Patron: Her Majesty the Queen (1953-2022)

Honorary Member: HRH King Charles III

Congratulations go to Mark Elsmore RI!

Mark Elsmore RI has been announced as the Third Prize Winner at this year’s Sunday Times Watercolour Competition to be held at the Mall Galleries in London, 17 – 22 September 2019. The exhibition will then tour, going to Town Hall Arts, Trowbridge from 5 October – 9 November and Guildford House Gallery from 16 November to 2 January.

Mark’s painting ‘Iron Mighty’ is  a view along the towpath of the Manchester canal where three separate bridges seem to merge into one continuous iron ‘ceiling’. This is ideal inspiration for Mark, born in Stoke to a family embedded in the local pottery industry. He is inspired by urban scenes without wishing to wallow in nostalgia. He calls this painting ‘a celebration of engineering’. This is the 17th time Mark has successfully exhibited in the Sunday Time Watercolour Competition and won First Prize in 2012.

Watercolour is, he says, his first choice medium,”It can be as fresh or grubby as you need and it’s as considered or as accidental as you wish.”