STROUD artist, Rachel McDonnell has been shortlisted for the Jackson’s Painting Prize 2021.

The sixth annual painting competition, supported by Jackson’s Art Supplies, encourages artists of all ages and abilities to submit their work for the chance to win from £11,000 in prizes.

Rachel's oil painting on linen, entitled Falling, Rising, was shortlisted out of 8,674 entries by a panel of judges.

Commenting on the painting, Rachel said: “My work sits within a tradition of landscape painting going back a few centuries, which has always used images of the world around us to reflect the relationship between the environment and the people who inhabit it.

"Right now, the climate crisis and environmental degradation feel ever more pressing issues, and are the guiding thoughts behind my work.

"I use the individual characteristics of different oil paints, mediums and surfaces to reflect the beauty and fragility of our surroundings.

"I work into a medium so that the brush strokes are really visible, making my presence and viewpoint more a part of the work, and use the transparency and opacity of various pigments to help represent the vulnerability of the natural world.

"The year before last, I travelled through the Turku Archipelago in Finland, where I found the whole ecosystem fascinating: from tiny, intricate mosses to huge trees, all perched precariously on lumps of granite.

"The thought that sat at the back of my mind the whole time I was there, was that much of what I saw around me, low-lying as it was, might soon be submerged. This painting celebrates beauty permeated with tragedy.”

As well as the Jackson’s painting prize of £6000, the emerging artist prize of £1,000, and a £500 Jackson’s voucher for the people’s choice award, there are six category prizes, with a cash prize of £500 each: animal, landscape/cityscape/seascape, non-representational/abstract, portrait/figure, scenes of everyday life and still life/botanical. Also new to the awards programme, the outstanding watercolour award with a £500 Jackson’s voucher.

The winner of the Jackson’s Painting Prize 2021 will be announced on Wednesday, April 21.

For further details see: jacksonsart.com/paintingprize