THIS year's winner of the Young Art Critics competition, run by The Westmorland Gazette and Abbot Hall Art Gallery, is Rhiannon Hunter, 17. She is a Sixth Form art student at Dallam School, Milnthorpe, who wrote the winning critique of the Celia Paul: Paintings and Etchings exhibition.

As the winner, Rhiannon gets published in print (see below) and online (see web address at top of page), has a day of work place experience with Abbot Hall and Westmorland Gazette staff, and receives a copy of the catalogue signed by the artist herself.

2004 Young Art Critics Online winning critique by Rhiannon Hunter, Dallam School, Milnthorpe: Stillness' - an appropriate name for a reflective and personal exhibition.

As I walked into the airy space of the Abbot Hall Art Gallery I was conscious of a tingling of trespassing into someone's private diary of experiences and emotions. Celia Paul's work captures an intimate quality through the honesty of her observations.

Like Lucian Freud she not only delves into a painter's palette to recreate what is in front of her but she appears to encapsulate the sitter's thoughts and mood. The 54 works in the exhibition focus on a select number of friends and family, in particular her mother. I like the way she does not beautify her, yet the affectionate bond is clear.

In My Mother and God' the thick layering of oil paint, reminiscent of Auerbach, depicts her mother sitting quietly, appearing small and lost in thought against the towering dark background. Paul's choice of colour is selective, shades of grey, pinks and blues that give a sense of age and permanency to the paintings. In her later works a recurring window frame suggests not only reflection but looking to a future.

Her Soft Ground Etchings cannot be ignored either, such as Alice by the Sea', a snapshot glimpse of a moment in time while others have a quality of storybook illustrations.

This is Celia Paul's first solo exhibition in the UK and is a great opportunity to see yet another distinguished artist at Abbot Hall. The exhibition runs until 26th of June 2004.