Janet Kenyon
Gridlock (Manhattan), 2016, watercolour on Bockingford 90lb (190gsm) Not, 291⁄4x21in (74x53cm).
This was the winner of the Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize in The Sunday Times 2016 Watercolour Competition. It’s a view from the One World Trade Centre, looking north. ‘My inspiration for painting this was after a recent trip to New York. Whilst viewing the city from the One World Trade Centre, I was taken by the sheer expanse of buildings all concentrated into a relatively small area. The way the light and shade played on the structures, all fighting for space, organised, yet chaotic, caught in a gridlock with the only option left but to climb ever more vertical.’
With her unique and innovative use of watercolour, Janet Kenyon is recognised as one of the UK’s leading watercolourists. She has won many awards and competitions, including, on two occasions, the most prestigious showcase of contemporary watercolour painting in the UK, Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize in the The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, first in 2009 for her painting Northern Lights, Blackpool and then again in 2016 for Gridlock (Manhattan) (left). As well as being popular with private collectors in Britain and abroad, her paintings have also been exhibited in many leading galleries, including the Mall Galleries in London, The Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh and The Lowry Gallery in Salford.