Works on Paper Art Fair 2017 - review

The Works on Paper Fair is at the Royal Geographical Society at the top end of Exhibition Road until Sunday 12th February.

RECOMMENDED: I visited yesterday and enjoyed seeing a range of watercolours, drawings and prints - on paper. In fact the best bit of the show is the sheer variety of works on display.  It makes a change from some of the other exhibitions I cover!

The Fair is organised in a series of rooms with each exhibitor having a decent sized stand. It's busy without being silly - although whether it's probable it will get busier at the weekend. There were a lot of people arriving after work last night to take advantage of the fact it went through to 9pm!

The Long Gallery had a diverse bunch of exhibitors

The Pavilion  provides a taster - some of the stands provide a sample artwork

The Hall - where a number of more traditional works can be found

The works on show range from

• very traditional - and old - watercolours by past masters who include David Cox, Alexander and John Robert Cozens, Gainsborough, Samuel Palmer, Francis Towne, Thomas Girtin, J.M.W. Turner and Edward Lear in the display of a number of fine watercolours which form part of the collection of Eton College 
• traditional watercolours by a variety of watercolour artists on various stands. I spotted some watercolours by the famous Lakeland painter Alfred Heaton Cooper including one impressive one of a view in Norway.
• contemporary prints by Japanese artists using a variety of methods
• it was a joy to see a painting by the late Leslie Worth Past President of the RWS who died in 2009. I'd be ecstatic of I saw works like this in their exhibitions now. The thing is when you rate an artist and then they die is you can never ever be certain when you will see their paintings again - so it was wonderful to see this one

Early morning at Budleigh Salterton by Leslie Worth (£1,500)
Exhibited by Charles Nugent

• Ilaria Rosselli del Turco is exhibiting a monotype of a seated figure on the Fine Art Consultancy stand - alongside prints by Frink and William Scott

Ilaria Rosselli del Turco and Seated Figure (monotype)

• There were a number of pencil drawings by artists in the show. Examples included (see photos below)
• Alan Woollett on the Francis Iles Gallery stand - Alan is a very popular bird artist who also teaches 
• Georgia Jennings Moor on the Coombe Gallery - Georgia is a recent graduate of Chelsea College of Art who likes working with graphite and has produced an amazing drawing of artichokes.

Coloured pencil drawings of birds by Alan Woollett
on the Francis Iles Gallery stand

Hall Garden Artichoke (July 2015 to July 2016)
graphite and charcoal on paper 59x42cm

I liked the mini exhibition of Luke Elwes paintings being shown by Karen Taylor Fine Art

Luke Elwes - an oasis of a small collection of art by the same artist

Two of my favourite artists who paint plants are also exhibiting at the show

Rosie Sanders has a stunning and luminous watercolour painting on a full sheet of paper on the Coombe Gallery stand.  I tried but couldn't find a way to eliminate the lights!  Rosie had a book published of her paintings last year - which I got as one of my Christmas Presents and it's a great dose of colour for the middle of winter!

Emerging
Watercolour and charcoal, 77 x 102 cm
£8,800

and finally, I came across a taster of a solo show which is coming up at the Abbott and Holder Gallery opposite the British Museum later this month. My friend Jess Shepherd has been painting leaves for a long time and has created more than enough for her first solo exhibition - called Leafscape. Suffice to say there's enough interest in her work that those who have expressed interest in buying at the Private View - where selling starts at 6pm - are now being given tickets and forming an orderly queue!  Always good to hear!

Indian Bean Tree (Catalpa bignonioides). Belicena, Granada, Spain by Jess Shepherd 
Watercolour on 100% cotton rag paper, ​76 x 56cm
2016