Highlights of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhbition (Winsor & Newton Young Artists/Under 35yrs)

This is another review of the ROI Annual Exhibition at The Mall Galleries, which is a bit late this year as the exhibition closes today! But for for those of you who couldn't make it and for those of you far far away...this is post highlights few of the paintings in the Under 35 category that got my attention.

They are young painters with so much potential and I know when I say young, some people might say 18-35 yrs isn't young. But we all know that in this business, most people never really hit it big in this career until they have passed the 35 hurdle, anyway that was my experience after 15 years of painting!

Anyway, enough of the explanations, lets get down to the paintings! I'll take the artists one by one and without much ramblings just go straight to the point and reason why I liked the piece. I don't know if I can keep to my promise, but lets see how I get on!

Just remember, there were more in this category but these are the ones that caught my eye!


1. JAMES BLAND

He stole the show in this category! He won the First Prize!

 

James Bland and his winning painting

I like his work because he draws with paint! The mark making in the painting below is just beautiful.....you feel you can understand his decision making and struggles. His paintings are like drawings in colour to me and it's not only the fact that his drawings are accurate to the eye, but he knows what to put in and knows what leave out.

James Bland, Reclining Figure, Evening

He is a master of selectivity!

I have to ramble a bit...... I was introduced to his work by Ilaria on Facebook and then I saw him and his work at the New English Art Club Annual Exhibition just before this one and I was really impressed seeing his work live.

Paul from Winsor & Newton, James Bland and lovely Model he painted

The painting below is amazingly composed. The colour is vibrant, he has painted the model over several sittings under artificial  light. I just love the way he composes all his pieces. You can immediately see that a lot of thought has gone into developing these paintings.

James Bland, Lime Green Dress

Whenever an artist conquers drawing, he conquers painting! But whenever an artist conquers colour and drawing, he triumphs in any artistic battle! Hence the victory of this young painter has just begun, watch out for him in the future, he has been in  the hiding but his revelation is right here for us to behold in the present!   

2.TOM HUGHES

Tom Hughes is naturally a vibrant, energetic and really nice chap! His paintings have some of those qualities.
I don't really paint still life pieces but when I see his still life paintings, I get a feeling of how I would love my still Life paintings to look.....anything but still. His painting below is dynamic, it has a nice monochrome underpainting which has been skillfully painted with ease and flow. He then decides where he is going to add colour to and where he is not...again it's the selectivity! There's a constant interchange of thick and thin, which makes the eye excited, as one takes in this painting!

 

Tom Hughes, Painting of a painting of a painting with Deer Skull

The other painting of his I liked so much in the show was this little plein air piece of an ice cream van. I don't have much to say on this one, the work speaks for itself. It has an urgency it and because it was done with that spirit (The True Alla Prima Spirit), he then has been able to produce a lovely energetic and dynamic piece! Look how he has blocked off the background with a lovely dark washed colour to create a functional contrast to the van! 

Tom Hughes, Ice Cream, Plein air

 

3. LEANNE RUTTER

She loves painting! Having watched her paint sitting on the floor on the ROI Open Painting Evening... I now have a better insight into how she works.

Leanne Rutter, Brutally Refined

For this piece above, she has created an exciting painting that has simple coloured dotted strokes all over. No passage is plain or just one shape of flat colour, every bit is a mixture of dots placed side by side to create a vibration and some sort of tension which keeps this piece and her other paintings alive and more than just a truthful rendition of what she paints. She takes us beyond the surface and works out these beautiful motifs that are little abstract pieces if isolated to stand on their own.

Leanne Rutter with her painting

I had to add this picture above, so you can see the size of this wonderful piece!
  

4. FLORA WATSON

Sometimes you look at a painting and you just don't know why you love it! You go back to it and you just keep on going back to it!

Flora Watson, Georgy

That's exactly what happened to me with this painting above. Maybe it's because the lady is not staring straight at me, so it gives me the opportunity to steal a longer gaze at her, over time, like those people I sketch on Public Transport. Maybe it's the colour temperature, because this piece is a clear cut study by someone who has mastered colour temperature. The whole face is painted almost in one tone and to me that would have been boring without must value. But she proves to us with this painting that successful portraiture is not all about value (light and shade) but Temperature( the warmth or coolness of colour)

The drawing is accurate and it's a piece that has undergone the surgery of life sittings! Oh, I long to paint from life sittings again! She sees lovely shapes of colour and this is not a painting to please the sitter, this is one that makes me feel the artist is free to take decisions based on how she sees the Three Dimensional transformed into The Two Dimensional.



