Bantry House, County Cork, Ireland, 15 x 22″ Watercolor on Cotton Rag, Fabriano Artistico.
This painting is a redux, sized up to half-sheet (15×22″) working from my own quarter-sheet sketch (11×15″), made on location in 2016.
It’s to be my submission to the Royal Collection of King Charles III, hopefully to reside in Windsor Castle under the care of the Royal Librarian.
Now, of course, I don’t know if I’ll be accepted by the jury! So wish me luck :)
I know King Charles is a watercolorist himself. I remember a book on his paintings in my college library. I hope he has a special interest in work coming from the (ex)colonies. I sincerely hope Ireland is no longer a sensitive topic. What do I know, I’m just a Canadian kid, and I’m largely (completely) ignorant of the history at hand.
This donation of work marks the 100th year of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour. We’ll be adding 25 works to the royal collection, bringing the Canadian component to 100 pieces. We’ve tithed work to the crown twice before, in 2000 and 1985. (Not me personally, the Society). I have no idea if it will happen again in my career, so I really had to make the effort.
It’s not recorded if the King has ever been to Bantry House, though it is of course known to the crown. The original owner, Richard White, was made the Earl of Bantry for his role in repelling an attempted French invasion in 1796. A fact that may or may not be of interest to the judges!
To be honest, I expect they’ll be most interested in presenting an encyclopedic view of Canadian watercolor as it stands in 2024, and to that end I made something that is as much as possible, a personal work. It looks back to when I was at the height of my adventures as a world-travelling painter, but I hope it’s handled with some freedom of expression :)
Well – I hope I haven’t given myself too much freedom :)
Finger’s crossed, and expect an update here!
~marc