Inspirational Artists: The English Watercolour - Edward Wesson

Edward Wesson was born in Blackheath, London in 1910 and the tidal waters of the River Thames and its badges gave him his early inspiration and became became one of his favourite subjects. Self-taught, having suddenly felt ‘an urge to paint’ in his early twenties he experimented with watercolour and particularly enjoyed the rapid technique of the medium. During WW II he met an Italian painter called Ascanio Tealdi who introduced him to painting in oils and had an impact on his works such that within three years of returning to England his oil paintings were being accepted by the Royal Academy.

Wesson's watercolour recognition soon followed and by 1952 he was a full member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, becoming one of their most consistent exhibitors and a member of the Council. He also began to exhibit regularly with the Royal Society of Marine Artists and the Royal Society of British Artists.

Being essentially self-taught and a natural teacher he tutored many on painting and his courses were complimented by many articles on both oil and watercolour.

It is not always easy to disquinsh the difference between seago, wesson, yardley and some others and their content and use of colour and wash are similar but looking closer the differences are there to see. Wesson mixes clear lines with wash and has more structure to his buildings. Also he often has a rawness or depth which is hard in the watercolour medium.