New original watercolours 2017: NOW17

River - Green Autumn by David Parfitt

New Original Watercolours 17

by members of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

Artists’ Biographies

Biographies Colin Allbrook Lillias August Paul Banning Charles Bone Ian Cook Roger Dellar Pauline Fazakerley Chris Forsey Robin Hazlewood Moira Huntly Anne McCormack Anna Dudley Neil Jean Noble David A Parfitt George Politis David Poxon Harry Price Jean Robinson Rosa Sepple Ian Sidaway Julia Sorrell Shirley Trevena Naomi Tydeman Deborah Walker

RI, RSMA, HSEA RI RI, RSMA RI RI RSW ROI, RI, PS RI RI, SGFA RI RI RI, PVPSWA RI RI, SWA RI RI RI, NWS RI, NDD, ATD, MA RI PRI RI RI RI RI RI, ARSMA, FRSA

Colin Allbrook RI, RSMA, HSEA Born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, I attended a local secondary school. Soon after my 17th birthday, I was offered a job in a commercial London studio as a tea & parcel boy, so I took my A-level art a year early (passed at Grade A), and left to join the studio. While working there I attended evening classes at St Martins School of Art, where I spent the time mainly life drawing.

After 4 years with the studio, I had learnt different aspects of commercial art but had concentrated on illustration, so I left to become freelance, earning a living mainly as an illustrator but increasingly as a painter.

In 1979, I married and moved to North Devon where I continued working for companies across the country and also showing work in various galleries. I also exhibited frequently in London with many of the societies, often at the Mall galleries but also in other galleries, and was awarded several prizes. I was eventually elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and the Royal Society of Marine Artists as well as the Society of Equestrian Artists.

Wet day’s shooting

I teach in workshops, evening classes and on painting holidays here and abroad, and continue to paint and exhibit widely in London and throughout the country.

         

Winner of the Neal Meacher sketchbook award 2013 RI Winner of the Turner Watercolour Award 2009 Winner of the Lincoln Joyce - Rowland Hilder Award 2009 Winner of the Terence Cuneo medal at the Society of Equestrian Artists twice Winner of the Excellence in Watercolour award at the Royal West of England Academy four times: 2001, 2003, 2008 & 2010 Twice 1st prize winner at the Royal Bath and West exhibition The Frank Herring award for best use of light at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Election to the Royal Society of Marine Artists 2008 Election to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 2001 Election to the Society of Equestrian Artists 1998 Made an Honorary member 2013

Lillias August RI Lillias August studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in London followed by a postgraduate course in The History of Art and Design. She has exhibited her work widely and received several awards, most recently at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) for both her landscape, architectural and still life work. She was elected a member of the RI in 2006.

Lillias was project artist for St Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St. Edmunds during the Suffolk Cathedral Millennium Project. ‘Cross’, a series of paintings that grew out of the project, toured to Ely, Peterborough and Lincoln Cathedrals and to Southwell Minster with grants from, amongst others, Arts Council England East and East Midlands (2005 – 6).

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) Mall galleries, London Prizewinner in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010 & 2017

Ancient vessels

Artist’s statement: Having exhibited regularly with the RI since 2000, I became a member in 2006 and the Honorary Secretary in 2014. Initially I exhibited landscape

and architectural work but more recently I have been concentrating on still life.

For me, everyday objects have an inherent attraction. It is not only the simplicity of the objects themselves that inspires me but also what lies behind the surface. Obviously, whether it is rows of Roman bottles, old boots or knives, we often know very little about their history – who owned them, what did they use them for or why did they get rid of them? There is more to them than meets the eye and I am trying to point towards it, often laying objects out in lines as if they are specimens to be inspected and studied. I often think that the flat East Anglian landscape, where nothing is hidden and the horizon is always visible, has influenced this approach.

