Light is one of Katherine Hester’s greatest muses. She says: “Illumination sparks my creativity—the play between illuminated shapes in a horse race that capture the movement and the energy of the scene, the reflected light from the ground on the horse’s downward facing flanks, or ballerinas as they dance in and out of stage light, the fleeting light on the Lowcountry landscape at sunrise, sunset and riding along the edges of storm fronts. Telling a story with light in my paintings is my ultimate goal.”

It is that love of light and its effects that influences Hester’s style, stripping away the strictures of realism to allow her more freedom. “My aim is to convey a quality of spontaneity rendered in quick, gestural brushstrokes instead of focusing on copying exactly what I see in detail,” she says. “I am interested in dramatic lighting on figures and filtered light found around oak trees. The idea of sunlight being tangible in my work inspires me.”

Hester’s life and work has been deeply influenced by her father, a career biologist who later became an artist. “My love of nature and science, rooted in my childhood, is what drew me to art,” she notes. “Learning about nature as a child created an inquisitiveness that is lasting.”