It’s a winner!  I’m very excited to write that my painting “Buoys and Ropes” won first prize in the General section of this year’s Watercolour Society Art Awards.  I was so surprised when I found out that it had won as there is always very stiff competition at these art awards.  When I actually took my paintings in on hanging day, and I saw the other paintings being taken in at the same time, I thought “my goodness, the standard just gets better year after year”. And it’s true, the paintings in the exhibition which totalled over 250, were amazing.  The array of subjects consisted of flowers, animals, the Australian outback, cityscapes, China (as a result of a members’ trip to China in July), Fremantle port scenes (for a new section titled “Fremantle’s Working Port”), still life scenes, and abstracts for the Innovative section.

I’m glad I wasn’t the judge because it would have been hard to choose the best painting.  I am just pleased it was my turn to have a win this time.  I suppose one of the things that made it a winner is that I painted something I wanted to paint.  These buoys caught my eye when I was on tour around Australia.  They were abandoned by the water’s edge, faded and neglected.  But something about them begged to be painted, and so that’s just what I did when I returned home.  I added more warmth and colour to them to bring them “back to life”, and throughout the whole process I was happy.  And that’s the clue, I believe.  Enjoy what you paint.  Don’t paint what you think might sell or what the judges might vote for.  Just paint from the heart and the rest will come.

By the way, the judge’s comments were “An outstanding piece of work that brings an otherwise ignored object into focus.  The colours are used to create shadows and volume.  The composition is informal but controlled through technique which suits the subject.  Any boating organisation should be proud to put this on their wall.”

To find out more about the Watercolour Society of WA, please click on this link – Watercolour Society of WA