Our ninth Commended Entry for Jackson’s Open Painting Prize has been announced! During the JOPP entry period, we will be commending one entry each week that we think is of exceptional quality. All commended entries are automatically added to the longlist meaning they will be considered for the six Category Prizes, the People’s Choice Award, the Shortlist and the Overall Prize. To submit your work, please go to our Jackson’s Open Painting Prize Website.
Commended Entry: Jessica Rose
‘Hanwell Locks’
Etching on Paper
53 cm x 41 cm x 0 cm
Artist Description:
‘Hanwell Locks is a flight of canal gates along a stretch of the Grand Union waterway where I live in West London. I’ve painted this scene – of the locks and trees reflecting in the water – many times and have now painstakingly made an etching of it. I say painstaking because the image had to be carefully transferred onto a copper plate and then the lines and tones created by submerging the plate repeatedly in corrosive chemicals (in my bathroom while wearing goggles and rubber gloves – no proper studio for me!). It’s worth all the effort because there’s nothing like etching for producing deep blacks and an amazing range of tones.’
Jackson’s Judging Panel:
‘Jessica Rose has utilised, wonderfully, the broad spectrum of drawn marks that are possible when making an etching. Her print has a fascinating, almost abstract range of forms, that perfectly capture the refraction of the light as it filters through the greenery onto the canal below. The elegant canal gates provide balance, focus and tonal depth to her print, emphasising a hazy, gentle horizon line. Her work has a soothing atmosphere of natural stillness – you can sense that the trees are softly rustling and that the deep waters are slowly rippling, but the scene is quiet and calm.’
