Codey’s Palettes and Paintbrushes

23-year-old Codey Mchatton is one of the most humble and incredibly talented individuals I’ve met. So humble, at one stage throughout our interview Codey stopped to say, “I feel so bad taking about myself, I want to hear about you and your work!” I’m telling you, she’s a complete delight.

In her second story bedroom you’ll find Codey sitting with a palette and paintbrush most afternoons.

Her most recent work is an incredible plant mural creatively splashed across a wall at Groundstone Café. Each stroke feeling like a lovely postcard from where you’d rather be.

But it’s thanks to Codey’s Mum that an initial creative spark was born. “Mum did signwriting before she had me,” Codey explained, “When I was younger I was sat in front of David Attenborough on TV or those yellow encyclopedia books and she used to give me colouring in and also her old signwriting stuff, which I’ve still got. There was always something to keep me busy. I also used to collage pages from National Geographic. It was my way of processing the world.”

In high school and still to this day, Art became a real outlet for Codey. “I used to get my rubber taken from me at school because I kept rubbing everything out and totally erasing any sense of failure,” Codey laughed, “Sometimes I still have to hide the rubber from myself today.

“My favourite medium to work with is water colour, and it’s for that reason, I can’t rub it out. It’s just magic on the paper, you lay the water down and add some colours and wait for it to dry.

“I’m also leaning in to more abstract stuff now, I used to be an absolute perfectionist, like I would only draw real stuff and real pictures, to get me in the zone I have to be listening to music and sometimes I will listen to the same song like eight times on repeat to stay in that zone.”

Codey described her art as an experience or a moment in time throughout her life,“It will start with something that I’m feeling or thinking about, or someone who has inspired me- which could be in the form of another artist.

I love the collaboration side of creativity too. I remember I was so hurt when I asked someone a question, they made fun of me because it was a question that I could have ‘googled,’ that hurt me so much,” Codey smiled, “I thought – no; you know about this and I want you to teach me! I think making a conscious effort is important- I’ll never hide my processes and I love seeing others too.”

A solo image of a magpie stands out in Codey’s studio, “This is one of the first things I painted after not being well for a long time,” Codey explained, “It was the first thing I was really happy with and helped me in coming back into feeling human again. I painted it for my ‘farm Nan.’ My Nan had this magpie called Maggie that she would feed every day.

That painting really brought me back in to myself again and I was really scared that was something I was going to lose.”

There’s no stopping her now, recently Codey has sought creative inspiration from bodyscapes, having some friends pose for her as she sketches. “I never used to draw guys, it was always women but I’m trying to challenge myself and I’ve been loving it. I thought to myself- so this is what it’s like to be inspired by someone. Drawing is kind of meditative for me, because you have to be able to control your breathing so you control your strokes.

Now, working as a School Learning Support Officer at a local Primary School, Codey can pass on her own experience and passion, “For me Art was always a way of pulling everything together. I think the hardest thing is trying to help or teach someone else enough of what they need to know, to do what they want to do and to go their own creative way.”

The future holds so much in the way of plans for Codey. “In the next three years I want to open my own business or share a space with someone, I want to have a tutorial space where people can come and make art or learn about music or even drama.

Something that brought me out of my shell was drama and art classes. I want to facilitate that here. Having a permanent space for those things is my goal.

I’m just so grateful for the inspiration, the outlet- everything. The businesses I work with are people I adore and aspire to be like as well. It’s good to see an insight to that as well, them saying ‘we love you and we want you to do this too.’”

You can enjoy more of Codey’s art on Instagram at @codeymchart_