From the President

Our Annual General Meeting to be held at the Karori Arts and Crafts Centre on Sunday 11 March. If you are able to attend the AGM we would love to see you there. Perhaps you would like to give some thought to serving on the committee.

We were contacted shortly before Christmas and asked to hold a watercolour exhibition at Parliaments Bowen House Exhibition Space. Because of the short time available to organise the exhibition, the limited number of paintings the gallery can accommodate and other logistical issues, it was decided to limit the exhibition to invited artists from the Greater Wellington region that we were able to contact before the holiday period. The exhibition, entitled 'Wonderful Watercolour', consists of 50 paintings. Im confident it will be a worthy showcase for watercolour. The exhibition is open to the public on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 10am and 3pm from 14 February to 22 March.

Interviewing Peter Coates for our oral history project got me thinking about the subjective element in art. The great 19th century French novelist Emile Zola, Cezannes closest childhood friend, defined a work of art as a corner of creation seen through a temperament. Peter, whose paintings tend towards the abstract,believes the key ingredient of a successful painting is the artists passion for the subject. John Constable voiced the same sentiment: Painting, he wrote to a friend, is but another name for feeling. As a student at the Royal Academy, Constable copied works by the past masters of landscape painting in order to acquire execution, as he called technique. For Constable, technique was important but not the be all and end all. He was critical of his fellow students who looked only to the surface not to the mind. The mechanics of painting is their delight. Execution is their chief aim.

Nevertheless, technique is important and if youre interested in improving your technique weve got a programme of workshops this year that will help you to do so. Internationally known Australian watercolourist Greg Allen is conducting two three day workshops in April, Jacky Pearson is teaching a weekend workshop later in the year and Alfred Memelink is continuing his highly successful workshops for young artists. Watercolour New Zealand sponsors 50% of the cost of these youth workshops from our training fund. There are other workshops in the pipeline.

We hope youll produce some masterpieces in 2018.

John Toft
President, Watercolour New Zealand Inc

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