At each Oatley 101 Gallery exhibition, we ask our visitors and artists to vote for their favourite painting.
The painting that won the most votes in our December Exhibition is: "Crossing the bridge" by Freda Surgenor
Freda
was born in Harrow England and studied art and later graphic design and
illustration at Bourneville School of Art, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
She
worked in London as a graphic designer in publishing as well as illustrating
two children’s books and teaching art for several years.
Since arriving in Australia in 1982 Freda has established herself
through solo exhibitions and group shows as a highly respected watercolour
painter. Subsequently, Freda was featured as a master painter
in both the Water Colour Annual ’98 and International Artist Magazine. She has been a regular contributor to Australian Artist Magazine since then. In 2003, Freda was accepted as an
exhibiting member of the Royal Art Society of NSW andwas elevated to Fellow in 2009..
She is a multi award winning artist, including
the Mosman Art Prize, the Royal Easter Show and the CASS Art of Sydney Awards..
She has always enjoyed life drawing and is convenor of the Oatley 101 life drawing sketch group.
Freda, who has always been interested in people, both at work and
play,
demonstrates a high level of excellence using vibrant colours to depict a great
variety of subjects from landscapes through waterscapes, cityscapes,
still-life, floral, portraiture, life painting and miniatures.
Freda is totally dedicated to her work - when she’s not painting
she is
thinking about it. She feels that good draughtsmanship is a basis for
successful painting and never stops drawing. She works in fine detail using
strong colour to create pieces, which glow with life and light. This results in
highly successful warm paintings, which demonstrate her ability to capture and
recreate the images realistically. This is reflected by the number of her
works, which are highly sought after by collectors both in Australia and
overseas