Talk to Rochford Life by E-mail  For  contact numbers see details on individual pages. HOME WHO WE ARE CONTACT US
RDC News Make a point of visiting us weekly!        Tell a friend about us.

Judging the Summer Holidays work Competition - Oct 2015


I must confess at the outset to being an opportunist and so having been asked by Gill to judge this year’s Summer competition I could not pass up the opportunity to turn this experience into an article, so here it is.

I must have rashly given the impression (I assume) at some point over the recent Art Trail reporting that I know something about art. How far from the truth can you get! I thoroughly enjoy looking at art but how to judge it, that’s another thing all together! Thus I went out to this evening in fear and trepidation with my wife’s words ringing in my mind: “Just remember that if I was choosing two they would probably be different to your two.”  Beauty, they say, is in the eye of the beholder, so for common or garden watchers like your editor, is art appreciation. If you have trouble, think what you’d like on the wall at home, was the advice John gave. All very well, but some of these look like work done by the ‘masters’ of this group and they always get the applause, but I’d like to encourage someone else, and I hate discouraging anyone. So how did I choose? Two that my eyes kept going back to after I ruled our ‘the masters’!  Sorry ‘masters’. Can I indulge myself with commenting on each of the works, ‘cos I liked everything.   

Top of page

Groups Roche Art Group Return to RAG FRONT CONTENTS Page Summer Competition Judging October 2015

Wow, this one caught something! But on my wall? No, she looks a bit unhappy, or what is it?

If only I could draw like this! But could I cope with these eyes looking at me every day. A smile perhaps?

Now this was one I kept going back to look at for it says something but the Taxi sign ( I assume) annoyed me.

No way could I have this gazing at me daily! But then, being a bit slow off the mark, I thought about it - what a powerful message!!!

From the clever and somewhat sophisticated message sending, to the incredibly simple. These ones tempt me to have a go (almost) but if you’ve never picked up a pencil, these make it look too deceptively easy.  I still remain a watcher.

Yes, any of these three could go on my walls, but here I suspect we come to what I call ‘the Old Masters’ of this group. Apologies for the light reflection where cellophane covering or glass made them difficult to photo. What a contrast - the two outer ones with immense detail and perspective and the incredibly strong impression of the sun rising (sorry the photos don’t do any of these justice).

Another example of the photo not doing justice to this work on canvas which would go well on my wall. Like it!

Although I’m not a flower painting lover, this one grabs me with it’s vibrancy. This would probably have been number three!

So here we eventually come to my numbers 1 and 2 choices.  Why? I don’t know beyond the fact that both of them drew my eyes back to them again and again and again.  Complex simplicity and simple complexity.  (If you understand that you’ve been reading too many art critics!)





Thank you Roche Art for another enjoyable evening, being with you all and seeing the outworkings of this thing that we call ‘creativity’ in its many forms. Real joy. Thank you!

Southend sea front (I guess) with a slightly futuristic look. The tilt is my editing, sorry.  This one grows on me the more I look at it.

Simplicity I like - partly because it is simple and partly because I couldn’t do it anyway!

If these cats appeared in a wine catalogue I suspect they would be be described as ‘a cheeky little number’. Yes!

This one I wrote off as ‘too domestic’ then came back again and again and it eventually really appealed to me. What a surprise. Thank you!