MAKING A MARK: Lynn Painter-Stainers 2015

Wladyslaw Mirecki with his prize-winning painting

Last night Wladyslaw Mirecki won the 2015 Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize worth £15,000 and an engraved gold medal - for Viaduct and tank traps. This is a large and detailed watercolour of his constant motif.

This is a Prize which aims

to encourage the very best creative representational painting and promote the skill of draftsmanship

This post is about the prizewinners and I'll be doing another post reviewing the exhibition tomorrow.

I found out later that Mr Mirecki is not a big fan of Previews or Award ceremonies (he's in good company - a lot of artists feel the same and Lucian Freud never went to his!) Last night must therefore not been the most relaxing evening he's ever had as there was an extremely impressive turnout for the Private view at the Mall Galleries. Hopefully the prize more than made up for this!

The exhibition is in the West Gallery. This was absolutely packed with artists and their friends and family plus members of the Lynn Foundation and the Painter-Stainers Guild and other livery companies of the City of London and their guests.

In fact, there were an awful lot of official elaborate chains around necks on show last night!

The Private View at the Lynn Painter-Stainer Prize

Ken Howard OBE RA NEAC introduced the Awards Ceremony and announced the prizes - starting in reverse order and leading up to the main prize.

I loved the fact that each announcement got shouts from the crowd asking for the location of the painting to be identified. These were people who wanted to know which painting won what prize!

The Lynn Painter Stainer Prize 2015

The Judges were apparently all agreed on who was the winner of the top prize.

The viaduct in the painting is a perennial motif of Mr Mirecki - I've seen it in his paintings in more than a few exhibitions over the years. However I do think this is the best painting of this view that I've seen him do. It had layers of interest from a strong composition and draughtsmanship through to an entrancing and complicated foreground and exquisite control over the watercolour painting.

Winner of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2015

Viaduct and tank traps by Wladyslaw Mirecki

watercolour, 155 x 155cm
£12,000

Runners Up

Five Runner-up prizes of £1,500 each were awarded to Peter Archer, Jeanette Barnes, Daisy Cook, Patrick Cullen and Danny Markey. These then are the images of the runners up.

Grounded by Peter Archeroil on canvas, 92cm x 142cm
£10,000

Jeanette Barnes receiving her runner-up Prize
Jeanette is an ex-tutor of mine (at the Royal Drawing School) and a contributor to my book.
She told me after the Awards ceremony that the last time she had received an Award
from Ken Howard (on the right) was when she won a scholarship at the RA Schools some 30 years ago!

Canary Wharf Cross Rail Station nearing completion by Jeanette BarnesConte Crayon, 100cm x 130cm
£3,500

Interestingly Jeanette also drew the big hole in the ground which preceded this development and has subsequently drawn it with commuter traffic!

Between The Witherings by Daisy Cook
oil on canvas, 80 x 120cm
£5,500

Death in Varanasi, burning ghats at Dusk by Patrick Cullen
watercolour, 106cm x 139cm
£7,500

Tom in Summer field by Danny Markey
oil on board, 23 x 29cm
£2,000

Two More Prizes

There were two other prizes of significance.

Ema Pina receives the £5,000 Brian Botting Prize

This year sees the advent of the Brian Botting Prize, in memory of a former Master of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers.

The Prize of £5,000 is awarded to the best representation of the human figure.

In its first year the Prize was awarded to Ema Pina for her outstanding painting entitled Bóbó.

I think I've rarely seen a prizewinner look quite so surprised as Ema did on her way up to collect her award. It must be really surprising but very nice to suddenly get a cheque for £5,000 completely out of the blue!

However I have to say her painting is one which has absolutely terrific presence. I began to realise I was aware of it and kept noticing no matter where I stood in the room. One of those ones where the eyes are staring at you even when you have your back turned!

Winner of the £5,000 Brian Botting Prize
Bóbó by Ema Pina
oil on MDF, 100 x 80cm
£2,100

Finally, the Young Artist Award of £2,500 was awarded to student, Louis Appleby, for his work, Planet of the Apps. Louis graduated from Wimbledon College of Art last summer with an Honours Degree in Fine Art.