Catherine Dougherty: Fine Arts

In the artist’s words…

I was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in the quiet town of West Stafford, a place where trees, fields, and open skies became some of my earliest teachers. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing — art was simply the language my hands learned before my voice did. That early pull eventually led me to Philadelphia, where I studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later continued at Moore College of Art and Design. Those years shaped me, pushed me, and taught me how wide the world of painting could be.

I now live in Pitman, New Jersey, and my work has grown more rooted in nature — the rhythms of the seasons, the quiet poetry of landscapes, and the feeling of standing alone in a place that’s alive with color. My paintings are mixed-media explorations, built through layers, texture, and intuition. As I’ve matured as an artist, I’ve found myself returning again and again to the outdoors, finding new ways to translate what I see and feel.

I am currently represented by Sophia Fine Art Gallery, under the guidance of Bruce Sophia, and I’ve been fortunate to take part in numerous exhibitions throughout my career. Each show has been another step on a long path — one that feels a bit like the kind Van Gogh once described when he wrote, “Always continue walking a lot and loving nature, for that's the real way to learn to understand art better and better.”

Art has been with me from the beginning, and it continues to shape the way I move through the world — slow, observant, grateful, and always reaching for what’s just beyond the horizon.