Last year I was shortlisted so I’m hoping to go that extra mile this year.

The VAA Artist of the Year Award celebrates artistic excellence,  and is open to both emerging talent and established professionals, based in worldwide, and is judged  by a distinguished panel of industry experts.

The VAA is a leading professional body dedicated to supporting visual artists at every stage of their careers and, as the fastest-growing artist support organisation globally, it represents a thriving community of over 25,000 artists.

It’s great to be longlisted out of the many thousands of entries. Next stage results will be announced soon.

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Three Artists, One Place brought together my work with the work of St Ives-based ceramicist Julie Harper and artist Hani Mroz in a celebration of how one landscape can inspire three distinct creative languages.

We appear to have achieved our aim as all three of us sold well and visitors commented on how very different our work was from each other.

The Private View was a great success too. It was very buzzy and we were delighted to welcome the Mayor and Mayoress of St Ives to the event. It was pleasing to see them in their ceremonial chains even if it was far too hot for them to be clad in ermine robes.

I’d been given the job of filling the main long wall of the large space in the  Crypt Gallery – “because you do big works and we don’t!”.

Unsurprisingly, and I would say this wouldn’t I, but my work created the eye candy – filling the enormous long wall of the cavenous Crypt with a riot of bold colour.

One visitor loved the way I had themed my works and moved through blues from Julie’s works, through bold sunsets, and into the rust and earthy tones of the Harbour to transition into Hani’s atmospheric oils : “it is very sensitively and thoughtfully hung. You’ve created a natural segway through your exquisite colour palette“.

Others commented on the “purity, light and simplicity” of my works and that I had “captured the essence of things“.

There were a number of Shorelines works featuring in the blue section of my long wall. From the very large – ie these two beauties featured above – to much smaller, more affordable works. A couple of works sold – smaller ones – but they were all very well received.  Jane said : “I particularly love the Sound & the Silence works – the scale, the depth, the colours“.  Andrew from Singapore was very taken by “The Sound”.  He loved all the layers of blues and particularly liked the way I had incorporated rust into the work. He was excited to learn that I’d got some large works in  communications giant Huawei’s corporate headquarters in Shenzhen, China.

There were also a range of Sunsets featuring in the exhibition,  including a brand new artwork that doesn’t technically fit into the sunsets category – it being a moonscape. Although one sunset sold, it was Under Blue Moon I Saw You – the moonscape – and its sibling – the sunset – Porthmeor Gold  that received the most attention at the exhibition.  Of the two, visitors said things like “simply stunning“, and “breathtaking“.

My Harbour section of the exhibition featured mostly new work. Two harbour works sold and the section went down very well with visitors.  People liked the industrial feel of the works, and the 3D elements. One said : “the rivets are so clever. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Truly unique“. The only one in the show majoring on verdigris rather than rust created disappointment for a couple of other customers who came back to buy it after going away to think about it only to find it had gone.

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and successful show.

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The VAA Artist of the Year 2025 Award celebrates artistic excellence,  and is open to both emerging talent and established professionals, based in the UK and internationally, and is judged  by a distinguished panel of industry experts.

The VAA is a leading professional body dedicated to supporting visual artists at every stage of their careers and, as the fastest-growing artist support organisation globally, it represents a thriving community of over 25,000 artists.

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The VAA Artist of the Year 2025 Award celebrates artistic excellence,  and is open to both emerging talent and established professionals, based in the UK and internationally, and is judged  by a distinguished panel of industry experts.

The Artist of the Year competition is in its current form for the second year – previously having been run as the Professional Artist Award for a more limited category of entrants.  I was delighted to have been longlisted for the PAA in 2023. Given the much greater number of entrants to the Artist of the Year Award, it’s fabulous to be longlisted in 2025.

The VAA is a leading professional body dedicated to supporting visual artists at every stage of their careers and, as the fastest-growing artist support organisation globally, it represents a thriving community of over 25,000 artists.

The body of works selected for judging are from my Harbour Collection . Three of them were highlighted by the VAA and are shown below.

It’s great to be longlisted out of the many thousands of entries. Next stage results will be announced soon.

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The Visual Art Open competition is open to both amateur and professional artists worldwide. Its mission is to celebrate and showcase the diverse talents of artists at every stage of their journey, from emerging talents to seasoned professionals.

It is judged by an expert panel  from the contemporary art world. The esteemed judges span commercial galleries, museums, art media, and academia, ensuring a wide range of expertise and perspectives.

