Splash® — Watercolour New Zealand's Annual Exhibition

The Watercolour New Zealand Supreme Award for Splash 2019

"Salt Marsh Meadows and Mont St Michel" by Roger Daniell


Splash® 2019 - Watercolour New Zealand's Annual Exhibition
Saturday 2 November - Sun 17 November 2019
The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington

Merit Award

"Karamea Lagoon" by Adrianne Pavelka won Merit and People’s Choice Award.

Adrienne: "Pre-planning the subject, the composition and colours is important for me. What happens between brain and brush connecting with the paper can be another matter! “Karamea Lagoon” is a very simple composition and being familiar with this area on the South Island’s West Coast, l was able to eliminate the tidal debris and severely simplify without losing the integrity and atmosphere.

I used Cobalt Blue dark, Fiance blue, Indigo, Raw Umber and a touch of Dragon’s Blood. l think it’s the white areas I have left and the horizontals contrasting with the stormy sky and soft foreground reflections that seem to work."


Splash® 2019 - Watercolour New Zealand's Annual Exhibition
Saturday 2 November - Sun 17 November 2019
The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington

The Gordon Harris Award for Innovation in Watercolour

"Red Sail" by Gordon Knight

Gordon: "In the context of encouraging innovation in art, I believe that the artist Kandinski once wrote: “A formula is a leather armchair”. I agree with him. Not that I have anything against either formulae or armchairs. I am a retired mathematician and educator and I spent most of my working life with formulae and now, aged 85, I spend many happy hours in a leather-bound lazyboy. I am awake for most of them!

However, when I paint I want to innovate. This is, of course, a relative term. I am most unlikely to be able to produce a work that is new to the art world but it does need to be new to me.

Geometry has been a passion of mine since childhood and a focus in my career. It continues to be a major feature in many of my more successful paintings. In ‘Red Sail’ the obvious geometrical nature of the boat is allowed to structure the background of both the sky and the sea.

I am delighted with this award and I would like to thank Watercolour New Zealand for their support over the years and Gordon Harris Ltd for being such a great shop."


Splash® 2019 - Watercolour New Zealand's Annual Exhibition
Saturday 2 November - Sun 17 November 2019
The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington

Merit Award

"The Man with his Cat" by Jacky Pearson - Merit Award and People Choice Award (55 votes)

Lacky Pearson: "Watercolour on 640gsm Indian cotton rag. 75x35cm (half sheet). George, the subject, is an amazing boat builder who restores vintage boats which all seem to have had interesting lives before becoming wrecks.

He has his yard on a beautiful piece of land north of Matakana. Unfortunately, his yard is in danger from the local council who want the spit he is located on for housing. The old shed is wonderful and important work is going on. I felt passionate about George's story. I stood in the wet sand at low tide early one morning with my jeans rolled up painting with bare feet in the middle of winter. He was a very shy sitter but caught this picture of him relaxed with his cat. Often it is a fleeting moment, which captures a feeling.

I always like seeing strong light on a subject so I can push all the contrasts I can: the light against dark shadow, cool against warm, dull against bright and soft against hard edges. The main thing in the technique is many, many layered washes, lifting paint with a flat brush and reapplying over and over again until the layers build up and each layer reflects through the last."

Splash® 2019 - Watercolour New Zealand's Annual Exhibition
Saturday 2 November - Sun 17 November 2019
The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington

Merit Award

"The Letter" by Caroline Kelly won Merit Award and came 1st at People’s Choice Award (83 votes)

Caroline: "I was a self-taught artist from a very young age, I have always felt a deep love for art and wanted to know everything I could. In the last 4 years I have been drawing with coloured pencils, learning how to finely blend 30-50 layers of coloured pencil to create drawing. I did “The Letter” first as a coloured pencil drawing, it took 134 hours to complete & was roughly an A4 sized drawing. Now, since learning classical art and the value of tone I was able to do a double sized watercolour painting in 3 days. When I took the photo of “The Letter”. I was expecting to just take a photo of the building, but when I got there a lady was sitting in front of the door drawing the spiraled columns. The
whole scene looked and felt as if it was a painting set up just for me. It is to this day one of my favourite photos and moments.

Since the beginning of 2019 I have had the honour of being taught classical art under Min Kim. I am lucky enough to learn from such an inspiring, talented artist. She has been teaching me classical drawing, classical oil painting and classical watercolour.

She has taught me how to capture light, the essence of a subject and the importance of tone. I have always had a very deep connection with art and now through being classically trained I feel a sense of peace and an even closer connection to the incredible and beautiful world of art.

Merit Award

"Tui Resonance" by Kimbra Taylor won Merit Award and People' Choice Award

Kimbra: "I’m really delighted to receive this award and share a little about ‘Tui Resonance.’ Currently painting native birds, I’ve always had my eye on a Tui. I love the sudden flash of brilliant blue amid the black as they perform their aerial acrobatics. I love their intrepid enthusiasm for life, their power and their beautiful iconic song.

The painting is A1, so I had to paint the top half upside down because I couldn’t reach it on my desk. I washed in the whole thing with the light blues (Schmincke cobalt and helio turquoise) and then the head washes, beak and eye, using the blues and the other two colours in my palette – Daniel Smith burnt sienna and aureolin. As I continued down, I began to develop a relationship with this remarkable creature. Keeping its watchful eye on me, it would offer the odd comment – ‘hmmm, are you sure you should be doing that?’ I actually began to ask it for advice! The painting is taken from several photos and my imagination so it wasn’t a straight forward copying process and there were times when I felt challenged about how to proceed. It was always right there with me."

What the visitors say:

• "Kimbra, I saw this painting of yours up close and personal at Splash and was blown away. Not only were the colours spectacular, but you really managed to capture the soft, downy featheryness of the wings but still retaining the definition. A remarkable and magnificent piece. Thank you for working so hard and sharing it with us!" ~ Rob James
• You got my vote for this wonderful painting. It was stunning! ~ Raewyn Harris

Splash® 2019 - Watercolour New Zealand's Annual Exhibition
Saturday 2 November - Sun 17 November 2019
The NZ Academy of Fine Arts, 1 Queens Wharf, Wellington