The Sayle Gallery annual Summer Show opens on Friday 13 July and continues until Sunday 5 August.  This exhibition is open to all artists in the Isle of Man and last year attracted nearly 100 entries, with works ranging from oils to watercolours, sketches to sculptures with a large number of textile works included for good measure.  Subjects included local landscapes, abstracts, portraits of well known and unfamiliar subjects and sculptures in wood, ceramic and glass.
 
Pride of place at the 2012 Summer Show will be Svetlana Cameron's drawing 'Emily' which was a finalist in the 'figurative' category of the Art Renewal Center's 2011/2012 International Salon – a prestigious annual competition in which some of the best contemporary realist artists in the world compete for recognition, cash prizes, and a chance to have their work seen by some of the more than 5,000,000 annual visitors to the ARC website.
 
'Emily' is one of several portraits commissioned by a family living in the Isle of Man and is executed in the so-called '3-colour technique' for which Svetlana is well known. The artist used a combination of black charcoal and red and white conte crayons on toned paper to build up delicate life-like skin tones.
 
Svetlana, whose work is well known on the Island - and further afield - entered the portrait for this prestigious award with no thought of even getting this far:
 
“For a realist painter it is a great honour to be recognised by the Art Renewal Centre. The standard of works submitted to the Salon is very high and the competition is extremely tough. To be “A Finalist” means you are one of the top 25% great painters taking part in the contest. This is the highest achievement in my career so far”.