The VAO art competition is currently running in its tenth consecutive year and it’s the second year I’ve entered.

It’s great to be longlisted out of the many thousands of entries.

Next stage results will be announced soon. Fingers crossed for the next round.

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It was such a bustling, buzzy, lively event.  I had many, many great conversations sparked by my artwork – with buyers, agents, art lovers and artists – of all ages. The best question was “so who is the other artist?”

Some of the best – and most challenging – conversations were with children.  I love the way their young minds work. In response to a child who asked me how I’d become ‘the artist’ because one day she wanted to be one, I quoted Picasso: “every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”

The artworks available at the fair were predominantly from my London Landmarks and Ghost Ships Collections – with a few Harbour and other works. They went down very well. There seemed to be something for everyone.

The London works were enjoyed by those who loved the abstractions of the place.

“They’re like keepsakes of your favourite place”

“I love your rendition of the Shard – truly beautiful”

“That is the best painting I’ve ever seen of Battersea – and so evocative of the place and its history”

“Your Oxo Tower is brilliantly constructed. It’s like being there”

“It’s so clever how you’ve taken lyrics from my favourite song of London (Waterloo Sunset) and set them amongst imagery of the area”

I had a lovely conversation with a man who had worked on creating the Roof Garden nestled on top of the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the South Bank. He loved my rendition of the yellow steps and said how it evoked a difficult time in his past. The garden, originally a partnership with the Eden Project, was built and continues to be maintained by a team of incredible volunteers from Grounded Ecotherapy, a pioneering recovery programme. Home to over 200 wild native plants, a luscious lawn, views across London and the Roof Garden Bar & Kitchen, he said to look him up in the Spring and we could “share a Pimms” there.

The London Landmarks, the Ghost Ships and the Harbour works on show were all enjoyed by those who loved how I had drilled into the details, and for the textures I created. As Charles Eames said: “The details are not the details. They make the design.”

Of the South Bank Yellows , representing buildings on London’s South Bank including the Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall, National Theatre, Hayward Gallery, and BFI Southbank – and the iconic bright yellow concrete staircases – as well as the beach on the banks of the Thames near the South Bank; and contain both cement dust and sand, visitors to the Fair said:

“I love how you’ve taken the details of the natural and yellow concrete. Did you chip some concrete off?” 

“ooh those holes in the concrete. ..they look so realistic and lush”

The answer to the former is, of course, no! Sometimes I do use materials from that very place but generally they’re just salvaged material that reflect the place I’m abstracting from

My Tower Blues abstract from Tower Bridge and from its stonework and ironwork, and Tower Beach present on the banks of the Thames near the Bridge ; and include Cornish Granite and Portland Stone dust as well as sand and rivets. Visitors to the Fair said:

“I love how you’ve taken the details of Tower Bridge and created a lasting memory of the place. I’ll never look at it in the same light again”

“These are such fun. They remind me of Lego”

“How cool to use the actual stonework”

“I’ve never noticed that big red rivetted wheel on Tower Bridge before”

My  Oxo Tower Reds represent the Oxo Tower itself, the surrounding buildings, the brickwork, the ironwork, and the signage, as well as the beach on the banks of the Thames near the Oxo Tower; and include brick dust and rust as well as sand. People said:

“oh that’s so tactile“

“I love bricks”

“the brick dust makes them so realistic”

There were some paintings available from my  Harbour Collection, which are inspired by the elements to be found in a working harbour.

Some of these works were based on rivets from boats, or rusty moorings. These could equally be inspired by rivetted steel beams in industrial buildings.  Comments on these included:

“Finally I’ve found someone who loves rust and rivets as much as me!”

“You disappear into these” 

“it’s got a real slab-like quality as though you’ve lifted it out of the place”

It’s exhausting doing something like The Other Art Fair.  But it’s also exhilarating!

A huge amount goes into planning and preparing for the event. It was 6 days staying away from home, packing and unpacking the car, hanging the show, and spending long days and evenings talking to people at the Fair. And that’s not taking account of all the time that goes into making the artworks on show.

But I got a huge amount out of it too. Catching up with old friends and customers, making new ones, and having brilliant conversations with fair visitors and other artists. And, those of you that know me, will know that I enjoyed out of hours visits to restaurants and hostelries with friends.

I’ll end with a lovely conversation I had with Hans (pictured below). He was very taken with my art which he thought was unique, different and “very cool” (and just happened to match his attire).  Hans was looking to develop his personal style and felt very inspired by my work. That’s a good feeling.

