An aritst from Pickering has been shortlisted in a national art competition.
Derek Thrippleton, 78, of Kirkbymoorside, has been named in the top three of artists for his wildlife painting in the UK wide Supporting All Artists (SAA) Artist of the Year Competition.
The art organisation’s competition has been running for over 20 years, attracting over 19,000 entries.
This year’s competition contains a people’s choice award voted for by the public.
Derek’s painting of an elephant has placed third in the people’s choice Animal or Wildlife category, which had 2960 entries and 306 finalists.
The winners of the competition will be announced in August with an awards ceremony in October, which will be held in Nottingham.
Derek said “you just can’t beat” being recognised by the UK wide art community.
He explained that votes for his work have been coming in from far and wide, currently sitting at 474.
His winning elephant painting is currently on display at the Rotary Club of Pickering District’s art exhibition at Memorial Hall, in Pickering.
The painting is at the entrance of the exhibition, welcoming guests as they arrive.
Derek said: “It is the first thing that people see, lots of people have been stopping to look at it.
“It has gone down well which is what I was hoping for.
“It’s just nice sitting there and watching viewer’s reactions.”
As reported by the Gazette and Herald, the exhibition at Pickering Memorial Hall opened last weekend (July 9) and has been organised in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Charity (MND), who work to support those living with motor neurone disease.
Over the opening weekend £700 was raised for MND.
A range of displays are on show at the exhibition, which runs everyday from 10am-5pm until this Sunday (July 17).
These include wildlife and landscape works by several local artists including Derek himself, June Appleton, Angie McCall, Colin Culley, Peter Davidson, and Gillian Fletcher.
Rotary Club of Pickering District chose to work with MND to raise awareness of motor neurone disease after one of their most active members was struck down with the life-threatening condition.
The disease affects nerves within the brain and spinal cord systems and, over time, also other senses such as hearing and sight.
Barry Foster, a spokesperson for MND, said: “The Pickering Rotary Club have been generous with their time and efforts to raise much money for the association both locally and nationally.”
You can vote for Derek’s elephant painting online: https://community.saa.co.uk/challenges/peoples-choice-vote-aoy-2022/?category=612
More information about The Rotary Club of Pickering District’s art exhibition can be found here.
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