Katy Bailey
Katy Bailey is a pastel artist working in Cambridgeshire. She describes herself as an artist, walker, observer of landscape and storyteller, and her subjects come from the countryside she walks: the fields, woodlands and skies of East Anglia, from Eversden and Fleam Dyke to Quy Fen, the Gog Magog hills and Byron's Pool.
She is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, elected in 2026, and an associate artist with Unison Colour, whose pastels she works with. Her paintings were featured in the American magazine Pastel Journal in 2026.
She exhibits regularly with the Cambridge Drawing Society and has shown at The Gallery in Holt, at the Gallery in Wisbech, and in Cambridge Open Studios at Stapleford Granary.
Artist Statement
I am a contemporary pastel artist whose work explores atmosphere, light, and the quiet emotional resonance of landscape and place. My practice is a diary in paint. Through walking, observation and drawing, I use the layered possibilities of pastels to allow a poetic, intergenerational voice to emerge in my dialogue with the trees and paths I move through. Childhood woodland walks and landscapes continue to influence my practice, the sense of others having walked here before me, leaving an imprint and trace of themselves. The historical echo of a place is a recurring thread in my work.
In 2026 I was elected a member of The Pastel Society, following being chosen for the West Dean Award at the Society's annual exhibition in 2025. I have been a member of the Cambridge Drawing Society since 2000, and in 2025 received the People's Choice Award.
My work is held in private collections internationally and continues to develop through an ongoing studio practice.