The range is, at first glance, familiar: landscape, ruminative portraiture, still life... What we look for in any show such as this one is the way in which the painter has engaged with his or her subject, the particular angle of attack...
The two stated aims of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize are to encourage creative representational painting and promote the skill of draughtsmanship, so I often asked myself: would we be fulfilling that promise by including this work?
I hope you’ll agree that we have stayed true to those principles and selected a collection of work that really celebrates the vitality, diversity and skill of contemporary representational painting in the UK today."
[6] The 2014 prize was won by Edinburgh-based artist Catharine Davison for her 'mesmerising' en plain air painting Craggs at Dawn (Calton Hill).
Five runner-up prizes of £1,500 each were awarded to; Peter Archer for Causeway; Wylie Craig for MD (Pierced); Anabel Cullen for Untitled (Adrian Gillian); Benjamin Hope for Self portrait in leftover paint; and David Tebbs for Catwalk No.1.