An oil portrait of a revered priest and a limited-colour likeness of a young girl by Sayle Gallery Artist Svetlana Cameron both reached the finals of an international award recently.
The Art Renewal Centre’s International Salon is an annual award dedicated to finding the very best in traditional art, by a group described by its chairman Fred Ross as, “an organization devoted to the preservation, appreciation and resurgence of Traditional Humanist Realism.”
Svetlana’s two successful works, both in the Figurative category, were chosen from around 2,000 entries ranging from drawings to landscapes, still life paintings to sculpture.
The first, ‘Father Brian’ is one of three commissioned by the Church of St. Mary of the Isle, Douglas and is painted in oil on linen and measures 60 x 50cm. Keen art lovers may remember that it featured in the ‘Figurative & Miniatures’ exhibition at the Sayle Gallery over Christmas 2012.
The second portrait, ‘Elizabeth’, features an attractive dark-haired young girl with a mysterious gaze captured on the cusp of adulthood. It was first exhibited in the Isle of Man at the Sayle Gallery’s summer exhibition in 2012, where it won the Governor's choice award and was also voted ‘best in show’ by visitors to the exhibition. For this portrait, Svetlana used a limited palette of three colours - black, red and white - to draw the portrait on toned blue-grey paper, a technique she is well-known for.
Svetlana feels honoured to be among the finalists, for the second year running:
“To be accepted by the ARC is the dream of all realist painters because of the publicity and the exposure to an international audience, art critics and collectors. When I first discovered the International Salon about five years ago,” she continues, “I couldn’t imagine being accepted. Last year I finally felt confident enough to enter and to have been accepted straight away - for my portrait ‘Emily’ - and now to have two more works selected is really encouraging and a true validation of my art.”
Both Svetlana’s portraits, as well as the work of other finalists and category winners, can now be viewed on the Art Renewal Centre’s website www.artrenewal.org and in the Salon Catalogue which is available to pre-order from the website.
Local art lovers will be delighted to know that Svetlana will be holding a solo exhibition at the Sayle Gallery in 2014.
Location: The Sayle Gallery, Villa Marina Arcade, 1-3 Harris Promenade, Douglas, IM1 2HN
Opening times: 10am – 5pm Tue – Sat, 1.30 – 4.30pm Sundays, 1pm – 5pm Mondays
Admission: FREE
Telephone: 01624 674557
