ECOAA AWARDS 2007

JUROR’S CHOICE:

            ARLEEN McGEE

SWEET SUMMERTIME      Watercolour

Forceful use of contrast in the arrangement of darks and lights and the painting was expertly painted in clean fresh layers of paint. The slight triangle of unpainted paper was the apex of a triangular composition that moved from layers of light to heavier paint layers in the details and the darks.

 

BEST OIL

LUCY MANLY

RAINY DAY ON BLOOR      Oil

This painting was executed in a lively personal style that was forceful and playful at the same time. One could not  help but respond to that scene in Toronto ---the busy lifestyle of customers and vendors. The wet pavement was so well expressed in the repetition of the shapes and colours of the market stalls and people on the pavement by the wet reflections echoed on the road below. A strong expressive painting which was well designed.

 

BEST ACRYLIC

CHARLES SPRATT

NEW GREENS         Acrylic

            This painting expressed the curling, steamy mist of a country road and the  erratic nature of the mist which is never consistent but comes in segregated patches which indicate the presence of moisture and heat as they combine to obscure the road or path one is traveling. Since Acrylic can be used to mimic the effects of any other medium the light washes were used to express a watercolour technique rather than the heavy impasto of oils.

     

BEST WATERCOLOUR

BARBARA ELMSLIE

            GARDEN GROWTH         watercolour----vignette

            A beautiful watercolour which expressed all aspects of the technique----clean colour, good composition within the limitations of the vignette formula and an appealing subject matter.

 

             BEST MIXED MEDIA

BARBARA  ELMSLIE

TWILIGHT ZONE               watercolour & gouache on pastel paper

            A beautifully stated painting in which the thick and thin paint was handled  so gracefully that it gave one an immediate sense of peace and identification with nature.

     

            MOST INNOVATIVE

JEANNE CRANK

STRATOPHERE # 7----# 8 -----# 9            Abstract Acrylic     Triptych

Excellent technical rendering which was well designed in harmonious colour with a bold rendering of the layers of paint and the thicker impasto suggestive of the oil technique which was dramatic and, interestingly enough, was the direct opposite of Charles Spratt’s  “ New Greens “  although using the same media.

 

           HONORABLE MENTIONS:

1. JOSEPHINE BRADEN          SERENITY      watercolour

    This watercolour demanded a lot of space and time and the attention to detail is very precise and well executed especially in the treatment of the nature of the rocks in the foreground which resulted in the  handling of depth &  dimension in earlier oriental paintings which created  from the top as background and the bottom of the composition as foreground or near space.

 

2. A.lan J. BAIN                        MORNING               Watercolour

    This painting was unusual in it’s handling of thick and thin lines to denote the strengths of the subject matter

 

            3. AUDREY M.BAIN

     ALGONQUIN          OIL

     Clean clear colour and forceful shapes which suggest the spirit  and landscape of the park without resorting to pictorial realism.

 

4.  PAUL THRANE     OIL

    BIRCHES IN WINTER

    Well executed painting , clean in colour and composition and an appealing subject matter.

 

            5. ALINE JOANIS

                IN NEED OF MEDICINE            ACRYLIC  (3-Dimensional)

     The presentation was very different ---a bas-relief. Would recommend that she look at the work of the 15^th century wood carvings of Albrecht Durer for further inspiration and stronger depth. He took a smooth piece of wood and then cut into it to make a bas-relief out of the wood to create negative and positive space and started the whole theory of communication through illustration. This is why your piece of work attracted my attention.                                                   

 

            6. TRICIA WILMOT SAVOIE

    SARSFIELD BARN---------OIL

    Nice design with very positive command of medium with interesting freedom with the strokes of impasto against the water with a suggestion of the foreground grass and the simple shape of the red barn in the background

Jurer's Comments

This was a very difficult show to jury. There was an overwhelming amount of great watercolour paintings overall. Too bad that one could not award more. but that was also restrictive in the space.

The innovative, the oils, the acrylic and the mixed media were obvious choices. 

If you were not given space in the show it would be because of the following reasons”

 Lack of study in the anatomy both human and animal and not enough expertize with the media of choice. Not enough attention to the sinking of oils if not glazed properly, Perspective and depth poorly handled or the paint being overworked resulting in muddiness of the resulting painting regardless of subject matter.

If you cannot draw well you cannot paint well and if you do not understand perspective you will get neither depth or distance.

Art is difficult to pursue because of it’s complexities and sometimes not appreciated enough by the average viewer.

Don’t stop painting because it is probably in your blood and bones now and every day brings progress and reward.  

 

Many thanks should be given to Josephine Braden for all her time and devotion and to Penelope Kokkinos whom I have worked with personally at the Nepean Sportsplex.

It was a pleasure to see so many wonderful paintings.

 

DAPHNE DAIN, NDD., BA., Vocational Certificates in Commercial Design and Fine Art.