Interview with artist
Annie Williams
St Cuthberts Mill Award
Winner
Annie Williams
“The Sunday Times
Watercolour Competition / St Cuthberts Mill prize for an outstanding work on paper, worth £250, has been awarded to
Annie Williams for her watercolour, Still Life
with a Small Spanish Bowl. Abstraction meets
representation in this dynamic work, which is occupied by beautiful prussian
blue, cerulean and ultramarine tones. Speaking of the subject matter, the
artist said “most of my chosen objects are pots – I have a sister and friends
who are potters, so have acquired quite a number over the years. I love their
shapes and colours.” Congratulations Annie!
The Sunday Times shortlisted works will be shown at Mall Galleries, London from 19 – 24 September 2017 before
touring to a number of venues across the UK.
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| Annie Williams, Still Life with a Small Spanish Bowl. |
Annie Williams, RWS/RE/RBA, was born in London and grew up in Wales. She originally worked as a Nurse at the Great Ormond St Hospital before studying art at the City & Guilds Art School. Annie now lives and works in London, and is an elected member of the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS), Royal Society of Painter/Printmakers (RE), and the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA). She regularly exhibits with the Bankside Gallery.
Annie is mostly a still
life artist who creates compositions by incorporating a variety of shapes,
patterns, textiles and newspaper cuttings into her work. These mixed media
compositions often have a distinct element of abstraction.
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| Patchwork III |
Your
work is made up of a variety of mixed media. What do you feel these different
elements bring to your work?
My work is
primarily watercolour plus a little added gouache for some highlights, or
structural changes. On a separate board I often pin up a collage of various
media including abstract patterns I had previously painted. The still life is
arranged in front of this. This gives me the chance to play with shapes and
colours. Sometimes the background is entirely imaginary.
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| Listening to music |
What is the best part of creating art?
Like anyone who is happy
at work, one can get totally submerged in the process and forget all the other
problems that life throws at one. It kept me sane last
year as I coped with six months of chemotherapy for Lymphoma.
What is your creative process like?
It can be difficult to get started, but once involved
it can be hard to stop. At the moment I paint
on average 4 hours a day, excluding time spent on framing and other connected
things. I’m lucky that I belong to 3 art societies and there are always
exhibitions to work towards. I am always trying to think of new ideas or
subject matter.
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| A river runs through it |
What is the best art advice you’ve ever been given?
The best advice - thats a difficult one, the advice I
would give to others is go to exhibitions, look at other peoples work, think
about why you do or don't like it, learn from them. Send into open exhibitions,
you never know you might be successful and get shown . Wonderful for building
up confidence.
How has your artistic style changed over the years?
I think my work has become a little more abstract,
more colourful, my subject matter has changed considerably.
How do you feel about winning The Sunday Times
Watercolour Competition / St Cuthberts Mill Prize?
I feel quite chuffed! I
only decided to enter on the last day of submission. I also look forward to
trying out some new paper. The choice of paper is incredibly important to me in
getting a result I am happy with.
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