Between the Elements – Oil on Water

Between the Elements – Oil on Water – A new exhibition

Artists often gravitate toward a particular medium that best channels their vision, while using it to explore a variety of subjects —from abstraction to still life and landscape. For Judith Donaghy, oil paint becomes both subject and tool. Her use of rich impasto gives her canvases a physicality that echoes the tactile brilliance of past masters. Each stroke holds light and energy, whether depicting windswept coastlines, floral still lifes, or loosely abstracted forms. Donaghy’s work demonstrates how one medium, used with conviction, can accommodate a broad emotional and thematic range.

Contrasting media

In contrast, Andrew Jenkin’s watercolours lean toward the ethereal. Influenced by the delicate line and enchanted atmosphere of Arthur Rackham, his technique softens the world into something near-mythic. Jenkin’s landscapes and townscapes suggest stories just beneath the surface. His control of wash and transparency creating spaces that feel both familiar and dreamlike. Watercolour, with its fluid unpredictability, suits his quietly narrative intent.

Relationship to Materials

Though working in different mediums and moods, both artists show how depth arises not from subject alone, but from the artist’s relationship to their materials. Whether with the weighted presence of oil or the fleeting transparency of watercolour, the medium becomes a language through which place, memory, and imagination are translated.

Latest Exhibition

This dual sensibility – material richness and atmospheric subtlety – forms the heart of the exhibition I’m staging at Life: Full Colour. Where the works of Judith Donaghy and Andrew Jenkin are presented in dialogue with a selection of contemporary pieces that also span abstraction, still life, and landscape. By bringing these artists together, the exhibition invites viewers to consider how different mediums shape perception and mood, and how artists continue to innovate within traditional forms. Donaghy’s expressive oils and Jenkin’s luminous watercolours offer contrasting yet complementary visions, encouraging a deeper appreciation of both the craft and the emotional resonance behind each work.

Between the Elements – Oil on Water opens on Saturday 2nd August from 2-5pm at Life: Full Colour Gallery, 6 Stryd y Palas, Caernarfon LL55 1RR. Everyone is welcome to join us and meet our artists in person.

Sara McKee FRSA