£10,000 prize for Brighton graduate

Kathryn Maple collected £10,000 for winning the 29th Sunday Times Watercolour Competition - the contest she won in 2014. The competition, celebrating “excellence and originality in the medium”, is considered the largest and most prestigious showcase of contemporary watercolour painting in the UK.

Kathryn, awarded a BA(Hons) degree in Fine Art Printmaking from the University of Brighton in 2011, now works in a studio in South London.

Speaking about her award, Kathryn said: “My feet are still going like the clappers; never would I have thought I could possibly win again. The Times Watercolour Competition shows incredible diversity in the medium of Watercolour. It is always exciting to be in the show and to see how other Artists are reinventing and pushing watercolour in new ways. I am extremely thankful to the sponsors Smithson & Williamson and to Parker Harris who run competitions the whole year round.”

Sandy Shoes by Kathryn Maple

Kathryn’s winning entry was Sandy Shoes, described by judges as “a stunningly vibrant painting in which the colourful mosaic of domestic space cascades into the equally colourful natural space of the Southwest Indian Vypin Islands”.

Kathryn said: “I have always been interested in interior/exterior places – and parts of India really feel like a greenhouse waiting to explode. Sandy Shoes looks at the filtered shapes and vibrant colours I experienced in the Vypin Islands.”

Reflecting on her time at the University of Brighton, Kathryn said: “I enjoyed lithography and woodcut and I guess some of my mark-making in my paintings reflect that.” Kathryn later took a Postgraduate Programme at the Royal Drawing School and she has held residencies at Dumfries House and The Muse Gallery. She is exhibiting internationally in group shows.