Watercolour New Zealand Supreme Award

Judge’s comment: Simplicity, clean lines, a limited range of analogous colours. What is left out is as important as what is put in. Strong balanced design. Light / dark, dark / light. The painting invites us to go in and find out what’s upstream.

Bernadette : 'Joy Of Watercolour' was an attempt to portray the bush on our beautiful Coromandel Peninsula. It is difficult to paint an area of bush without showing detail. This was my aim. By working quickly I was able to keep my wet on wet darks flowing to show enough form and depth without definite shapes to give an illusion of bush. My favourite element of painng, hard and soft edges, unplanned but luckily left behind, helped me to show significant patches of light.

I left my foreground as simple as possible as I wanted to create an area of peace for the viewer. We, watercolourists, are privileged in that we never need to tell the whole story. It is for the people who appreciate and understand our medium to become part of that story. Many thanks to Watercolour New Zealand for promoting our medium.

'Joy of Watercolour' by Bernadette Parsons

The Supreme Award
Splash® 2022 - Watercolour New Zealand’s Annual National Watercolour Exhibition