"The starting points for my paintings are drawings from life": Katy Papineau and her fascination with the everyday

In Conversation
We are delighted to announced representation of British artist Katy Papineau. 
 
Katy Papineau (b. 1991, United Kingdom) is a figurative painter based in London whose practice spans drawing, painting and printmaking. Drawing on a background in philosophy (University of Bristol, 2014) and formal training at the Royal Drawing School (The Drawing Year, 2019), Papineau employs colour as a primary vehicle for conveying emotion and atmosphere. Her technique involves layering thin washes of paint and pigment, producing subtle complexities of colour, pattern and texture.
 
Papineau’s work is rooted in a rich process of visual and narrative research. Beginning with loosely defined themes, she gathers fragments from everyday life, film, literature, folklore and art history, weaving these diverse references into ambiguous, evocative narratives that define her distinctive visual language.
 
She has participated in artist residencies in France and Italy and exhibited in group shows at Blue Shop Gallery, Christie’s London, Frestonian Gallery, and Compton Verney. In July 2023, Papineau presented her debut solo exhibition at Blue Shop Gallery. She is a faculty member at the Royal Drawing School, where she teaches courses exploring symbolism, memory, and imagination. Her work is currently included in exhibitions at Charleston House and Studio Ashby’s showroom at the Blewcoat School, London.
 
In the below interview, we explore with Katy Papineau her interest in the 'everyday' and how this informs her paintings. 
September 11, 2025

  • OTOMYS: Having studied philosophy before completing The Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School of Art, do you find that philosophical ways of thinking inform your practice?

     

    KATY PAPINEAU: I studied analytic philosophy and ended up focusing on metaphysics and philosophy of science. In some ways the type of thinking I did while studying is at odds with the more poetic thinking that is required when researching my practice. But the further away I am from my degree, the more I find myself being able to go back to the more philosophical subjects I was interested in when I was studying. I have recently been teaching a course on colour theory and I’ve been reading about the science and philosophy of colour perception, which is an incredibly interesting field – in turn this has begun to influence the colour choices I make while painting.

     

    OTOMYS: Your practice often begins with collecting scraps from everyday life, literature, film, folklore and art history. Can you speak a bit about how these varied visual inputs combine to form your narrative paintings?

     

    KATY PAPINEAU: The starting points for my paintings are drawings from life. I am fascinated by drama of the everyday. I think other people’s ordinary lives are so intriguing, specifically their relationships and how they interact within them. It’s also why I love fiction, fairy tales, film and reality TV, which often act as windows into how people behave and why. When I draw in public I’m observing people interact and trying to guess at what lies between them. I sometimes write notes: phrases I overhear, colour combinations I see. Back in the studio I let these drawings gestate in my mind, coming back to them repeatedly over months or years. As I develop them into paintings often they transform, taking on new meanings and combining with other sources – memories, film shots, motifs from art history.

  • OTOMYS: You’ve taken part in residencies in both France and Italy - two places with deep, layered artistic histories. Have these experiences shaped your thinking?
     
    KATY PAPINEAU: On a residency I always try and think about the place I’m in and its history. When I was in Tuscany in particular I spent time looking at the artists I love from that region: Duccio, Lorenzetti, Piero della Francesca – and also some Mughal paintings, which remind me of the types of spaces and colours you get in some Sienese paintings. I find drawing from art to be a really helpful practice, particularly in terms of understanding composition and space. It builds a kind of muscle memory of how one might construct an image. Colours and elements from some of these references still sneak their way into my paintings sometimes – every time I spend time with an artist or artwork it leaves a mark on my own practice. 
     
    OTOMYS: You’ve mentioned that ‘colour is an essential vehicle through which you convey emotion and atmosphere, working instinctively in thin layers of paint and pigment’. Tell us more about your relationship with colour ?
     
    KATY PAPINEAU: Colour is such a rich subject - colours change depending on context, and so there is always more to discover. As well as investigating the technical aspects of colour, I think of it as a way to express my inner world. Colour has the power to convey atmosphere and mood beyond the visual. A palette might be bitter or sweet, excitable or comforting – each painting contains a depth of sensory and emotive experiences.
  • OTOMYS: You’re both an artist and an educator, teaching at the Royal Drawing School with a focus on memory and imagination. Does teaching challenge your artistic process?
     
    KATY PAPINEAU: I teach a wide range of ages and experience, from 9-year olds to postgraduate students and practicing artists. I am constantly challenged and inspired by the work my students make and the conversations we have about it. At the Royal Drawing School, I’m lucky to be able to focus my teaching around my own practice, so it’s always really helpful to see how students engage with the subjects I’m interested in. Often, I find myself in the studio remembering a conversation with a student or something we discovered in a class and applying it to my own work. A recent example is some teaching I did on mixing greys, which has made me think more intentionally about the role more muted colours can play in my work. Please let me know if you’ve got any questions at all, or would like further clarification on anything!
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