Paint flowed while broadcast cameras streamed the painters and their work to the world, and also to two large screens fronting the famous Ford Arena. This was International Watercolour Masters in May 2024, Many of the World’s greatest masters of watercolour came. They are coming again in May 2026.

With its lattice work girders glowing violet in the roof, the Ford Arena was an ideal space to demonstrate the ancient art of watercolour live to large audiences each day of what has become a major festival on the international calendar. It was a full but comfortable house, because the large number of plush seats are set in plenty of space. It is interesting to note the reverence which the British public have for this ancient artform. Many more came from overseas.

One international painter followed another. Fast moving watercolour animated the stage. South and Central America, China, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and Canada – masters from these countries and more were all introduced by Master of Ceremonies David Poxon RI. This is front rank Fine Art flying off the boards, no margin can be made for error, no mistake can be covered over when it is painted in watercolour.

 

IWM 2024 saw artists from nations as diverse as Peru with the charismatic Nicolas Lopez and his extraordinary flowing textures in monochrome, Mexico with Patricia Guzman and her portraits from disappearing Native Mexican peoples, and Spain with returning resident from Iran Mona Omrani who instantly gained a following in 2022 among petrol heads and watercolour enthusiasts alike with her classic car portraits.

 

Nicolas painted his textures that seemed to drip and run into invisibly guided shapes, pouring monochrome rivers of moving pigment, then dropping in reality for a finale, a master exponent of specially textured paints – really like nothing seen before in Britain.

 

The IWM full house watched Eudes Corrier, the Brazilian virtuoso and his trademark glass of Malbec whose street portraits fly off the brush, with his furiously fast but exquisite street figures emerging from floods of bright turquoise and orange, beautifully executed faces appearing through what at first seemed chaos. He is a true showman as well as an artist, and we ask; “did I just see that?” I liked Herman Pekel, who taught so clearly, and whose Australian landscape was delivered with a friendly style that reminded me of the nicest teachers we had at school. It felt like Art College. Everyone gets a chance to join in a pleasant little “conflab” with the artist after each of three or four demos a day – a good IWM touch.

 

The presentation – the house music, the countdown for the cameras, the intro – the whole thing gets the adrenaline rushing, not just for the audience but the artists themselves. After the live demonstrations you can find masters and audience chatting, in small groups over a coffee or wandering the wonderful Italian Gardens in the historic grounds of Lilleshall Hall – it’s all very relaxed, its all very beautiful!

 

With the unique IWM blueprint of top artists, great arena, award winning curation, professional presentation, good technology and careful marketing, everything comes together to produce a strongly developed brand identity.

 

To achieve this, David Poxon has innovated and taken strategic risks which no large organization has dared to envision. It’s a public service based on his belief that the people would come. Each time IWM has staged the biennial show (it takes two years hard work to prepare), there are new innovations.

 

There was the hunt for new masters, resulting in a fresh batch of talented painters who are now globally renowned. There was award winning curatorship. There were 17 workshops run by the masters. Then there were the competitions for IWM2022 onwards, with university accredited rules, keeping the IWM brand prominent and active between exhibitions. There was a challenging hunt for the space, resulting in the providential relationship with the National Sports Centre – a very new venture for them. Another innovation was the digital competition resulting in 200 paintings being displayed on another big screen.

 

For 2024, IWMTV was launched, after two years of development in secrecy. Live streaming and uploading the demonstrations to a pay per view TV Channel is a hard act to follow.

 

The exhibition space itself was beautifully constructed by the same professionals who framed everything. It is vital to have big solid stands to create the exhibition space all perfectly organized with a large seating area for the live audience to view the demonstrations, projected onto giant TV screens.

 

The master work paintings themselves were all beautifully framed in solid bespoke hand made frames, all with archival mounts, and all protected behind glass. This is how watercolours should be viewed in a high class quality environment. Every painting was at optimal viewing height, all were carefully and impeccably labelled, every last detail was state of the art! Nothing is left to chance.

 

The IWM Team were a pleasure to meet and deal with, all so enthusiastic and willing to help both Masters and visitors to the show. Such a pleasure to be greeted at a world class event by friendly people. I have travelled the world and exhibited in many countries and can say that the IWM Team is the best I have ever experienced anywhere in the world. Well done to them. It’s obvious they are all handpicked, well-schooled, and loved being part of something truly special.

 

One discovery by IWM is a large artistically discerning public who love watercolour, and who are prepared to pay for tickets. In 2024 they came in their thousands.

 

IWM2024 show-cased hundreds of top watercolours, hundreds more in the digital show, and created hundreds of places in the workshop masterclasses. IWM created a global audience of mammoth proportions for what is fast becoming the world’s greatest series of watercolour festivals.