Cirencester artists scoops prize (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Cirencester artists scoops prize

PROFESSIONAL artist, Mike Smith, who lives and works in Cirencester, has recently won the public choice award in the 99th Annual Exhibition of the Bath Society of Artists.

He shared the first prize of £500 with an artist from Bath and their work was selected from 1,000 entries, 360 of which were on show at the exhibition.

Of the 13,200 visitors to the show, around 12,000 cast a vote for the public choice prize.

"I am absolutely thrilled to have won this prize for my painting, The Letter. It means a great deal to me that so many people have seen and appreciated my work. I was delighted to have been selected to take part in the exhibition as I had entered for the first time this year. To have won a prize too is a great feeling," said Mike.

Mike only started painting professionally five years ago but he has also exhibited and sold work in London and America this year.

His style could be described as photo-realism and he is gaining recognition for his very detailed and realistic portrayal of the female figure, seen in either a richly detailed interior or, as in The Letter, in an enchanting outdoor location.

Here, Mike's friend Julia Tully modelled for him in the bluebell woods along the canal at Daneway, near Sapperton. They had to wait for exactly the right day when the spring sunshine lit up the thousands of fresh blue flowers.

Mike has featured Julia in several other paintings which can be seen on his website www.mikesrealart.co.uk "I am inspired by the luminosity of exterior light that the pre-Raphaelite painters achieved in their work and I am keen to express the same qualities in my paintings through a contemporary but timeless composition," he says.