5.YERMOLOVA

When a painter takes the painting backward and forward with one mind and one goal, but that goal is not reached until something suddenly resonates....then the painter has not just used technique for the sake of it but knows how to use it as a means to an end.

Yermolova, Watermelon Mood

Her style is unique! I watched her paint on one of the ROI Open Painting Evenings and it was simply a delight to behold. There she was scrapping, pouring, allowing accidentals, pasting, carving, scratching.....name it! She was enjoying the process! And that why her paintings beam with such liveliness! 

Her still life is anything but still! I love what she does and the confidence with which she does it and when a painter is confident-the painting can no more be confidential but one to be seen by the world and hailed for its uniqueness!

6. CAROLINE DE PEYRECAVE

For this piece it is all about the skin colour here. Sometimes getting the right skin colour can be difficult. She has definitely painted a girl who is an albino, now, to paint albino skin colour, you must be very observant and Caroline has been able to portray the tanned skinned colour under a very cool light source.

Caroline de Peyrecave, Musunda

The artist has done well to produce a truthful piece with so much fluidity and sound drawing skills. 

It's a piece that has a very painterly approach, somewhat of the school of thought that Sargent belonged to. 

7. SIMON WATKINS

 Whenever I see a work like this I really appreciate the time and patience it takes to be classically trained and to master this sort of  technique in painting. I love it for the accurate drawing, brilliant and vibrant skin colour, and the way he has included a backgound which doesn't compete or swallow the main figure but yet compliments it in everyway.

Simon Watkins, Winter Evening

 

8. FRANCIS MARTIN

 This is a simple plein air piece. He actually told me I was one of those whom he discovered on-line that helped him to be inspired to take up plein-air painting! I was happy to hear that!

Francis Martin and his winning painting

He hasn't been doing outdoor painting for long but he is sure on the right direction with what I could see with this little street scene. You can almost count the marks he has made, only striving for what matters most and for what would speak most about the scene at hand. 

Francis Martin, Autumn Greys-Theberton Street, Islington

I particularly liked the honesty in this piece, nothing is overdone, just beautiful marks of a painter in the right tune with the Alla Prima Spirit! He won an Award with the piece! Keep an eye on him!!!

9. STEPHANIE PIJPER

 Simply love it for her labour of love and celebration of colour! Her keen eye for detail is to be adored and the way she is able to include everything she wants into the painting without ending up with chaos has do with some sound and proper planning at the beforte such paintings are embarked upon.

Stephanie Pijper, Studio 6.13

10. GRAHAM WEBBER

Graham Webber and his well presented paintings

 That's the man with three well painted plein air pieces and well presented too! Presentation is powerful and sometimes it is easy to overlook the fact that after a painting is done in flesh and blood, it needs the right clothes to wear. Now, don't you tell me clothes don't matter! I have been treated differently all because of what I was wearing at the time.

Hence my praise this time, not only for the beautiful impressionist style of Graham and his profound way of simplifying the landscape and only honing in on the essentials BUT for the professional presentation he has given the works!

11. ELLEN TOVEY

There's always a portrait that breathes!

Ellen Tovey, Sasha

This is one of them! What I like about this piece is the mood that shines through. It is a fairly large portrait but what wins it for me is the distribution of light on the skin surface, it was terrifically done! 


12. ALICE HALL

Alice Hall with her painting.

 I love this one for it's pure impressionist approach, every stroke she lays is seen clearly you can read her hand. It's truthful and the surface of her paintings are very interesting, I just love the way her strokes dance all over the surface with some lyrical movement!

Alice Hall, Falmouth Dock 2013

13. JACK BANISTER

You might guess already why I love this one! I love crowded scenes but this time it's not the only reason. I love the way he has created some drama here. The play of light on the whole scene, the suspense- you begin to ask yourself what are they gathering to see or talk about? 

Jack Banister, Gathering

14.HAYLEY BROWN

 

Hayley Brown, Homage to Chardin

When a painting is executed well and all the the main essentials like composition, value, colour, texture and the focal point have been all given a very good amount of skillful attention, then the rest is history, the painting is a winner!

I could begin to write a whole story about this painting, I really love every bit of it! The shadows are so subtle and the change in temperature of the greys is amazing on the wall that the dead bird is propped on. Finally, look at those negative shapes that the shadow forms with the pears and the background, sweet!!!


15. BRANDON SCOTT

Brandon Scott, Nick Rehearsing

This is a very bold little painting that celebrates meaningful shapes of colour! It all fits well together as a brilliantly composed design and works as an abstract too! It takes great confidence in ones style, not to go further than this but to leave the conversation right where the main ideas have been highlighted!

