About

Toobs Art began in lockdown when Katharine Mann took the bold decision to quit a 10 year recruitment business in exchange for picking up her paintbrushes to embark on a journey to become a professional artist. The name ‘Toobs ‘ was Katharine’s nickname from school ( derived from Tooby - her family name )

Inspired from a young age by her Dad’s ability to draw, Katharine developed a love of drawing and painting animals in particular.

Katharine studied Art at GCSE but was encouraged to follow a more conventional academic route, therefore her art was very much left as a hobby. Katharine returned to the easel 30+ years later and hasn’t looked back since! She is a self taught artist with a hunger to explore her talent that has laid dormant for so long.

Katharine enjoyed a progressive career in commercial event sales and management; and after having two beautiful children, set herself up as a self -employed recruitment consultant for the commercial events industry.

Now!

‘I believe that one’s personality shapes their artistic flow, and therefore what you will see in my work reflects my love of life and colour. I’m a figurative artist focussing on bold and vibrant compositions of work featuring animals, people and places.‘

I would say that my style is more impressionist than fine detail. I firmly believe that art and artists evolve every day. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings when it comes to experimenting with colour, form and composition. I love how light in particular falls on a subject – whether it’s an animal in motion or a human face or a sunset seascape!

I personally believe that a true artist can and should experiment and try lots of new techniques and styles. To create original and exciting works; seeking out influences from other like minded artists and keeping up to date with their activities on social media; is essential to the future development of my work.

At University I was lucky enough to study a History of Art module whilst studying for my BA Hons History and English degree. I focussed on the renaissance era and was blown away by the magical and mystifying beauty of that period and all of the renaissance artists that flourished. Botticelli and Hieronymus Bosch were my favourites. Two very diverse but distinct styles and artistic movements.

What’s Next for Toobs Art…..?

Officially starting out in September 2020 has meant Katharine needed to create a body of work from which to grow. She’s been fortunate to have had regular commissions to work on whilst building up her portfolio. In the past 6 months (its now December 2022) She’s exhibited works at 3 different events – 2 art fairs and one local Open Studio series.

She aims to increase her events’ activity in 2023 along with proactively seeking out gallery representation and online retail opportunities.

Style wise, she’d like to explore more human portraiture going forward. With her love of painting animals, she’d like to further develop animals in motion creating a sense of movement and freedom.

One of Katharine’s clients asked her to paint an abstract piece and gave her a full brief from which to do so. She particularly enjoyed this opportunity as it allowed her to flex new untapped creative muscles! She’d like to explore the ‘abstract’ further seeing how it could intermingle with her three pillars – animals, people and places. Furthermore, developing a figurative abstract approach to her compositions.