My fascination with everyday objects started when I was the Project Artist at St Edmundsbury Cathedral over the five years that they were building the new Central Tower. Every day I saw seemingly unimportant components from slate dowels to scaffolding. Each of them was essential in the great scheme of things and their signs of wear made them beautiful in their own right. I am proud to have been involved with that project for the things it led me to and also for the confidence that it gave me which ultimately lead to the membership of the RI. I work rather laboriously, laying on and lifting off washes until I get the effect that I want so my paper has to be hardy. I work in my studio with the subject, if still life, in front of me and from sketches and photos if not. Composition is important to me and I can spend a long time working it out. At some point in the procedure I turn away from the reality and go it alone.

I have a very limited palette, using two of each of the primaries, viridian and the siennas. I use masking and lifting techniques throughout the process of laying on washes and often feel that I am sculpting rather than painting.

Paul Banning RI, RSMA Paul was born in Trinidad in 1934, educated at Clifton College, Bristol, and the West of England College of Art, gaining NDD Honours in furniture Design. He served two years national service obtaining a commission in the army and subsequently became a furniture designer in industry.

Redundancy in 1986 gave him the opportunity to start a new career in painting. Using his design skills, and the basic training at Art School in drawing taught by Victor Passmore RA, he studied the great watercolour masters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and learned the masterly skills of watercolour painting He is mainly a Plein Air painter, and loves the challenge of painting direct from the subject whenever possible. He travels extensively and is constantly looking for interesting subject matter, whether it be from a sailing barge in Holland, or in the streets of a dirty old market in India, Egypt, Dubai, or the hot desert sands of Jordan or on the low water shores of the river Thames, or the tranquil country lanes of Hampshire.

He is President of the Wokingham Art Society.

Other Awards:     

Freshfields Prize at the RWS C21 Exhibition Llewellyn Alexander Award RI Society Painting prize, Armed Forces Art Society Chelsea Art Society Painting prize Armed Forces Art Society Exhibition, best picture depicting an Army subject  St Cuthbert's Watercolour award at RSMA  The Turner Watercolour Award

2000 2002 2005 2004 2007 2008 2011

Membership of Societies:      

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Royal Society of Marine Artists Wapping Group of Artists Chelsea Art Society Armed Forces Art Society Associate Member of Farnham Art Society

The Turner Watercolour Award, March 2011 In March 2011 Paul was awarded The Turner Watercolour Award which is for an outstanding group of paintings by a member of The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and the receiver is given a cheque, and bronze medal facsimile of the Gold medal originally presented biannually at the Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, and originally sponsored by Turner himself.

Today the award is given by the Turner bequest and divided equally between the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and the Royal Watercolour Society, where it is judged by the President and Vice President of each Society, together with the great, great, great niece of Turner. Previous winners have been, Leonard McComb RA and Leslie Worth OBE NEAC RWS.

Charles Bone PPRI, ARCA Born in Farnham, Surrey artist Charles Bone has spent a lifetime painting - in fact longer than he can remember. He was exhibiting at the Royal Academy when he was still a student, studying at the Farnham College of Art and the Royal College of Art. Now living in Pattenham, near Guildford, he is well known for his watercolours of scenes both in the UK and abroad and his love of architecture is evident in many of his paintings.

Charles is former president of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and governor of the Mall Gallery. He has been awarded the RCA’s Hunting Group Prize and has held over 40 exhibitions as well as painting murals in Italy, Malta and Spain.

In addition to the book he completed on Anglican cathedrals, detailing all 65 cathedrals in the UK, Charles has begun a new companion project on castles. He has completed 15 so far, including Caernarvon Castle and Stokesay Castle near Ludlow in Shropshire. As there are some 200 castles to be included in the work it could stretch to a few volumes!

Sussex Downs

Ian Cook RI RSW         

1969 –72 Glasgow School of Art 1972 Hutcheson Drawing Prize 1972 –73 Post Graduate Year 1974 Cargill Travelling Scholarship to Spain and North Africa 1984 Arts Council Travel Bursary to Central Africa 2000 The RI Award Mall Galleries, London 2005 Winsor & Newton Award for Outstanding Contribution to RI Show 2012 Fellowship of The Glasgow Art Club, RGI Exhibition 2015 House for an Art Lover Award, RSW Exhibition

Collections: The BBC, Trainload Freight, Lloyds TSB, Kinsey Institute, Indiana State University, and numerous private collections in the United States and Europe

Emma

Roger Dellar ROI, RI, PS Roger is a professional artist painting in all media. His favourite subjects are portraits, people in their environments, and capturing the effects of light and atmosphere. Roger is also an avid Plein Air painter – Plein Air is the act of painting outdoors.