I hope you enjoyed this post, please feel free to comment and share with the social media buttons below.

My next post would be on the open painting evening where both members and non-members of the ROI took part in painting on an explosive evening!

Highlights of The Royal Institute of Oil Painters (Under 35 Category) 2012

Alex Cree, THERMOS STILL LIFE, 53 x 53cm- one of my best pieces in the show!  It's really full of colour! Rich applications, solid draughtsmanship and a solid composition. This painting won the Phyllis Roberts' Award of £2,000 in memory of Phyllis Roberts ROI, to encourage and support a young painter. I think it's worthy of the award and how nice to have such a support to an artist out there. Much needed and deserved in todays climate.

This is my second post on the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition 2012. I am concentrating on a few works from The Under 35 Category which is sponsored by Winsor & Newton. These are just a few of the works that caught my attention. I won the First Prize in this category in 2007 and ever since then I have always loved to see and discover some new and upcoming talent in this category. Although most of the artists here have been prominent in the art scene.

Alice Hall with her painting on top, I CAN SEE THE SEA, 78 x 108cm- Alice is a typical  outdoor painter, very  vigourous in her deft applications of colour and bold in the subject matter she embarks upon. This one was painted from the 13th floor of an office in Canary Wharf or somewhere in the city, if I can remember exactly what she told me and it is a very honest painting, I say honesty, because she makes no attempt to flatter the scene but as can be seen from her paintings, they have brushstrokes that are joyfully laid and true to life! This painting won the 3rd Prize in this category.

Andrew Hitchcock, LION DOG, 33 x 26cm- I have to confess my picture didn't do justice to this little gem.  I really like it when an artist takes an ordinary object and plays around with it under different light settings and is able to transform it into an enchanting piece which comes live and almost has a drama and mood of it's own!

Christian Newell, STUDY OF HUMAN SKULL, 30 x 40cm-I am a great fan of skull paintings, I think it's a great reminder  of what's inside us and what we'll end up being when the flesh we so much 'adore', rots and gets down to the bare bones. I almost feel that process taking place in Christians' painting, as his scratch-back technique almost feels like the scrapping off of flesh to reveal the skull. 

Christian Newell with his painting.

Daniel Shadbolt, SELF PORTRAIT, 46 x 41cm- I am a great fan of Mr Shadbolt's paintings, I think I first discovered his work at a Lynn Stainers' Exhibition. What I really love about this piece and all his work, is the manner at which he just lays down simple strokes of colour, with a keen interest in temperature than tone on a solid drawing. The result always has a kind of vibration and grand abstract quality to it! I would love to collect his work one day!

Graham Webber, TOWARDS THE PACKING SHED AT DUSK, 60 x 85cm-Graham is a painter that still surprises me! Under a short space of time he has been able to get himself up in some of the best representational Art shows in the Country and to me, he still hasn't reached his peak! Not that any artist does, but there is so much potential ahead of this guy, I just hope he keeps this momentum flowing. This painting reveals his courage! Many of us thought this was a small painting when we previewed the works on the Mall Galleries site, but were shocked to see the size of it when we got the exhibition. He has basically taken a very limited palette and attacked a very common subject with fluid, energetic strokes that bring out a silent beauty in this piece. He is surely one to watch in the years ahead! 

Graham Webber with his Award winning painting

Graham Webber receives his Award, The Menena Joy Schwabe Memorial Award for an outstanding Oil Painter

Leanne Rutter with her Award Winning painting, A NATURAL EDUCATION- This piece blew me off my socks! It's a self-portrait of the artist in her newly found life as a one who goes out for game. I did a little review in 2010 when she won 2 awards in this category and I was so pleased to see her progress this year. Again, my picture does little justice to this painting, every bit of it is an abstract piece, of paint worked into paint, a kind of pointillism, the effect brings out a piece that has no dormant spot. Everything is alive! I wasn't surprised to see it SOLD for £7,950! It's a painting that shows hard work. 

Leanne Rutter receives her award 

Nathalia Avdeeva Prov ROI, TANYA, 60 x 60cm-My picture does no justice, it was a painting placed high up in a  less illuminated room. I love the format, not common these days. I also like the softness. Tanya is a lady I know and even without much detail, this just reveals exactly who she is. it's also keen observation of interior light in an artist studio. I really like the overall composition, nothing shouts for attention.

Nathalia Avdeeva with her painting

Tim Galton, THE STACKS NEAR CASTLEMARTIN, PEMBROKESHRE, 100 x125cm- This is a large painting, almost entirely executed with a palette knife! I love it because the textures add a lot of feeling to the piece. I felt the real solidity of everything!

