Painting Medical Stories…
ABOUT KATE
I have been painting and sketching for over 25 years, throughout medical school, starting with the cadavers in the anatomy lab and various landscape locations in Scotland. During my GP training in Aberdeen I went to life drawing classes every week for almost 3 years. While living in the US, I was represented by Stellers Gallery Ponte Vedra Beach from 2006-2012 painting mainly seascapes of the local beaches and attended a class at Glassell School of Art Houston Texas to study Botanical Painting.
Since 2017 I have been a Producer with an Internal Medicine /Primary Care Podcast based in USA called The Curbsiders.
We broadcast an incredibly successful weekly episode that is downloaded over 100,000 times per episode rating number 2 in Apple Podcasts for medical shows. As well as script writing I paint the cover art for 25-30% of the social media advertising.
In the last 15 years I have also supported medical themed charities with art for fundraisers, including ‘Dart for Art’ supporting a crisis pregnancy centre, North Florida, Beaches Episcopal School, Jacksonville FL, East Anglian Air Ambulance, the Hamlet Centre Norwich, Rebecca’s Rainbow Heart Ebstein’s Anomaly Trust Aberdeen, Cambridge Pink Week, the local Trussel Trust Foodbank, and ‘The Sunlight Project’ London for survivors of sexual assault.
For 11 years I’ve been involved in the Cambridge Sci-Art world, with Pint of science paring scientists and artists to share research with the general public through pub talks and art. Having worked with the Cambridge Brain Unit, The Stem Cell Institute, Welcome Genome Campus and MRC Cambridge, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, Cam Rare Disease Network and Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, among others. In 2018 I exhibited at the New York Hall of Science NYC, plus I have a piece at the University of Copenhagen and my work fronted the homepage of a genomics website.In 2019 I won best of show at creative Reactions Cambridge, and in 2024, I won Best of show at the Life Arc Translational Science Summit #LATSS2024 art exhibition for work with CamRare Disease Network.
I use several different media, changing what I do to match the project. I use Resin for my sci-art work, and Liquitex Professional acrylic for my portraits. Winsor & Newton watercolours are for my seascapes, and my portable kit to take up a mountain or down to a beach includes Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils with pen and ink.
Frequently Asked Questions
Kate Grant
I am a doctor and artist. I graduated from medical school with only six photos after 5 years of hardworking. They were taken on an automatic camera. Blurred smiling faces in a tutorial room, horsing about with pens and clipboards, and one of myself standing next to a university sign.
Three years late I added two more photos to the scant collection. One of a tired skinny gynaecology junior and another taken of myself, mask faced in an operating theatre, having just rearranged a pathology specimen to be photographed before sending to the lab.
In 30 years I have added one more selfie to the mix, myself leaning over a trolley about to take swabs at an STD clinic.
I’m not a gynaecologist or a surgeon. I am a GP, that has worked in multiple specialities over 30 years and currently share my time between the Emergency department and Primary Care.
I have no evidence of a rich and varied career, just some wordy certificates and a growing network of friends.
If you are a doctor, you are probably the same. Confidentiality is something we are proud to maintain, but our lives get lost in that confidentiality.
Memories are precious. Memories are visual. I create that visual.
Why I paint medical staff
Since Feb 2020, I have been painting my colleagues, capturing them as they perform the medical role day in day out. It’s a way to celebrate who we are, what we do and what we bring to our roles, the dedication we have and the confidence we bring through the education we have acquired.
While at work, I have taken consented photos of clinical activity, capturing doctor-patient moments which primarily focuses on the clinical provider.
The emotions in these moments are what I portray in my portraits.
Commission a Piece
I paint emotions and moments. Medical professionals that want to capture a moment in time.
I’ve adopted a reportage type of style, ideally preferring to photograph the moment myself, however I am open to my clients sending me their own photographs.
It’s an intimate process, one which I like to talk through with each commission.
It’s helpful to have a few images to work through and together we will jointly go over the photos and select one to go by.
What you will get if I paint you.
I prefer to keep the originals together myself as I am building a large and growing collection of health worker portraits.
I think this is important, as it started from the beginning of the Pandemic.
I will create a hand finished giclée print on canvas which is available for purchase. More than one copy can be made and each will be hand finished, making them individual and unique.
If you do insist on the original, this can certainly be discussed.
Giclée is a stunning process for reproducing fine art images to the highest quality possible. My paintings are in my Giclée print archive, which means I can reproduce as many copies as you require. I then hand finish every print with further paint, making each one a unique limited edition.
The materials used are canvas with the extremely high quality Hahnemuhle fine art
material. The inks used are light fast for one hundred years.
The cost of each NHS portrait Giclee Print is £75 + £5.50 postage throughout the UK.
Currently there is a single Giclee available for each portrait. If another copy is ordered,
please allow up to 2 weeks for me to create the Giclee and mail it out. Contact me for
delivery times.
As Seen In