Roger is a member of the ROI (Royal Institute of Oil Painters, RI (Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours) and The Pastel Society. He is also a member of the highly prestigious group of 25 painters called the Wapping Group, who paint London and the Thames.

A winner of 19 national awards, Roger has been Artist in Residence for Petworth House, Petersfield Music festival, The Festival of the Sea, and Guildford International Music festival. He is also a popular tutor and demonstrator, teaching in England, and has taught in Greece, Italy, France and USA and contributes articles for the Artist’s Magazine.

Pauline Fazakerley RI Pauline studied at Camberwell School of Art for five years gaining First Class Honours and the Silver Medal in her finals. She was Head of Art in a private school for 12 years before teaching adult education in various Art colleges. Pauline has been an active member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours for over 20 years including five years on the R.I. Council.

Pauline works in oils, watercolour, drawing and pastels. Recently watercolour has been her chosen medium. She is a tonal painter and is equally interested in both interior and exterior subjects.

Pauline has always believed in the fundamentals of good drawing combined with the effects of light and atmosphere in her painting. Her work is balanced between the interior and exterior and she enjoys working on subjects ranging from London railway stations to grand palaces, from elegant drawing rooms to the humble breakfast table.

Her work has been reproduced in journals and art books and has been selected from National exhibitions for reproduction as prints, calendars and cards in the UK and abroad.

Along the Thames

Chris Forsey RI, SGFA I am a professional, figurative painter working in acrylics, watercolour, and mixed-media. I like landscape and architectural subjects and in capturing atmosphere, fleeting moments of changing light and using dynamic composition, texture and expressive mark-making, while leaving some areas as vague abstraction, letting the viewer use their imagination.

From the rooftops, Polperro

I am widely exhibited throughout the UK and have won prizes for my work at the Mall Galleries, London. I was elected a member of the RI (Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours) in 2010. I have been tutoring and teaching for 15 years and enjoy giving lively and informative painting demonstrations. I run painting courses and holidays in the UK and abroad and have also been featured in British and European Art magazines. I am a regular contributor to The Artist magazine on mixedmedia watercolour and acrylic painting. I have also made 3 DVDs about my painting: Beyond watercolour, Pushing the boundaries of Watercolour, and The Four Seasons for Townhouse Films, both very enjoyable to make and proving very popular.

I believe in getting to know the painting subject through observation, sketching and photography, careful planning of composition and colour, and then working quickly and expressively back in the studio, endeavouring to make the work look spontaneous, expressive and dynamic.

I work in water-based mixed-media on paper and board, and also acrylic and ink on canvas. I use a variety of tools from roller and very large brush, rag, palette knife, card and fingers to create my paintings.

Robin Hazlewood RI Born in Meriden, Warwickshire 1944. Studied at Coventry College of Art, followed, in the mid-1960s, by post-graduate study at Liverpool College of Art. Academic posts have included Head of Putney School of Art, London; Dean of Sir John Cass School of Art, London; Vice Provost London Guildhall University. Elected member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 2002.

Artist’s statement: Colour is all-important in my work. When I look at the world, it is colour and movement that excite me most: the glint and flicker of light through trees, sunlight on shingles, evening sunsets, fairgrounds, harbours, etc.

My work is both representational and abstract. While the representational works evoke atmosphere and space through both gesture and colour, I try to make a visual equivalent, rather than a depiction, that can communicate something of the sensations evoked in me by what I see.

The more abstract colour-field paintings concentrate more on the relationships between colours. In them, I am trying to distil my visual experience to its essence. My work is mainly in watercolour with white gouache. Using not only brushes, some very large, but also paint scrapers of all kinds and sizes.

