Elke Blommers with her winning painting of ‘Angus’. PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA
An artist who used no black paint, in a predominantly black painting, snapped up a People’s Choice Award at Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History yesterday afternoon.
Local vet and artist, Elke Blommers, won the award as part of the museum’s 10th Wairarapa Art Review yesterday.
Mrs Blommers, of Masterton, said she often painted animals as a flow-on from her job tending to animals every day.
She only used a small palette of colours including yellow, brown, pink, blue and white to create the award-winning portrait of black Labrador, Angus.
Most of her paintings are done this way to keep it “to a bare minimum”, she said.
This was the first time entering the competition after painting for only four years.
She is also the secretary and treasurer of the Masterton Art Club.
The Wairarapa Art Review is a biennial exhibition open to all artists living in the Wairarapa region.
Almost 1,000 votes were received for the People’s Choice Award – 967 to be exact – with each of the 57 exhibiting artists receiving at least one vote.
She won $500 which was sponsored by Friends of Aratoi member Frank Minehan.
Not paellet but pallette of colours!