Owen Williams, a renowned wildlife watercolour artist based in west Wales, has won the CLA Game Fair’s third annual Official Show Guide cover competition. His work will now feature on the cover of the 2015 show guide as well as on the contents page which will display Owen’s name, stand number at the show and website address.

The competition was open to all artists that exhibited at last year’s CLA Game Fair and also to those submitting an application for this year’s event, to be held at Harewood House in Yorkshire from Friday 31 July until Sunday 2 August.

Entrants were asked to submit a piece of art in colour that followed a British countryside theme, was influenced by fieldsports or game and which depicted the essence of CLA Game Fair. Judging of the competition was by CLA Director-General Helen Woolley, CLA Game Fair Director Tony Wall, and PR & Marketing Manager, Charlie Thomas.

Owen’s striking watercolour image of a red grouse in flight, which is a detail from a larger work, was picked as the winner thanks to its drama, movement and its unique ‘splash’ style that differs from his traditional sporting landscapes. It was also chosen thanks to its relevance to the 2015 CLA Game Fair’s location in Yorkshire, which has large populations of red grouse on its heather moorlands.

Owen is highly regarded for his fine and atmospheric watercolours portraying animals and birds such as stags, woodcock, grouse and snipe. He is also director of the Woodcock Network and is well known for his work ringing and tagging woodcock on his site in Wales.

Charlie Thomas, PR & Marketing Manager of the CLA Game Fair, commented: “Owen’s superb image of a flying grouse is a very worthy winner of our cover competition. As well as being absolutely stunning it will also give our show guide immense local relevance.”

Owen Williams added: “Having exhibited my work at the CLA Game Fair for the past 30 years it is a great accolade to have been chosen as winner of the competition and I’m very excited about seeing my work in print. For anyone that wants to see the painting in its original form it will be on display on the Redspot Artists stand, along with other examples of my work and that of my fellow Redspot Artists so do come along and say hello!”

For more details, visit www.gamefair.co.uk