My paintings are in private collections in Britain, France, Spain, the USA, Hong Kong and Australia.

Moira Huntly RI, RWA, RSMA, PPPS Moira is interested in marine and industrial subjects, buildings in the landscape, as well as figures and still life, and paints in most media including mixed media. Working in the studio from keenly observed ‘on the spot’ drawings, in her paintings she is searching for a balance between the figurative and abstract patterns distilled from the drawings, and her love of colour is in the tradition of the Scottish Colourists.

Born in 1932 in Motherwell, Scotland, Moira Huntly studied at Harrow School of Art and Hornsey College of Art gaining a London University degree in Art Teaching. She was the first ever woman President of the Pastel Society, and is a past Governor of the Federation of British Artists.

A teacher and writer on many subjects relating to the practice of drawing and painting, she is also a member of the Royal West of England Academy, the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, and the Royal Society of Marine Artists.

Moira exhibits widely in the UK and abroad, and has undertaken many commissions for international companies. Collections include Alcoa International, Hampshire County Council, Laing plc, National Museum of Wales, Whitbread etc. She is the author of several books, her latest being Sketchbook Secrets published by David & Charles.

Saundersfoot Boats

Anne McCormack RI, PVPSWA Following careers in commercial Graphic Design and teaching, Anne’s natural talents, combined with a desire for artistic freedom, inevitably resulted in fine art painting - becoming her now well-established profession.

Her work has taken many directions in subject matter, and at various times has moved across all mediums of oil, acrylics and mixed media, with watercolour always dominating. Subjects have also been ‘on the move’ with subjects taken from her travels and interior scenes featuring people in everyday situations becoming the subjects for which Anne has received most acclaim.

In addition to showing in many independent galleries, her work has achieved much recognition by the leading and celebrated art societies, with work selected by the SWA (Society of Women Artists), RI (Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours), RWS (Royal Watercolour Society), ROI (Royal Institute of Oil Painters) and RA (Royal Academy, Summer Exhibition).

Colours of Morocco

 1994 awarded membership to the SWA (Past Vice President)  2007 elected member of the RI (currently a serving member of the RI Council)

Awards SWA ‘Best Work’ in annual open SWA exhibition 1996 HAS John Goss Award Bill Dale Award Lady Laming Award Edward Mason Watercolour Award

1998, 2006, 2013 1999,2007,2014 2009, 2015 2016

RI

2006 2009 2011 2011 2013

Best Figure Work Most Atmospheric Painting Best Outstanding Collection of Work The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award Most Innovative work in exhibition

Anna Dudley Neil RI Born just before the Second World War, my early years were spent playing in bomb-sites and sleeping in the air raid shelter in the garden.

Even then, I was always drawing and painting. I went to Kingston Art School as a junior student. When my family moved to Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, I began studying at Winchester School of Art. I remained there for four years, following courses in painting, modelling and sculpture, illustration, architectural drawing, life-drawing and portraiture.

In 1954, being awarded a County Major scholarship, I was admitted to The Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London. Sir William Coldstream was Slade Professor at that time and I had the good fortune to study under Claude Rogers, William Townsend, Lucien Freud and Henry Moore. L.S.Lowry was a visiting tutor. At that time, the course was very academic and included Art History (under Ernst Gombrich) and Life drawing/Anatomy. I was awarded two Slade Prizes – one for portraiture and the other for composition.

In 1957 I graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art. I became interested in Art Therapy and worked in a large psychiatric hospital for a few years.

I married in 1959 and soon after, lived in Malta for three years. Later, we went to live in Uganda where I lived and taught in a teachers’ training college. I also taught in two grammar schools preparing pupils for Cambridge O and A Level Art which included pottery and fabric printing. Before long, President Amin expelled the Asian shopkeepers from whom I had been obtaining my oil paint, so I became a watercolour painter and joined the RI in 1980.

