On 22 June I made my way with Denise to Chelsea Town Hall for my fifth Pintar Rapido.  Pintar Rapido is a painting competition, where artists have to paint and frame a painting in a day and then its displayed and hopefully sold in the Town Hall on Sunday.

I took two watercolour sheets and two frames with the idea to try to paint two watercolours over the day. Two years ago I attempted an oil painting, which I didn’t finish and failed to sell. So this was a tall order. I’d planned to paint the ‘Boy & Dolphin’ statue near Albert Bridge plus the building behind it. The statue is well known and represents the area. I set up in direct sunlight, which was hot and noisy at the busy junction to the bridge. After sketching the statue and building in the sun I moved back in to shade to apply the paint. I was pleased to finish a larger format painting by lunchtime and achieve a decent representation of the view.

I met up with Denise in Battersea Park and we had a quick sandwich and drink to refresh our artistic ‘elbow’. I then took off again to find a spot to paint my second picture.

I settled at a spot just round the corner from the Town Hall and opposite the Sydney Arms. The pub was spilling out on to the pavement and they appeared to be watching the horse racing. I knew I only had enough energy to draw a part of the street and paint the the pub. I managed to make the final washes after about 90 minutes but I don’t really remember looking at the painting much afterwards. I framed and priced the two paintings back at the Town Hall and made my weary way back home.

I was with Molly when Denise contacted my to say that not only had I sold the Sydney Arms painting but that it had also won the Hampstead School of Art prize!! To sell was great but to win a prize in such a big competition (over 200 artists) was amazing and totally unexpected. To win it with the sketch/study was really unbelievable.

Use this link to see my painting and the other winners

https://www.pintarrapido.com/london/prize.html