Bahamian painter Sheldon Saint recently achieved another milestone in his career by winning several awards for his various works of art including the BoldBrush July 2012 Art Competition for his painting “Old Shoes.”
According to his official biography: “Saint has been painting professionally for the past 20 years, capturing the natural beauty and grace of everyday island life. His paintings have been exhibited in the National Art Gallery of The Bahamas Inaugural Exhibition in 2003, its second National Exhibition in 2004 and hang in private collections in the Bahamas, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Trinidad and Tobago. He’s a member of the Grand Bahama Artist Association and the American Watercolor Society.”
Saint recalled his inspiration for the paining and said: “Although I aim for the Best in Show, I’m amazed to see one of my paintings win an award in this international competition. I can recall looking out my dining room window on Labor Day 2012 and noticed this little boy sitting down in my neighbor’s yard while scraping a conch shell. I thought it would be quite interesting if I captured this moment.
“The afternoon light, his clothing, worn out shoes and the expression on his face was perfect. I omitted some of the conch shells to simplify the composition and I changed the color of the wall behind him.”
In addition to the competition, Saint also became the first Bahamian to be featured in The Splash book of artists’ collections.
“There were 1,600 entries for the Splash13 competition and the Splash series showcases the very best of contemporary watercolor.
“I’ve always admired the artists’ work, but I’ve never dreamed of being published in any of the series. I’m delighted that ‘Cathy’s Dress’ was chosen for Splash13!” he said.
Sarah Laichas, editorial coordinator of the North Light Books’ series, also comment on Saint’s work and added” The Splash books feature artists from more than a dozen countries and Sheldon is the first Bahamian we’ve had in the series.
“Cathy’s Dress is such a gorgeous and realistic piece — you can’t help but fall in love with Cathy sitting on those beautiful stone steps. Sheldon’s painting is exactly the type of piece that makes The Splash books so popular with collectors, aspiring watercolorists and art instructors that use the books as reference in the classroom. I’m really happy he submitted it for consideration.”
In addition to being featured in The Splash, Saint’s work has since gone on on to be featured in Watercolor Artist Magazine.
By Nathaniel Lewis
The Freeport News