By this time we had moved to Mol, in Kempenland, Belgium. I was a founder member of the Kempenland Watercolour Painters which has

subsequently become a national affair. There I painted much more, having my own annual exhibitions. I developed a technique of using the brush like a pencil, making overlapping lines (hachures) which added subtlety and depth to my landscapes.

My husband and I have travelled extensively in Europe and other continents and I always returned with sketches and working drawings.

The deserts and the National Parks of the American Mid-West have been an inspiration from which I developed my interest in abstract painting.

For these paintings I like to use the Daniel Smith (Seattle) range of colours – they seem to be stronger and deeper than any other make.

I exhibit at the annual RI exhibition at the Mall Galleries and have exhibited at sundry exhibitions in Europe.

Jean Noble RI, SWA All my work begins in front of the subject, whether in the urban landscape or the countryside. I allow my eyes to relax and my thoughts to absorb what is around me, so that from the initial sketch I make a response to my surroundings. Back in my studio I interpret my sketches into paintings that, once started, often dictate changes and further responses to colour and shapes that I recollect from my original interpretation.

As an abstract painter, it is very important for me to keep the ‘idea’ of the original reaction to a given space and allow the viewer room for their own interpretations as well.

Some of my work is intimate, some giving depth in space and air. The density of colour, its transparency or opacity, the layers that build up the painting are designed to add richness to forms within the flatness of the canvas or paper. My work is an ongoing journey. So far the end is not in sight!

My work has an ‘essential reality’ in its non-figurative execution, hopefully, giving an immediate contact with the viewer. All my pictures are the result of personal experience and whatever re-organisation of the subject has undergone in the process of painting, something of the colours and shapes I originally saw always remain. Paint represents space and makes it ‘actual’. I do not start with the idea, but with the experience. My source is from the ‘sensation’ of the place. The summarised compositions never entirely relinquish specific subject matter whether in cities, sea or landscape, though they exercise freedom of paint handling of an abstract nature. The paintings are about reality without resorting to imitation.

Sailing West

I continually try out new products as they come on the market and I am open to the gradual movement and evolution of my work. I use the Golden ‘Open’ acrylics on paper they give a longer degree of drying time to allow me to layer, scrape away and make use of texture.

In 2015, I was invited to judge the Shenzhen International Watercolour Biennial Exhibition. Having selected digital images, I was then invited to go to Shenzhen to select the winners of the competition with 3 other international judges and 4 Chinese judges.

David A Parfitt RI David was born in Cornwall but lives near Bath. He is a landscape painter, working with watercolours and water-based media. Although David knew that he wanted to draw and paint from an early age, he worked as a civil servant for 27 years: ‘I had no art training and am totally self-taught, but managed to paint while working and in 2007 I made the decision to resign and go full time as an artist’.

David was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 2011.

He won The Neil Meacher Sketching Prize in the RI 200 Exhibition (2012), the Frank Herring award in 2014 and the Winsor & Newton award in 2016 for ‘the group of paintings judged to be the most outstanding contribution to the exhibition’. He regularly contributes articles to The Artist magazine.

Wetland – blues and greens

Approach ‘I am passionate about watercolour and exploring how its fluidity and uncontrollable nature can be used to express and convey a feeling for the moods and atmosphere of the landscape. I see my paintings as fairly representational but aim to create something which has a sense of place without looking too contrived or deliberate. My approach is about experimenting, learning and developing as I attempt to push the waterbased medium as far as I can’.

Process ‘In the past few years I have found that I spend an increasing amount of time working in the studio. I still believe that it is essential to work on paintings outdoors, especially as I enjoy the challenge to get things done quickly and simply. But more often than not, I take long walks with my sketchbook, a small box of watercolours and a camera, using the sketches and photographs to make studio-based pieces where I can give more thought to experimentation, or just work purely from memory’.

Selected exhibitions include: ING Discerning Eye, Royal Society of Marine Artists, Royal Watercolour Society, Royal West of England Academy, Shenzen International Watercolour Biennial, Sunday Times Watercolour Competition

George Politis RI George Politis paints in water media and lives in Thessaloniki in Greece.

