Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 209th Exhibition | Prizes & Awards Part Two

The Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours and Mall Galleries are delighted to announce the Prizes & Awards from the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 209th Exhibition.

Congratulations to all artists who have been awarded prizes by our generous prize givers.

The exhibition is open at Mall Galleries until Saturday 29 May.

Book Tickets

If you cannot make the exhibition we hope that with videos, audio, images, and statements by the winners to watch, hear, see, and read, you can experience and enjoy their works wherever you are.

Artists in Part Two include:

Carol Ryder
Louise Saward
Adam de Ville
Roger Dellar RI PS ROI
Ann Blockley RI
Kimberley Walker

Part One | Prize & Award Winners

Part Three | Prize & Award Winners

The Cass Art Prize

Carol Ryder

Gold Stripe 2021

A prize of £200 of art supplies from Cass Art, awarded to a work demonstrating the most innovative use of colour

mallgalleries · Carol Ryder

This painting is a portrait of performance artist Sylvia Ziranek, who I met a couple of years ago. I have always been fascinated by expressions of personal style, and on that day, Sylvia was resplendent with magenta hair, cluster pearl earrings, a beaded bauble necklace, bright blue eyeliner and a gold stripe painted on her nose. I asked Sylvia if she would allow me to photograph her with a view to painting her portrait, and she was happy for me to do so.

During lockdown, in December last year, I was looking for inspiration for new work and remembered the photograph. I painted the portrait using Winsor and Newton watercolour inks, with the signature ‘gold stripe’ on Sylvia’s nose applied in imitation gold leaf.

I enjoy working with colour and decided not to use any black in the portrait, so the darker tones in the painting are built up with layers of colour.

I’m no photographer, and the source photograph was taken using my old iPhone 6, so the image I was working from was rather dark and the tones very flat. I decided that quite a bit of artistic license was needed to enhance the colour in Sylvia’s face. The colours in the painting are brighter, and the contrasts sharper, than in the original photograph.

In particular, I hoped to capture Sylvia’s lively personality and quirky expression in the portrait, as well as her colourful and idiosyncratic sartorial style.

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