The annual exhibition is due to run at Lauderdale House and features the fruit of their weekly challenges undertaken during lockdown
Members of the Highgate Watercolour Group are hoping their annual exhibition will go ahead at Lauderdale House next month.
Views ranging from Pond Square to Karl Marx’ memorial in Highgate Cemetery will hang in the arts centre from November 11 until December 7.
The group, which is part of the Highgate Society, usually meet weekly at 10A South Grove, but had to go virtual during the pandemic.
Member Vanessa Whinney said many of the works sprang from lockdown projects: “Members are keen to raise everyone’s spirits by holding this show, despite the difficulties. We hope to bring a bit of sunshine and joy to our community with paintings of places that we all love, and particularly to share the results of our efforts during lockdown when we set ourselves a weekly project,” she said.
“Many wonderful works have resulted and we hope people will be brave enough to come to the gallery, where precautions are in place to ensure they can safely enjoy the originals.”
For those who can’t come in person, the works have been posted on
highgatewatercolour.org.uk, which includes biographies of the artists including new member Janet Campbell who “enthusiastically got stuck into a variety of subjects”.
“Her watercolour of Karl Marx through the fence bars from Waterlow Park is a timely metaphor for the challenges we still face,” says Whinney, who was forced to isolate in south Norfolk with her vulnerable partner.
Her paintings this year are almost exclusively of East Anglia, including the evocative Red Buoys at Southwold.
Also exhibiting is New Zealander Brenda McDowall, whose work features her travels to the Far East. Treasurer Sue Lees, who likes to paint en plein air includes a watercolour image of a zebra crossing in Highgate which captures the day’s shadows.
Co-chair Chris Baker brings a quirky colourful style to both landscapes and still lifes while fellow co-chair Andrew Riley submits a dreamy soft-focus painting of Pond square.
Maureen Bocking’s watercolour of sunflowers and daisies is her expression of how she feels about the virus and the way we supported the NHS during lockdown.
And Ruth Edwards, who was christened the Litter Fairy for collecting more than 100 bags of rubbish from Hampstead Heath during lockdown, is a talented musician, Ladies’ pond swimmer and artist whose work appears in the exhibition.
Finally Philip Sanderson’s glorious landscapes and townscapes recall the tradition of great watercolourists. His one man show at The Highgate Gallery runs at the same time as the group’s Lauderdale show.
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