AGM & People’s Choice Winner
Posted on Feb 15, 20262026 AGM
On Thursday night the hall at St Martin’s buzzed with the hum of more than forty faces, as the AGM kicked off.
The evening unfolded methodically yet merrily: the treasurer’s crisp figures, the exhibition secretary’s highlights, and the Chair’s reflections on the past year were all read aloud, punctuated by nods and occasional chuckles.
The 2026 committee also emerged—a spirited mix of artists ready to serve the WSA into our 76th year.
With the formalities settled, the atmosphere shifted into a relaxed, convivial after‑party: mugs of steaming tea, lively conversations and spontaneous bursts of laughter that reminded everyone why this community feels more like a family than a formal organisation.
75th Annual – People’s Choice Winner
In the gallery of the 75th annual exhibition, one painting seemed to hold the very silence of the high mountains. Andy Wilson’s “Snow Leopard,” this year’s People’s Choice winner, is more than a portrait—it is a presence.
Captured in a moment of stillness, the leopard’s fur is a storm of silver and shadow, each strand rendered with an airbrush’s whisper that blurs the line between painted pigment and living breath.
Andy confesses he was spellbound by the creature’s “majestic mystique,” and by the “cold beauty” of its blue eyes—lamps of distant ice that see both the physical world and something beyond it. To replicate that ethereal, penetrating gaze and the soft, dense texture of its winter coat, Andy stretched his skills to the limit, mastering the airbrush not for smoothness alone, but for a layered, almost photographic depth that makes the leopard’s whiskers tremble with potential motion. The painting’s challenge became its triumph: a technical feat that transforms into an emotional one, leaving viewers with the uncanny feeling that the leopard, and the silent, severe world it embodies, has simply stepped out of the canvas and into the room.
Well done on your award Andy!
Annie Jones
WSA Secretary