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Solitude 7  forms a part of my Vessels Collection – initially inspired by boatworks in St Ives Harbour where I live and work. It is the latest work in the Solitude series of the Vessels works.

It is made from acrylics, copper, sand, wax, rust and resin on canvas, and is mounted and framed in a white wood float frame.

The show opened on Friday 26th July and ends on Saturday 24th August 2024.

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The Visual Art Open competition is open to both amateur and professional artists based in the UK and internationally, and is judged by an expert panel  from the contemporary art world.

The VAO art competition is currently running in its eighth consecutive year.

It’s great to be longlisted out of the many thousands of entries. Next stage results will be announced soon.

The post LONGLISTED – VISUAL ART OPEN 2024 appeared first on Artlantic.

The differences between the three are evident in their use of media and working processes but similarities also surface as each responds to the geography and geology that surround them. They are all directed by the geometry they perceive – the lines, the forms, the shapes, the patterns. Each, in their chosen mediums, creates absorbing abstractions from that environment.

All three also inject aspects of the autobiographical, and of society at large into their work. Their own musings and reflections on life become embedded in their art. The fact that they were individually drawn to West Cornwall from very different locations (Cambridge, Yorkshire and Brighton respectively) gives each of them a unique lens through which to view the Cornish landscape.

The Artists

Richard Holliday – Sculptor

From his roots in the restoration trade working on cathedrals and other historic buildings, to grander public art commissions with their inherent structural technicalities and deadlines, Richard now finds himself in the relatively tranquil environment of studio and gallery. Each new phase is as fulfilling as those of the past.

He is sometimes true to the materials allowing hardness and durability to take precedent. He sometimes wants the stone to appear and feel soft and malleable. Sometimes he concentrates on technique, sometimes purely on geometry. He takes his inspiration from his architectural backstory or his o

bservation of nature or the human form. This exhibition allows for it all.

Shelley Thornton – Painter

Shelley lives and works in St Ives, Cornwall. She brings her bold and colourful abstract painting style to life through a series of unique collections. Her artworks represent a strong melding of the seeming dichotomy of the industrial city environment where she grew up and the stunning seascapes around her. She is driven by the feelings, interpretations and stories that run through our world.

Often her work draws inspiration from her passion for music. Lyrical elements add to the narrative and mixed media style of some paintings whilst, in others, music has led to the idea and resulting feel for creativity as Shelley builds the piece up each layer at a time. Texture and symbolism surface within bloc

ks of colour to tell comprehensive stories – evoking a deep sense of place and the passing of time. Shelley combines salvaged materials such as sand, salt, cement, brick and rust. These natural or industrial mediums bring their own histories to bear on the reading of the artworks – providing fragments of m

emory to her creations.

“When I paint, I find myself blending images of steel furnaces and coal mines from my northern roots with the contrasting beauty of Cornwall.”

Graham Black – Printmaker

After a long career as an art director in London, Graham relocated to Cornwall to rekindle his love for printmaking. Based on a working dairy farm near Land’s End, his work is deeply rooted in West Penwith’s rugged coastal environment. His affinity with this landscape underpins his work – primarily silkscreen printing, which he embraces for its potential for unpredictable outcomes.

He also draws inspiration from the pioneers of British abstraction who were similarly motivated by Cornish topography: Nicholson, Hepworth, Frost, Barns Graham, Pasmore. Where his work differs, perhaps, is in representing the myriad textural complexities of the rock formations that dominate the area – he is as fascinated by surface pattern and texture as by form and shape.

“Recent work has become less representational of the landscape itself and been distilled into pure abstraction; the focus of the imagery has become more conceptual, colourful and celebratory”

Penwith Gallery

Penwith Gallery, formerly an old pilchard packing factory, has a remarkable complex of buildings, including three public galleries, artists’ studios, a print workshop, a sculpture courtyard, shop and archive.

The Penwith was founded in 1949 by Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Peter Lanyon, Bernard Leach, Sven Berlin and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, amongst others. This association with so many progressive and influential artists has given the Penwith a unique place in British art history.

It is a privilege to exhibit in this most prestigious gallery. It is an amazing set of spaces.

Feedback

Feedback from the show has been brilliant, eg: “Fantastic exhibition. Beautifully curated and such a great collaboration of artists.”,  “The work in the different disciplines works so well together”,  “An outstanding, exceptional exhibition”,  and “A stunning show”.

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