ArtistsNetwork.com 37National Watercolor
Society
Julio Jorge
Alentejo, Portugal
Mario (watercolor on paper, 21x22)“As a child, I found pleasure in
sitting in front of the fire on cold
winter evenings, after dinner,
listening to my grandfather’s
stories. I was mesmerized by his
beautiful tired, wrinkled face.
That fascination for wrinkles
and the stories they contain
stayed with me.
“I’ve spent my life in Alentejo,
a predominantly rural region in
Portugal. Most of the population
is elderly, so inspiration prolifer-
ates. Mario [88 years old] is part
of a project I started in 2012,
which aims to draw the atten-
tion of people with political and
social responsibilities to the
loneliness and poverty in which
most of the elderly live in my
country. And so I continue to
paint more Marios.
“I paint while the paper is still
damp, using small strokes and
allowing the colors to merge. For
Mario, I decided not to introduce
elements that could distract
from what I consider important
here: the expression of the face.
I usually give special attention
and relief to the eyes, because
the eyes are the mirrors of the
soul, cliché or not.
“The fact that my work was
selected for the NWS 98th
International Open Exhibition
was already a reward, but when
Penny Hill phoned me to say that
I’d won a prize, I didn’t even
want to believe her. I was
speechless and felt like I was in
the clouds. It was fantastic and
very emotional. The award rep-
resents an incentive for me to
continue my work.”JUROR TIP: “When judging a
watercolor competition, I’m look-
ing for those characteristics that
demonstrate both an understand-
ing and command of the medium.
As demonstrated by Jorge’s Mario,
a superlative watercolor not only
tests the artist’s skill, but stretches
the limit of the medium itself.”
— D. SCOTT ATKINSON“What attracted me to Mario is the way in which it
challenges the conventional notions of artistic beauty. While
not ‘beautiful’ in the traditional sense, Jorge exploited the
medium’s full potential to create an uncompromising hyper-
realistic representation of the sitter’s appearance. As a study
of the ravages of time, Mario’s face emerges from the paper
support like an apparition—a dappled arrangement of
subtle color graduations that transform his closely scruti-
nized features into a beautiful study of form, color and
texture. Although Jorge’s tightly controlled representation
of the face is barely distinguishable as watercolor, his
rendering of the lower neck and collar confi rm he’s working
in the medium of which he’s a master.”
—D. SCOTT ATKINSON, JUROR