Two winners sitting side by side were equally surprised when their names were called for first and second place at the weekend’s Armadale Society of Artists (ASA) exhibition.
“I was sitting next to Ian Dickinson, who I knew would be the top person because he’s a wonderful artist,” second place winner Sue Doorey said.
“And I just thought, ‘oh, how wonderful I’ve actually been awarded something for my abstract work’.
“Because abstract work doesn’t usually figure much.”
Meanwhile, Ian said he didn’t expect to win after seeing the works of previous winners.
“My paintings, I thought, weren’t there to make a big statement because they were quite small in size,” he said.
Ian said his oil piece was inspired by the mining town of Gwalia, an abandoned gold rush settlement.
“There’s a village there that is like a ghost town and it’s really quite incredible to see the way people lived back in the day,” he said.
Ian said he thinks the historical nature of his work contributed to him getting first place.
“But I didn’t mean to paint it in that way,” he said.
“It wasn’t an historical perspective; it was just the way I saw it on the day.”
Sue said her abstract acrylic painting incorporated line work and collaging, with blue and white being the dominant colours used.
“I’m calling it Floating Along because the line work takes you from one place to the end of the painting and that kind of connects pieces together,” she said.
“It’s like a river that meanders so it takes the eye from one spot to another.”
Sue said she found painting abstract pieces more interesting than other styles of art.
“When I paint, there’s three stages I go through,” she said.
“First, I’m being playful and putting marks down and using lots of tools to do that.
“Second stage, it’s really, really ugly and I think, ‘oh, this is terrible’.
“And then the third stage, I start to get in the zone and start to pull it together.
“So, it’s really exciting for me.”
ASA president Martin Archer said though this year’s attendance didn’t break a record, it was the right number of people to fill the hall.
“You wouldn’t want too many more than that, really, because you just can’t walk around and look at the paintings,” he said.
“Even though we were down on numbers, we were up on sales so that was very good.”
Ian said events like the art awards and exhibition are important because it brings people from all walks of life together.
“Professional, working people, children, people who stay at home and retired people – it’s a great cross section of the community,” he said.
