The thing that impressed art judge Karen Quinlan most about Ashleigh Deaton's artwork Unfinished Thought was the face, which she found to be "both expressive and compelling".
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Deaton's technique was contour line drawing, in which the artist uses one single, continuous line.
"I didn't lift my pen off the page at all," the young Goulburn artist said.
"It doesn't take long to do in one go, but a lot of planning and research goes into it.
"I practised on butcher paper and took five goes before I got one I liked."
The aim of the piece was to "show the negative terminology that's associated with our [age] group and also the fact it's getting better.
"For example, I get along so well with my grandparents, but we have our opinion and they have theirs."
The Goulburn Art Award, one of the biggest nights on the Regional Art Gallery's calendar, were held via Instagram on Friday, April 17.
Deaton was named the young artist winner, with Tamara Dean crowned the overall winner; and Robbie Howard, formerly of Collector, won the highly recommended awards.
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery director Gina Mobayed was extremely pleased with the quality of artworks to choose from.
"We are really pleased we've been able to stage this year's art award [online]," Mobayed said, in response to COVID-19 restrictions.
Director of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra, Karen Quinlan, awarded the top prize to Dean for her artwork Endangered 16.
"The theme of endangered is repeated over and over again in the artwork," Quinlan said.
"In this work, I note the sheer beauty of the human interactivity with the sea."
Howard's beautifully peaceful screen print May's Lane, Collector impressed Quinlan with its "subtlety and mystery" around a never-ending country lane.
"A photo silk screen has been used with some very subtle colours reminiscent of an Australian landscape, the inescapable silence, the peacefulness and the sense of calm," Quinlan said.
"You can almost smell the eucalyptus, gums and dusty surface under foot."
Three exhibitions were also opened on the night.
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