A new exhibition opens on Saturday with a very long name – the 143rd Open Annual Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour (RSW).
The show includes 370 new paintings by more than 150 artists, some of whom are the country’s most highly acclaimed painters.
There are also more than 100 paintings submitted from non-members, and a showcase of international work collated by the National Watercolour Society based in California.
The 40 paintings in the international section include artists from Singapore, Netherlands, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the US.
President of the RSW, artist Angus McEwan, said: “We are looking forward to a great show, which promises to be as varied as ever.
“We have a huge range, from work by some of the finest artists working in traditional watercolour,right through to work by artists who are really pushing the boundaries.
“I have been to watercolour exhibitions all over the world and the work we have in Scotland is more highly coloured, more expressive, more daring than most.
“I don’t think we like to be hemmed in, maybe that’s part of the Scottish psyche. We enjoying pushing the envelope and trying things out.”
This year, the RSW Annual exhibition will share the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) Upper Galleries with the National Galleries of Scotland’s show of watercolours by J. M. W. Turner. At the same time, an exhibition on William Gillies, a past President of the RSW, will take place in the lower galleries, organised by the RSA.
McEwan said: “We are honoured to be showing alongside these watercolour heavyweights. Gillies was an inspiration to many as a teacher at Edinburgh College of Art and a prolific painter in watercolours.
“January has always been the time when the National Galleries of Scotland shows the collection of Turner watercolours left by Henry Vaughan, and this year they will be displayed alongside some of the best paintings in water-based media by contemporary artists.”
The 143rd Open Annual exhibition will be accompanied by a parallel online show featuring one work by all the participating artists, on www.rsw.org.uk
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