Rowan Briggs Smith Anna, watercolour, 141⁄4x11in. (36x28cm)
NEWS Project 13
Thirteen-year-old Rowan Briggs Smith was looking for a way to give focus to her love of portraiture, so set herself a challenge to paint 13 watercolours of her friends, showing them as honestly as she could. Using social media to invite her followers and friends on Instagram to be part of the project, she asked them to send a photograph they had taken themselves without filters, or to meet her at lunchtime at their school so that she could take their photograph herself. She eventually selected 13 of the photographs which she felt best represented her friends’ personalities, before painting their portraits in her studio at home. She writes: “I wanted to try to show everyone what it’s really like to be a teenager, not just the side we decide to let people see. Building up the layers of watercolour helps me discover and reveal the layers of personality.” The 13 portraits will be exhibited at the Michaelhouse Centre, Trinity Street, Cambridge, from 18 February to 3 March. The opening evening, on Monday 18 February (6.30 to 8.30pm) will be the first time her friends will have seen their portraits, adding drama to the evening.