He is signature member of:  RI (Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours)  AWS (American Watercolor Society - USA)  AWA (Arizona Watercolor Association - USA)  NEWS (North East Watercolor Society - USA)  IAF (Institut des Arts Figuratifs - Canada)  Has served as President of the Artists Society of Northern Greece (2009-2015) His paintings have won many awards, including the ‘Commended Award in Watercolour’, ‘Best Watercolour’ and ‘Best Mixed Media’ at the International Juried Exhibitions, Australian Society of Miniature Art in Australia; the President’s Award, the Da Vinci Award and three times the ‘Award of Excellence’ in the Arizona Watercolor Association Members Shows (2001, 2007, 2011, 2017), awards in New York (NEWS Exhibitions 2010, 2011, 2016) e.a.

He has had solo exhibitions, including: Govedarou Art Gallery (Thessaloniki, 2015), Dipolo Gallery (Thessaloniki, 2015), Triveni Gallery, N. Delhi (2014), Reims (France, 2013), Myro Gallery (Thessaloniki , 2013), Techni Gallery (Kilkis, 2013), Piraeus Bank Convention Centre (Thessaloniki 2010), Geni Tzami, Thessaloniki, 2006, Hellenic Centre, (London, 2002), Gallery 47 (London, 2001), Aristotelion University in Thessaloniki and Katerini St-Fotios in 1999; Rodopouleio Center, Larissa in 1998; exhibition of the Organization of the Cultural Capital of Europe at City Hall of Thessaloniki, 1997; Municipality of Thessaloniki, 1996.

He has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Greece and in international exhibitions and contests.

George Politis was invited and participated in the Biennial of Shenzhen, China (2015), Biennial of Shanghai (2012), the 1st Watercolour Salon of Qingdao (China, 2014) and the 1st Biennial of Watercolour of Qingdao (2015), Kaifeng (2015) etc. Some of his paintings are now in the collections of the Museum of Arts of Qingdao, Museum of FAATH, Greece, Gallery - Museum of Macedonian Studies, Greece e.a.

He has served as juror in National and International watercolour exhibitions and he is the organizer and curator of the Thessaloniki Biennial of Watercolour (‘Watercolor International – Greece’).

His paintings are featured in art books and catalogs (International Artist 2001, L’ Aquarelliste 2000, L’ Art de l’ Aquarelle 2012, 2016, 2017, The Artist 2000, 2002, Artissime 2013, Le Grand Livre de l’ Aquarelle etc) Artist’s statement: ‘I love painting in watercolor and mixed water media. Selecting whether to go in the ‘pure’ direction of totally transparent watercolour, or to use acrylic inks, collage and other media is based on the subject and on the personal reaction to a potential subject. The medium is not the most important thing, the result is. I like aged material, rusty metal, weathered wood…

Time plays a very basic role in my paintings, I am particularly fascinated by the way it leaves its mark on varied objects and on nature itself. I see in the old, rusty and ravaged both truth and excitement. I can find inspiration in ordinary and commonly overlooked items, responding to them with dramatically different feelings each time, whether emphasizing the serenity, the loneliness, the atmosphere, or the melancholy.

My aim is to make the viewer share my feelings and share my love for such objects that have ‘lived’ in glory once… and that can still have sparkle today!’

David Poxon RI, NWS David Poxon was born in the Industrial heartland of England, but now makes his home in the rural countryside of Shropshire, UK. He is an elected member of the prestigious RI (The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours) and serves on the RI Council. He is also a signature member of NWS (The National Watercolour Society of America). In 2015 David will serve on the jury of selection for the NWS. Over the years he has won many awards and accolades for the precision and craftsmanship of his paintings. He is the author of two books on drawing techniques, and has contributed many articles to the Art Magazine press and has appeared in numerous art books worldwide.

Painting in pure watercolour medium, he uses a painstaking multiglazing technique, with sometimes up to 20 layers of transparent paint, each in turn delicately modulating the colours beneath. He uses no white paint at all in any of his works, preferring instead to preserve areas of the natural paper; his paintings can take many weeks in the making.

