ENGLISH WATER-COLOURS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2419, 26 March 1915, Page 7

ENGLISH WATER-COLOURS

AET UNION FOR "WAR DISTRESS FUND. Those who wish to . take a chance of winning a very desirable little watercolour of some nook, aspecE", or corner of Warwickshire, Derbyshire, or North Wales, and at the same time help those who are suffering by the effects of wir, could do so by investing in a few tickets iu connection with the art union promoted by tho artist, Mr. AY. Withers. of Wadestowu. Mr. Withers received a sound training iu the Birmingham School of Art in tho days when they taught the young students "to paint the thing as they saw it." Added to this, a fine instinct for colour and balance, and draughtsmanship approach, ing perfection, one caii gam an idea that the work of Mr. Withers is particularly good. Some two years ago he went to England for the benefit of his health, and during that time managed to secure a portfolio of sketches that will keep him employed for years to come. Some twenty completed water-colours from these sketches now adorn the walls of Messrs. Kirkcaldia and Stains' art gallery, and should bo seen by all with a taste for good painting and a shilling to spare. Mr. Withers has been very successful in catching, the English atmosphere. In each of his landscapes there is that indefinable feeling that proclaims them to ba English scenes. "Guy's Cliff, Warwick," is the pearl of the water-colours. Ihe tall trees lush with the foliage I of early summer, enclosing a sheet of placid cr.vstal-clear water, which reflects a wing of Warwick Castle. The air has all tho clarity of buoyancy of late Spring, or early Summer in Warwickshire. _ There is another likeable little painting of another aspect of the old castle, with a jumble of old-time thatched houses, nestling close under the grim old walls, whose one-time owner made and unmade kings. "Evening on the Wye" is another very appealing ljttlo water-colour, in which evening is faithfully suggested by a clever blending of russet browns and purples. In this, as in others, ifc is evident how well Mr. Withers can depict water in all; its moods. Other water-colours of interest are "Llanberis Pass, North Wales," "Llandudno" (showing the course of the noted marine drive), "Stepping Stones, Bettyscoed. Wales," some captivating sketches round Dovedale, and a little gem called "Rural England."