Wow!
This powerful watercolour is the work of Penny Mechen.
It’s full of energy and dynamism, and despite the cool blue tones we find ourselves caught up in it.
Penny is one of those lovely artists who has never lost her fascination for the way blobs and washes of colour resolve themselves inside the eye of the viewer.
I expect many people will look at this image and easily think ’water’, ’sky’, ‘speed’, and ‘spray’. And yet Penny’s work darts about along that line which divides figurative and abstract art. We can see all sorts of things here – sails, the sea, and so on. And many viewers will not only settle for that, they will rejoice in it. What a wonderful and evocative depiction of, say, a dinghy race in the Channel!
But without too much effort we can find ourselves surrounded and embraced by a field of colour and forms. This is the kind of painting which doesn’t have to be anything, except what it is. We don’t have to feel as though we were watching an imagined boat race. We can enjoy instead the beauty of the colour and shapes. I mean, just look at what those touches of ochre or pink achieve alongside the blues.
If this were on my wall – and Penny runs fine prints and projections from this original watercolour – I would soon stop seeing anything in it. I think it would become a constant source of delight and stimulation.
Penny’s work can be found at the Montague Gallery and at
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