David Risley
by Marianne Gross
From the age of five, David Risley had decided that he wanted to become an artist. However, it was as a gallerist that he first made his name. The David Risley Gallery was based in London for about ten years before he settled in Denmark and ran the gallery from his new homeland. He has helped to found and run several art fairs, including CHART Art Fair at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen, which is today considered one of the leading platforms for Nordic contemporary art. In 2018 he closed down the gallery and began to create his own art again. He started out (unpretentiously) with watercolours because he then felt he wouldn’t be competing with the artists he previously had represented. In the beginning the range of motifs was limited to portraits of his family and friends plus some neighbours. The portraits received a lot of attention and people started commissioning portraits from him. David Risley likes to paint in large sizes, although it can be difficult with watercolor. He now also paints with watercolor on prepared wood panel or canvas and on silk by using specially developed methods. For a long time, he was fascinated by windows and painted a series of cross-shaped Danish windows. His current project is about symbolism, privilege blindness, tradition and violence – based on the traditional and very violent Atherstone Ball Game which has taken place since 1199. From his own recent first-hand views of the game, he has made sketches which will lead to a couple of monumental oil paintings interpreting the event.

Anna-Maria Sinisalo
by Sofia Simelius
Art and culture have always been present in Anna-Maria Sinisalo’s life, but she rarely imagined a life as an artist, until studies in art therapy opened the door to her own creativity. After participating in a number of different art courses for several years and at the three-year education at the private art school Alfa, the thought was born that there might actually be a future for her as a visual artist. Nature has always been the greatest source of inspiration for her, and she depicts everything from people and animals to lush vegetation and landscapes. For her, all of nature is part of the same cycle, where everything consists of atoms without clear boundaries, a quality that is found in her paintings, where different living organisms are allowed to meet and thrive. She approaches nature as a kind of researcher and concentrates on not just looking at it, but really seeing and investigating the colours and elements that are there. The painting becomes like a dialogue carried out through colour and pigment. She has always been drawn to watercolors and the balance between guidance and chance that the technique requires and she also has experimented with pigments to create her own colours. Inspired by Ali Cavanaughs’ painting techniques, she began preparing her canvases with a layer of clay. When the clay dries, the brushstrokes remain visible and become part of the finished work. She spends a lot of time letting the works rest and then approaching them again to see with fresh eyes what works and if anything needs to be corrected.

Britta Arvidsson
by Maria Molin
The city has become Britta Arvidsson’s signature motif. She gains impressions from trips to different places in Europe, which she then uses to paint her detailed cities. A working process where playfulness, free composition and imagination are more important than depicting the houses from reality. She trained as a clerk and it was only in her late 40s that she dared to pursue her life-long dream of becoming an artist. Basic painting courses at the Gerlesborg School in Sweden and watercolor courses in Provence in southern France were the first steps towards a life as an artist, and after three years at Hovedskou’s painting school, she became a full-time artist. At Gerlesborg School and in Provence, she had the artist Arne Isacsson as her watercolor teacher. During a course where she was present in 1989, the Nordic Watercolour Society was founded. She learned a lot from Arne Isacsson about the nature of watercolour, the importance of paper, brushes and is therefore not afraid of watercolour. She paints in layers and lets the paint rest and mature between layers while working on several paintings at a time. Among her role models and inspirations, she mentions the sculptor Claes Hake and the painters Roj Friberg, Carl-Erik Hammarén, Olle Skagerfors, Erland Brand, and Anne Thulin. The Austrian artist and designer Friedensreich Hundertwasser is another role model, as is Paul Klee. It is the colour, form and freedom in them that inspire her.

Monica Risvik
by Vera Maria Gjermundsen
Monica Risvik is a graduate of the Interdisciplinary Art School in Bærum. Her miniaturized childhood situations and everyday moments are drawn with black marker, the contours taken from old family photos from the 70s. She seeks the slightly imperfect, and the voids between the lines are filled with black watercolor building up her monochrome colour scale in transparent layers of gray and black using black watercolor, a marker and a brush, paper towels and water. She starts with the light and then continues building the shape with no real plan in advance, until she reaches a result she is pleased with. She looks for things that raise a question or is not completely clarified. She wants the images to be enigmatic and unstructured to make people think about what really is happening. For her, through constant choices about what to include or leave out, watercolor becomes both a sensitive and powerful medium for highlighting the subtlety. In a series of Iconic Images, the dynamic is shifted from the private sphere to our shared cultural history, as historical men and iconic moments are reduced to tiny, fragile miniature events. A tiny Donald Trump, a tiny Richard Nixon, a tiny Che Guevara, a tiny fountain by Marcel Duchamp. The same thin line and monochrome watercolor, the same bright void on the sheet, the same balance on the tipping point between strength and vulnerability.

Watercolour Show at Väsby Konsthall
by Anna Sörenson Rydh
Just outside Stockholm, in Upplands Väsby, lies Väsby Konsthall. The art gallery, founded in 1995, is run by a non-profit association, Väsby Konsthalls Vänner (VKV), with support from the municipality. Every year, Väsby Konsthall organizes a juried watercolor show where they also select one ore two scholarship recipients. Applicants for the show must submit their works in person or by post, up to two works per person. The gallery does not accept digital images – everything is judged physically on site. In recent years, they have featured “The Audience’s Favorite” voted for by the audience at the opening. The three works that receive the most votes receive an honorable mention and one of the works may illustrate next year’s programme. For more information, please visit www.vasbykonsthall.se 

NAS Internetudstilling 2026
by Marianne Gross
Until the 15th of October you may view the selected works of the NAS Internet Exhibition 2026.
168 people submitted 468 works to the jury, that consisted of the artists Indigo Richards, Anne Marie Frank og Kirsten Hesselager. 84 works from 64 artists were seleted.
Statement from the jury:
“Remarkably, the three jury members agreed on the selection regarding most of the works. Although we each work in different ways with watercolor, we share a background as trained visual artists from the Funen Academy of Fine Arts and all have around 30 years of experience as professional artists. We saw many beautiful, original and personal expressions on paper, and the selection sparkled engaged conversations about artistic qualities, expression and technique. In our selection, we have prioritized works where you can clearly sense the artist’s personal vision, and where the ranges of watercolor are mastered with skill and sensitivity. Among the selected works are paintings with a unique light, works characterized by originality and works that prove a high level of craftsmanship. We share a great love for watercolor – for the interaction between paper, pigment and water, which creates an expression that no other technique can produce.”