Cathy Carey
Luminous Landscapes of Awareness
What We Choose to See
Shapes the World We Live In
Original oil paintings exploring consciousness, perception, and our interconnected relationship with nature.
San Diego Artist Incubator 2
In 2026, Systems of Awareness became part of San Diego Artist Incubator 2, bringing together five artists from different disciplines to create and present work across five venues from Oceanside to San Diego. The collaboration extends ideas at the heart of this series: connection, interdependence, perception, and what can emerge when we come into relationship with one another.
Read about the San Diego Artist Incubator 2 project
View my paintings in this series of shows during the fall of 2026
Enter the Studio Circle
Be the first to see new work, behind-the-scenes process, and upcoming releases. Studio Circle members receive early access to paintings before they are shared publicly.
Cathy Carey is a Southern California painter known for luminous, color-driven landscapes that explore connection, resilience, and the natural world as a living system. Her work draws from coastal and desert environments, where light, movement, and ecology intersect.
Through expressive mark-making and layered color, she creates spaces of sanctuary—where beauty is not separate from life, but embedded within it.
Rooted in joy as an act of will, and beauty as a moral force.
THE LANGUAGE OF THE WORK
The spiral—an ancient symbol of continuity and energy—appears throughout my work as both mark and movement. It echoes the flight paths of pollinators, the rhythms of growth, and the cycles that connect all living systems.
Animals often appear as quiet witnesses or guides, carrying an intuitive awareness of the world we are part of, but sometimes forget to see.
These paintings are invitations—to slow down, to notice, and to reconnect with the beauty and intelligence embedded in everyday life.