Charlene Vella interviews Jenny Wheatley, a leading member of both the New English Art Club and the Royal Water-Colour Society of England.
For some 10 days in mid-May, several members of the Royal Water-Colour Society (RWS) were in Malta to paint, among other places, Mdina and Marsaxlokk, led by the society’s president David Paskett.
Their busy Malta schedule included a meeting with the committee of the Friends of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Malta, led by Kenneth Zammit Tabona. The meeting took place in the beautiful environs of the Xara Palace Hotel, Mdina.
Discussions and exchange of ideas that followed were both interesting and stimulating. With some 20 of us present who share a love for art, this was not surprising or difficult to achieve.
Jenny Wheatley introduced me to the history of the RWS. Established in 1804, the RWS is the oldest watercolour society in the world, and is the second most important art society in England after the Royal Academy of Art.
To my question if it was a mere coincidence that the RWS chose Malta as a location to explore and paint, she unhesitatingly answered that is was definitely not.
In May/June of next year, the Parliamentary Secretariat for Culture and the RWS will be organising an exhibition at the Auberge d’Italie, Valletta, to commemorate the conferring of the George Cross medal to Malta in the Second World War.
Since Queen Elizabeth II is a patron of the RWS (and the Prince of Wales is an honorary member), other exhibitions with the same exhibits will be held in London in March and April next year to mark 60 years of the Queen’s reign, her diamond jubilee, which will be celebrated in an official jubilee weekend between June 2 and 5.
Wheatley repeatedly mentions the prestige of being in the RWS, a society that promotes the appreciation of waterolour painting, which is often unjustly considered inferior to oil painting.
The RWS seat at Bankside Gallery, London, comprises an exhibition space and an archive.
Excluding special shows, such as the ongoing ‘A Year in the Life of the Royal Albert Hall’, exhibitions are held twice a year.
The society is a registered charity, and does not benefit from any public funding. It is high time that the concept of registered charities takes root in Malta.
Bankside Gallery also houses the RWS Diploma Collection consisting of some 900 watercolours and drawings, the oldest of which go back 200 years. Since 1860, each newly elected member has donated a work to the society, and this has to be not just any work, but their best one, in other words, a landmark painting.
In 1804, the Royal Academy Exhibition was the only big art show in England. Back then, watercolours still played second fiddle to oil paintings in public opinion. This was one of the main reasons why the RWS was founded.
With just 74 members (not including honorary members, honorary retired members and associate members), it is a very prestigious society. To become a member, one must present a portfolio of up to 12 sheets of original work, and three framed pieces.
In addition, one needs an authentification that includes two references and a current CV. Election is a yearly, long drawn out process that takes hours to complete.
Wheatley, born in London but based in Cornwall, was just 24 when she became one of three applicants, out of a total of 130, to be elected.
Due to the length of time the RWS has been in existence, and the variety of artist members, one gets to see a wide range of styles within the society, from hyperrealist to abstract pieces.
In a way, the RWS reinvented watercolour painting because it widened its parameters to include any water-based medium such as acrylic and gouache. Wheatley retorts enthusiastically that “anything used in the spirit of watercolour is accepted”.
Therefore, a watercolour has been broadly defined by the RWS as a painting executed in any water-based medium on a paper-based support.
Wheatley works not only in watercolour, but but also in acrylics and mixed media, and oils. Her style is figurative, high-colour based, and it has very much to do with colour theory, the result not being very tonal in quality, pretty much like fauvist art was. She is far from a traditional watercolourist, as we generally perceived.
Her work is decorative and possesses a pattern-like effect (because obtaining a mathematical perspective is not her aim), is very bright and bold, playful, and enjoyable to look at.
Wheatley makes her own colours by mixing gum arabic and glycerin with water. Back home, she is working on water-based paintings around 3 x 4 feet (91 cm x 122 cm) in size. It is common at the RWS to work on such a large scale, although this is not so common in Malta.
Her motivation for painting is not to record what’s directly in front of her. She paints because she has something to say about the subject. Her process is one of learning. She gets to know the subject and even takes notes. By painting a scene, she is emphasising her response to something.
She works from memory, leaving her sketches to rest on the drawing pad. This she calls a “distillation of the memory”, because it is usually her second attempt at painting a scene.
As a tutor in the art of painting, she says that she can teach technique, but not knowledge, that is, creativity is up to the individual.
This is Wheatley’s second official visit to Malta with the RWS. I look forward to seeing some of her artwork at Auberge d’Italie this time next year.