b"with, she says. One day it'sanother day it's theatre andlm, another day Im working on a commercial.In America in the 90s, Kathryns painting skills saw her walk into a job with a scenic design company. She painted the Rainforest Caf chain of restaurants, created a set for an Aerosmith music video,andworkedonthePillsburyMansionandthesinger Princes home.Working on peoples homes is a real privilege. It has a degree of permanence thatlm, theatre and advertisements dont have. Most of that stuff is gone within weeks, but when you work on someones house, you have a responsibility to create something theyll love and that theyll be able to live with for a long time.Two years ago, Kathryn bought her own house on Aucklands Te Atatu Peninsula, but has only managed a three week stint at home since then. This means the house is a tribute to un nished projects, she says. A series of un nished paintings, the beginnings of some handcraftedwallpaper,andarangeofherownscreenprinted fabrics destined for clothing and upholstery, are a few of the most recent undertakings.However, the root cause of the un nished projects doesnt all come down to a hectic lifestyle.Im one of those people who loves learning and trying new things. Beforebecomingascenicartist,Kathrynstudiedpoliticsand philosophy at Waikato University, spent six years studying fashion design and art in New York, and later undertook postgraduate study at Belgiums prestigious painting school, the Ecole van der Kelen. She chose to learn her craft there because of the history surrounding the school, and because of its lite reputation for teaching traditional painting methods such as marbleising, wood graining, gilding and stencilling. Now,herloveofoldthingsandhergarneredknowledgeis culminating in a new room in her house. Styled on pre-Victorian Cabinets of Curiosity, where worldly men kept interesting objects from far corners of the globe, Kathryn is having a studio built, which will provide a space for her to create her own art and will also act as a gallery for her collection of stuffed animals.I collect dead animals. Theyre all antiques, so theyre well dead by the time I get them, but I think theyre just beautiful. Ive got lots of birds, roosters, ducks, a polar bear, a brown bear, a wallaby. I may be the only one that thinks theyre beautiful, though. Theyre always really cheap, which suggests no one else is buying them!"