I think my next post would be on my entry into this exhibition-One of my Homeless Faces or a review of the painting evening on Monday. Stay tuned!

Highlights from the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition (Under 35 Category) 2011

Once again I am thrilled to highlight this category which is known as the Winsor & Newton Young Artists Award, It's a major part of the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, which opened yesterday to the public at the Mall Galleries and continues till Sunday the 18th of December. It was opened by the President, Peter Wileman and The Rt. Hon, Michael Portillo. This years crowd at the opening is the largest I have seen since I started attending this exhibition!


Natalia Avdeeva with her Self Portrait which won the First Prize in this Category.


These are just my personal highlights, as much as I like painting, I also like looking at paintings and writing about artists whose works I love. It is simple as that. This category had 20 paintings by 16 wonderful artists- I am only highlighting nine of them, you just need to get to the Mall Galleries before the show runs out to see the whole show! It's a fantastic exhibition!

1.NATALIA AVDEEVA



Natalia won the First prize in this category. I wrote about her work in 2009. I also highlighted the fact that she won a prize during the Open Painting Evening that same year. She graduated from Heatherley's and is fast becoming a painter of great acclaim!
Her winning painting which is a self portrait is simply sublime. Never have I seen one done in a round frame, so I asked her, "Why?" and she said, "It's a format that has so much positive energy going round it, something the four corner format holds back." I love the muted colours laid side by side with deft precision. Someone once said,"It is the grays that make a painting sing" and this piece generates a beautiful harmony of grays for me! I also love the fact that since there's back-lighting, her facial features are not apparent but one almost believes they are there. It's what the mind does, it fills in the gaps.

2.IRENA CHMURA



Irena is a new discovery for me. She won the Phyllis Roberts Award of £2,000 to encourage and support a young painter.
Her Painting, "Joanna" captures the mood of someone in a deep thought. She is almost absent from the painting. It's executed in a naturalistic manner with an impressionistic touch, which keeps the viewer fully engaged with her limited use of colours.

3.NATHAN FORD



Nathan is a star of this category-he won it last year to cap up a hat trick of First place Awards in this section.
His entry this year is what I call, "FIREWORKS". There is no dull moment in his piece titled "Gresleys". I spent a while in front of this piece. He is a artist that combines the act of painting and drawing in such a profound manner, leaving the raw linen canvas and the paint to interact in a fluent combination. This painting was my best piece in the whole show!

4.SALLY JANE FUERST



Another discovery! I really love her entry, titled, "Rainbow Bear". The composition clicks just right for me. She accentuates the image on the models shirt with the flow of the balloons in the air. But what really got me hooked and absorbed in this painting was the treatment she gave the models legs. Her legs, especially from her knees down, have such elegance and as Tim Benson also said, "They carry the weight of the body so well." I feel it also reads well amidst a dark ambiguous background. The cool colours she has used here just compliment the jump in the upper half. Splendid to behold!

5.LAUCHLAN GOUDIE



He won the second prize in this category and he is another new artist I've discovered! I spent some time trying to figure out how he managed to control such a busy painting with vibrant colours without it looking chaotic. Now, that's the trick, he is a master, I love his take on still life, it has no figures but almost feels as if it has figures present.

6.JOHNNY MORANT



I wrote about Johnny two years ago while reviewing this exhibition, where he had a fluent Rush Hour Scene of Villiers Street. I always knew he had more stuff under his sleeves. This year he had 3 paintings in this section-Which isn't any easy feat! I loved all of them, and because I am plein air painter I was tempted to add the 2 wonderful paintings he did of plein air painters in action-but I just decided to follow my heart and I have chosen this landscape piece which is simply magical! It's in no way a static landscape but radiates with some sort of vigorous explosion!
I met Johnny last week at the New English Art Club Annual Exhibition, where he had another beautiful painting accepted, and he comes across as a very passionate young painter. He is surely one to watch in the future!

7.FEDOR GRIDNEV



He won the Third prize in this category. This is the first time I have got to meet him. He has won this Award in the past and recently won a top award in the Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition.
This painting is what I call "The Beauty of Alla Prima"-There's nothing hidden, you can almost tell how everything was painted, he shows you his hand. The subtle washes are left to suggest what the viewer already knows. It's a typical illustration of: LESS IS MORE!"




8.YASUNOBU SHIDAMI



He won this prize in 2009-we were both at Heatherleys around the same time and I have watched his work develop over the years. His self-portraits are getting better and better. Each of them being a careful depiction of himself on large scale canvases in bold, thick, blazing colour. What attracts me most to his work is the surface texture.-Getting close-up to his portrait, allows you to feel the different layers of exciting colour he has placed side by side and over each other to produce a mosaic structured beauty of his face!

