Thank you so much to Unison Colour for the honour of being their guest curator for the “Eye Catchers” feature for the month of July! Thank you also to Gareth Jones for asking me to take on this very interesting task! I have to add it has given me the rare chance to look more closely at each days posts and study them all in much greater detail.
It is such a tricky task to choose just 10 images and I originally had it down to 22 before the final cut was made! Not easy!
I decided to select a wide range of subjects and styles which I feel reflects the wonderful breadth of works created and posted in the super talented Unison Colour Soft Pastelling Community. So here are my top ten Eye Catchers for July!
I would like to invite fellow Unison Colour Associate artist Meral Altilar to be guest curator for the August submissions.
‘Morning Shadows’ by Lynda Robinson is a beautiful and serene interpretation of an Australian landscape instantly recognisable in Lynda’s soft and muted palette. Having visited Australia twice I have been lucky enough to see many landscapes like this and I have to say that she has captured the stillness and tranquillity of the local bush flora and fauna beautifully.
Gareth is truly a modern day master of the seascape. His observation is faultless and his understanding of the way the sea and the sky moves is remarkable! I feel that this painting captures that wonderful feeling of walking barefoot along the wet sand in the sunshine with not a care in the world to perfection. We all want to be there, don’t we?
This painting really stopped me in my tracks as I scrolled through the posts. A very intimate and honest portrait in shadow mode certainly makes for a striking painting. The limited palette only adds to the drama and the clever composition pulls you into the narrative. Who are we really, in the shadows? Just wonderful and a worthy top ten pastel!
‘Rainy Day at Nana’s 1 & 2’ by Julie Bowman Williams jumped out at me due to my also being a Gigi having two adorable granddaughters! I immediately saw the love captured in these two portraits of her grandsons and appreciated the expressive mark making used and her intensely lush palette. Kids don’t stay still for long so I can see her hand flying about trying to pin the essence of them down before they get bored and want to move on and do something different! Just wonderful!
This glorious sunset of a place called Portrush in Northern Ireland is situated in Emma’s homeland. The rainbow of colours Emma has used is not gaudy or brash but softly subtle and alluring. Gentle transitions in the tones of the sky and the golden catch of the last rays on the tops of the waves is beautifully rendered. Simply stunning!
What a powerful pastel for such a small size! Stephens tiny land and seascapes really pack a punch. The fact that Stephen uses no references in this piece is quite amazing – this is all imagined spaces! A dark and intriguing piece that pulls you into the core by using intense light and a very limited palette which just makes it all the more dramatic. Brilliant!
As a tennis player this definitely stopped me in my tracks! I love the pure energy in this painting. The blurred background works really well to make the viewer focus on the forward lunging figure of Iga Swiatek – and you just know she’s hit a winner! Loose and expressive mark making make this, for me, a fantastic pastel!
What a gorgeous dog portrait! He is looking upwards with utter adoration – a nice change from the usual face on or side on composition in pet portraiture. This lovely dog is obviously deeply entranced by whatever his owner is saying or doing! The wet nose, shining eyes and silky fur are all beautifully and simply rendered. All in all a real beauty!
And here is another one that stopped me scrolling! I love the two empty chairs – who’s been sitting here under the gently swaying palms relaxing in the sunshine? The tones/values in this are absolutely spot on and so beautifully balanced. The colour harmony is very pleasing and I love the way she’s handled the shadows. Altogether this makes for an arresting painting!
This wonderful still life really caught my eye not least for the clean crispness of the very graphic style of drawing and the understanding of printed fabric and its folds but it also delivers a punch colour wise! The subtle changes in temperature in the folds tells me this artist really knows his fabric! He also really understands reflections as seen in the three sundae glasses. The refraction of light is so very well observed. All in all an excellent painting!
3 comments
info@lynnhowarth.co.uk
Thank you Alice! I’m so glad you enjoyed my selection!
Margaret McIlmoyle
Hi Lynn – stunning selection -enjoyed discovering some artists whose work I was not familiar with
aliceinclearwater
Congratulations Lynn, I loved your selection, especially my dear friend Shawn Dell Joyce from Florida. I also loved reading the comments you made on each selection. You really have a special insight to not only the effect on the viewer, being eye catchers, but how the artist felt in creating, as in the Nana I and II.
You were the perfect curator for such a prestigious show.