Caroline Busby – portfolio

Contact the artist

https://www.busbyk-artist.com
07825 874124
busbyk.art@gmail.com

Exhibition information

My paintings are all about place, light and perspective — and how familiar landscapes can feel completely new when seen from a slightly unexpected angle. Over the past year, my work has expanded both geographically and technically, shaped by painting journeys across Europe and continued exploration of the Chilterns and surrounding Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

I work primarily in oils and watercolours, and I’m currently developing a distinctive hybrid technique that merges the two. This layered approach creates richly textured, contemporary paintings that balance structure with spontaneity — allowing the materiality of the paint to play an active role in the story of each piece.

My style is becoming looser and more illustrative, distilling buildings and landscapes into an interplay of colour, shape, texture, light and shadow. Through this process, I aim to simplify and re-interpret the built and natural environment, revealing fresh ways of seeing places we think we already know.

Alongside new studio work, I continue to undertake commissions and to paint the towns, villages and landscapes of the Chilterns — always searching for the overlooked details, shifting light and quiet moments that give a place its true character.

Artist information

Before becoming a full-time artist, I trained and worked as a chartered architect — and that architectural eye continues to shape how I see and paint the world. I’m naturally drawn to strong built forms, structure and geometry, and to the way buildings sit within, cut through and are softened by the surrounding landscape. Much of my work grows from this tension and harmony between solidity and softness — stone and sky, roofline and treeline, shadow and open space.

I’m particularly fascinated by how light and dark bounce off one another, how shadows carve out form, and how reflected light can transform even the most familiar scene. This sensitivity to contrast — between hard and soft, built and natural, dark and light — underpins both my architectural subjects and my landscapes, giving each painting a sense of depth, atmosphere and quiet drama.

Since Oxfordshire Artweeks 2025, I’ve also created The Art Hive, a collaborative creative community based at my studio. What began as an invitation to fellow artists to share my space has grown into a lively programme of open evenings and workshops, encouraging shared making, conversation and artistic exchange. Alongside my own practice, this has become an important and energising part of my creative life.

Based at Busby K Studio and Gallery in the Chilterns, my studio is both my creative base and a welcoming space for visitors to see work in progress, explore finished paintings, and experience creativity in action.