9.GRAHAM WEBBER



I met Graham at one of my group shows with the Plein Air Brotherhood at Harpenden. He showed so much enthusiasm to learn and discover fresh ways to go about plein-air painting. I was willing to share with him everything I could, in the short space of time we had discussing. So, I wasn't surprised to see one of his plein air paintings in this category. He has painted it in a proper Landscape format and it glows with an underpainting that brings the evening light in the atmosphere, radiant against the cool darks in the foreground structures.

Highlights of Royal Institute Of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition (Under 35 Category)-2010

This year the Royal Institute of Oil Painters had it's 123rd Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. The exhibition was opened by the President, Peter Wileman PROI and Comm. Antonio Carluccio OBE. The gallery was packed and the works on display were fantastic!

In this post I just want to highlight a few of the painters from the Under 35 category that got my eye and I must say, ALL the works in this category were super! But I just want to share a few that caught my attention.

1.TIM BENSON

I discovered Tim Benson at Heatherleys as he is an open studio tutor there and most recently at Enid Lawson Gallery where I also show my work. Tim's paintings in this show are portrait based and I really like the way he uses bold and heavily textured calligraphic strokes of colour to depict his subjects. The focus here for me is not about the resemblance, but as seen below in his second prize winning piece of his dad looking down, it is about the interaction of colour shapes which when laid side by side or as broken colour, read remarkably well and depict the form and structure of his dad's face. It's amazing to behold! Tim is also a candidate for associate membership this year!


"Dad Looking Down"


Tim Benson receives his Award (2nd Prize)


2.NATHAN FORD

This is the 3rd time Nathan has won this prize, I remember seeing his work about 5 years ago and I instantly fell in love with them because of the mixture of drawing and painting which I love so much but also the fresh dynamic impact it has on the viewer. He leaves out a lot to allow the viewer to interact into the mysterious personality of the characters he portrays. In "Samuel" -you can't even see the eyes of the guy but feel everything that you need to know about him has been portrayed already. I never tire of his work!


"Samuel"



Nathan Ford and his Award Winning Painting(1st Prize)

3.MARYAM FOROOZANFAR

I featured her last year, we got to meet on facebook and via e-mail and I have seen her work in the BP Portrait Award, a couple of times. In this piece, titled,"evening", which had already SOLD this morning when I got there, has a beautiful dramatic evening interior light to it. It resonates throughout the piece and is more evident on the lady's skin. I love the subtle changes in tone and temperature the occur in her paintings!


"Evening"(SOLD)

4.BARRY HAINES
Barry is a new discovery and that's what this category has been able to produce since Winsor & Newton decided to sponsor it. In this piece titled "The Promise" Barry has captured the face of a female sitter remarkably well, the thing that I like about it is the play of light on the forms. Looking closely also reveals some textures which add to the sparkle this piece produces!


"The Promise"

5.DAVID PILGRIM

Dave is a great pal of mine. He has been a current and continuous feature in this category for the past 4 or 5 years. This year he had 3 works accepted, which isn't an easy task! Of all three, it's a little landscape with the sun setting that won my heart. You don't need to say much with paint and this piece communicates powerfully! Earlier this year he won the Prize for the Best Plein air work in The Bath Prize.


"Fading Summer, Sun, Whaddon"


David with his other paintings



David also took me a picture of me and my work.

6.ROBERT POINTON

Another new discovery. Just looking at the piece makes me love it more. He has exalted the wet on wet technique here and everything is vibrant and fresh with no over-working. The strong angle in which the Borough Market slants, helps to draw the eye into the depth of the picture. It is a fun piece to me!


"Borough Market"

7.LEANNE RUTTER

I met Leanne at the show and I had a good time to talk with her and I simply told her that her painting which one two prizes (3rd in the Winsor & Newton and The Phyllis Roberts' Award of £2,000 to encourage and support a young painter)
was an example of what I call, "RUSTIC BEAUTY"- it's an intimate study of a Dog Walker and the dog who the Dog Walker helped to recover from paralysis. It has a very strong impact on the viewer and for a girl at just 23, you bet she is one of those to watch in the future!


Leanne with her Painting the Woodsman(SOLD)


"Post Paralysis"(SOLD)Third Prize and Winner of The Phyllis Roberts Award.


You can see more on the opening in the New ROI BLOG here and this post on the Winsor and Newton Finalists by Katherine in her wonderful MAKING A MARK BLOG, Katherine is going to do an extensive review of the show in a few days time.

The Exhibition continues till the 19th of December, DON'T MISS IT!