Art's"Immortals").
I love her inclusion of the two little bumble bees - one is sitting on one rose to the left-hand side of the composition - and it is gathering pollen to turn into honey - a little bee has had his fill and has taken to the air and heading homewards. The bottom section of the composition shows a river or coastal landscape on the west coast of Scotland - possibly one around the area of Kirkcudbright.
With its lighter-coloured palette, it forms an interesting pendant to my still-life watercolour study of blue daisies in a dark interior setting.
It is signed in ink lower left: K. Cameron, as photographed. It is not dated so probably dates to around the 1890s or early 20th century.
This watercolour painting is in fantastic condition - with no fading or condition issues of any kind.
It is in a fine black wood frame that picks out colours found in the painting.
It also has a clean, decorative mount with a grey wash border. The painting looks just super and is all ready to hang straight on your wall.
Apologies for any reflections in my images - the picture was photographed through the glass and it was a bit tricky to take images for inclusion on my listing.
Dimensions: Frame size is 45 x 40 cm. The image size is 27 x 19.5 cm.
Such fine works by Cameron are keenly sought after - this is reflected in my asking price. Sadly, it would have to be posted to UK addresses only.