There must be something in the water colours in the Northern Rivers, as another local junior has had her work hung on the walls of the Art Gallery of NSW, in Sydney, as a finalist in the Young Archies.
Around 3,200 entries were submitted, and 70 were selected as finalists – there were also 20 honourable mentions.
Isobel was just 11 when she painted a portrait of Oma, her great-grandmother Ilse, and entered into the competition.
‘Oma’ was just one of 20 finalists selected for the nine to 12 year-old section.
The Teven artist, who has since turned 12, said she decided first to enter the competition and then decided to paint Ilse.
‘I wanted to do Oma because she’s been around for a long time, and I really wanted to capture that,’ said Isobel.
‘I asked her if I could paint her, and we took a photo. Oma sat for the sketch and I did the painting in acrylics from the photo.’
Isobel says from the time she started the sketch, to the finished piece, was a whopping two hours.
She said she found out a week before the announcement but had to keep it a secret until it became official – but she did tell her bestie.
Ilse got quite a surprise when she found out about her great-granddaughter being a finalist.
‘She didn’t tell me that she would enter it in the Young Archies. She just asked me, “can I paint you?” I said yes.’
Ilse, who is 93, said she was very happy about it though.
‘I was very surprised, but it’s very nice,’ she said.
Once in a lifetime
Isobel and her family are making plans to travel to Sydney for this very exciting once-in-a-lifetime event, and are looking forward to the announcement of the winners on July 5.
Isobel, who takes art classes with Kay Knight of Lennox Head, is not sure what is next in her artistic career.
‘I don’t really know. I mean, probably the next page of my sketchbook.’
The exhibition will be on until August 17, with finalists at the Art Gallery of NSW as a free display, alongside the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize exhibits.
The Young Archies will travel to Lismore as part of the Archibald Prize tour from July 5 to August 31.
For more information about the Archibald prizes, visit www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au.
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