Jurist makes difficult first place decision in Waterworks Exhibition at Tsuga Fine Art

November 10, 2017 8:30 am
Antoaneta Georgieva poses with her first-prize painting, “Dreaming”. Courtesy of the Northwest Watercolor Society.
Antoaneta Georgieva poses with her first-prize painting, “Dreaming”. Courtesy of the Northwest Watercolor Society.

Iain Stewart, Northwest Watercolor Society’s (NWWS) 25th annual Waterworks Membership Exhibition juror/instructor, presented awards at Tsuga Fine Art & Framing on Oct. 26th.

Antoaneta Georgieva was awarded First Place for her painting, “Dreaming.” In a close second place was Bill Hook for “Going Up.” Both NWWS members live in the Seattle area. The Exhibit runs through Nov. 22, 2017 at Tsuga Fine Art & Framing, 1010 Main Street in Bothell, where a total of 50 NWWS artworks are on display.

After close study of both Georgieva’s and Hook’s paintings, Stewart felt that “the sense of peace in [Georgieva’s] figure coupled with the extremely confident brush strokes utilized throughout” was worthy of first place.

“It is beautifully composed and allows the viewer to move throughout the image while bringing you right back to the face and its blissful expression,” Stewart said, in a press release. “Nothing steals from that and the overall impression of peace remains intact. That is tough to do with such a complex figurative piece.”

Choosing between first and second place proved to be difficult for Stewart as Hook’s painting is also impactful and a work of incredible strength.

Georgieva has been painting since childhood and holds an MFA from her native Bulgaria. She has been juried into a number of regional, national and international exhibits in the past few years, winning several awards. Children are often subjects in her paintings.

“In this watercolor I try to capture a relaxed and dreamy moment of a child very close to me who was enjoying one of the first sunny days of spring,” she said, describing her work, in a press release.

Georgieva added that she was excited and grateful to accept her first award in a NWWS show.

First place award was $1,000 cash; second $750 and third $500 that went to Susan Keith of Murrieta, California for her painting, “Wrapped in Light.”

A complete list of Waterworks Exhibition award winners is listed at http://www.nwws.org/Portals/0/docs/2017WaterworksAwards.pdf.

A total of 50 paintings from NWWS members around the U.S, Canada and Australia are on exhibit at Tsuga Fine Art until Nov. 22. For more information and hours of operation visit http://www.tsugafineart.com/ or call 425-483-7385.