A recurring theme in his work is the reclamation by nature of that which man has created and abandoned, finding renewed life between object and environment.

Venice Afternoon

 Elected to membership of the RI in 2010 Awards: recent partial listing      

London R.I. Royal Institute London, Critics Award Pakistan Lifetime Achievement Award San Diego USA AWS Global Award 2016 Paris Salon International Alizarine Medale d’ honour New Orleans USA International First Prize London RI Winsor & Newton prize at the annual Royal Institute exhibition  Los Angeles National Watercolour Society of America Presidents Prize.  Shanghai Bienniale prize of excellence  Wolverhampton Art Gallery Curators Award David exhibits in fine art galleries in the UK, Europe, China , Asia, USA. South America.

Harry Price RI, NDD, ATD, MA Since retiring from teaching at the School of Art at Coventry University, I devote myself to full time painting.

My painting, as much as possible, tends to be done directly from the subject, but the cityscapes have to be developed in the studio using many return visits, colour notations, photographs and sketches as a basis for information. This subject matter has an emphasis on light effects and surface translucency. The distortions and reflected images in glass and mirrors often create tensions with the flat surface of the paper itself and find expression in the natural sparkle and surface sheen of my watercolours.

In 2003, I was elected a member of Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. Paintings are held in numerous collections including that of the Bishop of Coventry.

River Dart Reflections

Awards  Patchings Award (R.K. Burt Prize)  The Artist and Leisure Painter Open Exhibition (Winsor and Newton Award)  Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours.  Various awards including the Winsor and Newton/RI Award for the most outstanding group of paintings Publications  February 2007  April 2009  November 2012

‘International Artist’ ‘Chasing an Idea’ ‘The Artist’ ‘Masterclass’ ‘Practique Des Arts’ ‘Jeux de Miroirs’

Jean Robinson RI Jean Robinson was born and educated in Cardiff. She enjoyed many of the delights of being Welsh, such as singing with the Aelwyd choir in the National Eisteddfods and taking part in concerts all over the country.

Jean studied music and history in Nottingham, training as a teacher and she still teaches part time in Surrey. She has also run art workshops for talented children from local schools.

Jean began painting in 1987 when her youngest son started school. She joined a group of artists who for several years were tutored by Mike Bernard RI. Her love of experimentation with paints and materials stemmed from these classes. She paints mainly in a semi-abstract way using acrylics, watercolours, inks and collage. Her paintings are intuitive rather than literal and emerge from remembered images and shapes, with colour often being the starting point.

Across the Bay

Jean has travelled widely and memories of places visited appear in her work: the Welsh landscape, the hills, the seaside and towns are all represented. Music in many forms influences her paintings - the bold and colourful ones seem to grow when listening to jazz and rock music and the mellow ones emerge with the classics!

Jean has exhibited at numerous exhibitions at home and abroad and has won a number of prizes for her work. She was delighted to be accepted for the Welsh Artist of the Year Exhibition held in Cardiff. However, the exhibition that means the most to her was the RI show at the Mall Gallery in 2004. She had five paintings accepted, won two prizes for the same painting, became an applicant for membership of the RI and was elected a full member at the AGM that year.

Being on the council of the RI for many years and becoming Exhibition Secretary this year, means she can work for and support the society to the best of her ability.

Rosa Sepple PRI Rosa Sepple is a self-taught artist and started painting in 1999. In 2004 she was elected a Member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) and this year became the first woman President since the RI was formed in 1831.

In 2015 a sell-out show of 122 paintings which coincided with the publication of her first book ‘Out of the Blue’ was held at the Mall Galleries, London is one of her most memorable moments. Rosa has collectors worldwide and has shown in all major art exhibitions including the Royal Academy.

Although some of her work is in oil her preference is using water based mediums which as well as watercolour often includes ink, gouache and collage; her mixed use of these produce original, exciting paintings.

La Serenata

Ian Sidaway RI Born in Tamworth in 1951, Ian Sidaway trained as a designer but has painted since 1970. He has written over 30 books on art technique.

