Lillias August RI | Mall Galleries

Bedside

Watercolour

33 x 41.5 cm
Empty Nests

Watercolour

31 x 94 cm
Nest Egg

Watercolour

31.5 x 41.5 cm
Ten Green Bottles

Watercolour

30 x 89 cm
Tied Up in Knots

Watercolour

29 x 91 cm

About Lillias August RI

Artist details wrap

Biography

Artist's Statement

From the understated fenland landscapes to the raw details of a building site, it is often the anonymous rather than the picturesque that captures Lillias' imagination. As a committed watercolour painter, she enjoys the effects of both applying and lifting the paint, and the tension between control and chance. For the last few years Lillias has been concentrating on still life paintings, often laying everyday objects out in lines, like specimens calling out to be inspected.

Method of Working

Lillias currently uses watercolours with a limited palette of six basic colours (Ultramarine, Cerulean, Violet, Cadmium red, Cadmium yellow and Lemon yellow) and three extras (Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Viridian). She uses the best quality paints and brushes on Saunders Waterford paper, which she stretches, however heavy, as she likes a solid surface. Lillias uses masking fluid and ‘lifting’ techniques to retain whites and create various effects.

She works on one painting at a time except at times when she needs to leave a couple of days for a colour to ‘set’. Lillias works rather ponderously, laying wash upon wash and building up the work very slowly. The effect is often very still and perhaps uncharacteristic of looser, more instant techniques. She uses brief sketches, notes, memories and photos for her landscape work, building up paintings in the studio and often returning to the subject as work progresses. Lillias finds that personal written notes are very evocative in recalling the sense of a place and its effect on her. Her still life work is done in the studio from life – she often finishes it without the objects in front of her.

Biographical Details

1955 Born on 5 May in Stroud, Gloucestershire

1973 to 1977 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Goldsmiths College

1977 to 1979 Postgraduate Diploma (CNAA) in History of Art and Design, Birmingham

2000 to 2005 Project Artist, Suffolk Cathedral Millennium Project

2006 Elected as a Member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2013 Elected onto RI Council and currently Honorary Secretary

Society Memberships

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

Other Society Memberships

Institute of East Anglian Artists (IEA) – Honorary Member

Society of East Anglian Watercolourists (SEAW) – Patron

Scholarships, Awards, Prizes

2020 The Baohong Artists’ Watercolour Paper Award for an RI Member, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2019 Megan Fitzoliver Brush Award, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2019 Escoda Barcelona Award, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2017 ‘Dry Red Press Award', Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2010 ‘St Cuthberts Mill Prize’, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2006 ‘Frank Herring & Sons Easel Award’, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2005 ‘Countryman Prize’, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

2002 ‘St Cuthberts Mill Prize’, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours

1998 ‘Regional Prizewinner’, Laing

Exhibitions

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 205th Exhibition

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 2016

Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 2015

Other exhibitions

Annual exhibition - Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours from 2000 (as member from 2006)

Exhibiting at The Hunter Gallery, Long Melford, Suffolk (Annual Exhibitor)

Exhibiting at Adrian Hill Fine Art, Holt, Norfolk

2001 to 2008 'Artworks', Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, Suffolk (Annual Exhibitor)

2006 to 2008 Langham Fine Art, Langham, Suffolk (Annual Exhibitor)

2012 to 2016 Annual exhibitor – Institute of East Anglian Artists (IEA Annual Exhibitor)

2016 Honorary Member IEA, Patron of Society of East Anglian Watercolourists (SEAW)

2015 ‘Watercolours’, Edmund Gallery, Bury St Edmunds

2015 ING Discerning Eye, London

2013 Still Alive, Mall Galleries, London

2012 Federation of British Artists presents London, Mall Galleries, London

2012 London Views, RAC Club, Pall Mall, London

2012 Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in Rye, Rye Art Gallery

2012 Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, National Theatre, London

2011 ‘Vaulted Ceiling’, Edmund Gallery, Bury St Edmunds

2011 Art Show, Norwich

2010 Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Mid Cornwall Galleries, Par, Cornwall

2010 Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Gallery Lefort, Bath

2010 Watercolour Academy, Mall Galleries, London

2010 ‘A-Z of Still Life’ Wildwood Gallery, Suffolk

2009 Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours Alresford Gallery, Alresford, Hampshire

2009 The Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London

2009 High Watermark, RI & RWS, Mall and Bankside Galleries, London

2009 ‘Visions of Watercolour Today’ Landau, Germany

2009 The Russell Gallery, Putney, London

2008 to 2010 Harleston Gallery, Suffolk

2004/07/09 ‘Art at the Park’, Croxton, Norfolk

2006 and 2008 ‘Suffolk Showcase’, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk (Judge - 2007)

2004/06/10 ‘Art in the Barn’, Dove Barn, Groton, Suffolk

2001 to 2005 Project Artist - Suffolk Cathedral Millennium Project, St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Suffolk

2005 to 2006 ‘Cross’ tour to Ely, Peterborough & Lincoln Cathedrals & Southwell Minster funded by Arts Council England East and East Midlands

2005 ‘Millennium Tower’ – end of project exhibition, St Edmundsbury Cathedral

Publications

‘Millennium Tower’, essay by Ronald Blythe, foreword by Bishop Richard Lewis (illustrated book to accompany the Suffolk Cathedral Millennium Project)

‘Vaulted Ceiling’ (illustrated book accompanying the exhibition - the making of the vaulted ceiling at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Suffolk)

2015 Feature in Watercolour Artist magazine

2012 Featured artist - Watercolour Artist magazine

2011 Talking techniques in June issue - Artist & Illustrators magazine

2010 Featured artist in the May issue of (Julian Halsby)

2010 Featured artist in the December issue of L’Art Aquarelle, France