I have been drawing ever since I could hold a pencil, filling the interiors of my fathers books with fantastical animals until my exasperated parents managed to impress upon me that only ‘blank’ paper was for drawing on…. I specialise in themes of folklore and storytelling, making these narratives visible is my passion. I work primarily in watercolour and inktense on paper, but also use mixed media. I am cover artist for the History press Folk Tales and Ghost Tales series and also work with individual storytellers on their projects. When I am not drawing I share my love of art and story with others by running workshops and participating in exhibitions.
I now have two books that have been in the first month of 2026, both are very important to me.
The first, Myths in isolation, was a response by me and a number of storytellers and writers to the 2020 lockdown at the start of the pandemic. I created 26 illustrations of mythical or legendary creatures during April and invited writers to respond to them with new stories and folklore. This book is the result and we are all proud of it and of the beautiful printing and layout by orkneyology.com, a small but mighty indie publisher located in the orkney islands
A garment for the Moon
I devoted the past year or so to this wonderful project and am incredibly happy to see it out in a world that needs its stories more than ever. This beautiful book of largely never before published stories from the jewish oral Drut’syla tradition, carried by down the centuries by women to tradition bearer Shonaleigh and being shared in writing for the very first time. This gorgeous book is also published by Orkneyology and can be purchased from their website here:
( You can also buy the very excellent book The Madmans window here by Colin Urwin, which I also illustrated)
Summer 2026
An update on a news and events happening while I’m in the UK for the summer
Weekly Art class -Broseley
My weekly art class in Broseley, Shropshire, continues in 4 or 5 week blocks throughout the summer, they are quite busy but I occasionally have space so its always worth getting in touch at ksoutarillustrator@gmail.com if you are interested, the classes run from 10am to 1pm on a Friday and each block has a theme we work to, along with teaching and demonstrations of various techniques, often with an emphasis on mixed media (you can ask me about anything pretty much, except oil painting, which i have very limited experience of!)
A Garment for the Moon
Summer group Exhibition with 12 Artisans at the Bear steps Gallery in Shrewsbury August 3rd- 16th
On now! And I will be there all day on Saturday 9th and 16th
Lovely write up here:
Patreon, keeping the arts (and many artists) alive!
You can also support me and my work by becoming part of my most special group of patrons on Patreon, I love the relationships I have built with the people who love my work through this, and there are various real perks to being involved too, access to tutorial videos and stories for as little as £2 a month and actual things through the snail mail for those on higher subscriptions
Welcome to my world. Email ksoutarillustrator@gmail.com
Katherine Soutar 