Illustration work led to using watercolour and he was elected a member of The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 2010. Both the rural and the urban landscape are the subjects currently of most interest.

Levens Hall VI

Julia Sorrell RI Living and working in Norfolk, Julia keenly explores natural forms through the exploration of geometry, based on direct observation directly from her mind, or the world around her. These paintings are of Orkney, drawn from careful sketch book studies. In 2015, Julia was awarded the ACE Foundation TravelArt Award and she made many drawings of the archaeology and landscape of Orkney from which she worked, once back in her studio.

Sea Stack, Yesnaby, Orkney

Shirley Trevena RI In 1994 I was elected a member of the RI. In the past I have run workshops in Italy, France and England. I have written four books on using watercolours and produced 3 DVDs, also of watercolours. I have exhibited my work in France, Belgium, China and regularly at the Mall Galleries, London. When I moved from Brixton, London to Brighton I became involved in the Brighton Arts Festival, opening my house and studio to the public, where I exhibited my paintings along with the work of art students from the University of Brighton.

My paintings are mainly of domestic settings using objects that I have collected over the years for their specific colour or shape. Frequently a painting begins with just the desire to see two fabulous colours nudging up against each other. There has to be a visual excitement towards my subject matter and I try to pass this involvement on to my viewer.

Those Red Amaryllis

My work appears to be painted very freely with loose brush strokes, but there is a strong discipline underpinning it all, giving attention to detailed balance and movement, always with a strong compositional structure.

I work quite slowly, building up the surfaces, concocting a muddled perspective, fractured and disjointed picture planes and describing objects, which begin at strange places and end nowhere at all. Implying things rather than explaining them. Above all I want the paintings to reveal themselves slowly, remaining interesting over time, to exist beyond that first hit of glorious colour.

Naomi Tydeman RI Winner of the Turner Watercolour Prize in 2013, Naomi Tydeman is a self-taught watercolourist, winning awards at a national level for her innovative styles and use of light and texture. She explores the qualities of watercolour, experimenting continually and pushing the boundaries of this incredible medium.

She opened her own studio-gallery in Tenby, Pembrokeshire in 1998, where the natural beauty of the area provides the inspiration for much of her work. Living on the edge of a shallow bay with a large tidal reach has led to an obsession with the way Nature uses sand, water and gravity to create beautiful patterns on the beach. Walking her dog at dawn and dusk on a beach that faces East has led to many sun and moon rises reflecting in the ripples and pools and a continual attempt to capture this beauty.

Tenby Skyline

Deborah Walker RI, ARSMA, FRSA

I have always regarded drawing as the seminal process from which all art forms grow. Drawing as mark making is an intrinsic part of being human; everybody does it but developing a language of drawing and painting that can express feelings and emotional responses has always been my aim. My paintings are concerned with landscape, both in broad expanse and in close up detail and express both the dramatic and subtle ways in which light transforms a subject.

My approach to watercolour embraces both representational and abstract elements, and I try to push the character of the paint to extremes.

Based in Staffordshire, my paintings are in many private collections throughout the UK, and in Japan, Germany, France, New Zealand, Australia and Finland.

Chronology 1985 1996 – 17 2002 2006 2011 2014 2015 2016

First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art, De Montfort University.

Teaching Drawing and Watercolour, one day workshops Elected Fellow to the Royal Society of Arts Elected Member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Elected member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) RI Steward for the Artists’ General Benevolent Institution Elected to RI Council Founded fRIends of the RI Elected Associate Member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists

Awards  RI The Turner Medal, Antony J Lester Art Critic Award, The Escoda Barcelona Award: 15  Mall Galleries Bookshop Award, RI: 16  RSMA The Charles Pears Award, RSMA Annual Exhibition: 13  RWS First Prize Winner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Purchase Prize: 05, 08 and the Winsor & Newton Prize, 21st Century Watercolour Exhibition: 08  RBSA Prize Exhibition: 06, 07 Open All Media (Watercolour) 04