Narrabundah artist Harriet Mitchell wins Young Archies

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Narrabundah artist Harriet Mitchell wins Young Archies

By Daisy Dumas and Clare Colley

Canberra painter Harriet Mitchell hasn't even started art school yet, but when she does later this year she'll do so with a national prize already under her belt.

The 19-year-old from Narrabundah took out the 16-18 years category in the Young Archies – the third annual prize for artists aged five to 18 years running concurrently with the Archibald Prize.

Young Archie winner Harriet Mitchell with sister Romy.

Young Archie winner Harriet Mitchell with sister Romy.Credit: Melissa Adams

The prize comes at the end of Mitchell's working gap year before she begins at the National Arts School in Darlinghurst, Sydney next semester.

"It hasn't sunk in," she said, with her subject, six-year-old sister Romy, nearby on Saturday.

Harriet Mitchell's winning portrait of her six-year-old sister Romy.

Harriet Mitchell's winning portrait of her six-year-old sister Romy.

"I never know when my work is good or bad. I saw the Young Archies last year and thought they were amazing, I wouldn't have been surprised if my painting hadn't even been accepted."

In her artist's statement for Romy, Harriet wrote: "This is Romy, my six-year-old sister. She is always chatting and rarely sits still. I wanted to paint her in a rare moment of stillness to contrast her loud and bright personality."

The four age-category winners, chosen from 1284 entries, were judged on merit and originality and announced at the Art Gallery of NSW on Saturday afternoon.

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Two-time Archibald Prize winning artist and Young Archie judge Del Kathryn Barton said choosing a winner from each age group had been "agonising".

Michael Brand, director of the gallery, said the winning paintings stood out for their "vibrancy, colour and energy".

It was Mitchell's first time entering the Young Archie competition; she hopes to enter the Archibald Prize next year.

After taking art classes from the age of six, Mitchell now works as a teacher at the Lavender Art Studios in Phillip.

Some 65,000 people have already seen the young finalists' paintings which hang as part of the Archibald Prize exhibition at the gallery until September 27, 2015.

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