At the invitation of the Rye Arts Festival, the Tuesday Painters recently ran a competition to design a Christmas card for them and the festival judging panel chose four winners, the prize being the accolade of having their card designs posted to over 350 friends, benefactors and sponsors of the festival, as well as being emailed to a further 2,000 recipients!
This is such a boost for the artists as well as for the club so we were more than delighted to accept this commission and, having just launched our own competition, this meant we were running two at once – but this one was more of a challenge as it had to be a Christmassy landscape of Rye.
There were 31 entries in all. Once submitted, John Case, festival director, commented: ‘We were delighted with the range and quality of the entries, and it was exceedingly difficult to select the winning paintings, but that was a very nice position to be in!’ The three festival judges finally opted for the following four paintings:
1. Rye from the east, watercolour, by Michael J Edwards
2. Rye in winter from the Salts, acrylic, by Michael Bowler
3. Rye skyline and snow, acrylic, by Joyce McLeman
4. Snowy scene of Rye from Camber castle, watercolour by Tricia Bowler
If anybody thinks the first entry here looks familiar, it’s because co-incidentally Michael Edwards also won the club’s own competition judged by ArtWrite! He must be doing something right!
Tricia Bowler’s work will also be familiar to many as she is a prolific landscape artist, sells very well and tends to win everything! But congratulations are due to all our winning artists.
It is hoped that all the cards entered into the competition will be displayed at the National Trust’s Lamb House in Rye during the Rye Arts Festival in September 2021, as part of the festival’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
This is now the culmination of a very busy autumn season for the club – in spite of, or because of, Covid-19. First, the Virtual Exhibition Photobook, which has been shared to such an extent that if it were a virus it would be a pandemic. Then our own competition in collaboration with ArtWrite in Rye, and finally this one for Rye Arts Festival. Hat-trick, or what?
All at the Tuesday Painters wish everyone a Covid-safe Merry Christmas and a vaccine-proofed happy and healthy new year.
Image Credits: Michael Edwards .
Please note: the names of the artists for the last two have been reversed: No. 3 is Joyce McLeman’s and no. 4 is Tricia Bowler’s.
Thanks for the correction.