How to get a grant

This is by way of explaining why I'm a bit distracted at the moment.

I'm currently assessing - with others - applications from artists to an art society for some grant funding for very specific projects. 

This is going to take a bit of time....

In a past life, assessing grants - from tiny ones to humungous ones, was part of the seasonal routine of working life. Different sources of funding - for economic and social developments, a range of reasons why grants were available and different aims and objectives for giving out the funds.

There's a more than a few businesses running in London today which I recommended approval of an economic development grant for when they were just starting out. 

The team of people I worked with used to be much loved by central government because we were very good at our jobs. We could always be relied upon to do a robust assessment and make sure all applications had done their homework and got their costings right and had a decent project plan and timeline for delivery - and hence spent the money in the time period they said they would and produced the outcomes and the performance indicators to justify that expenditure. Which is how come we always got the unused funding from other councils to spend on our area. We always kept a list of organisations and projects which could spend more very fast at the end of the year.

There's an art to getting a grant. 

There are things you need to know about what to do - and what not to do.

I can always tell

• those who've made a grant application before; and  
• those who never have; and 
• those who have learned from previous mistakes and know what makes a difference.

It's always a joy to read an application which tells the story simply and clearly and shows the workings in a transparent and comprehensive way. You just know they understand how to make things happen.

Essentially, you need to:

• be specific and focused throughout
• tell them what they want to know i.e. respond precisely to the questions asked in a simple and clear manner 
• provide evidence that you've done your research
• demonstrate you know what's involved 
• justify your costs
• evidence how you've delivered before - and why you're a good prospect

In the past, I've had artists come to me and ask whether I'd cast an eye over their grant application. I'm always delighted to make suggestions and even more delighted when it helps them get their grant. Very often it's about making the writing simpler and easier to understand.

I do what I call "5 minute freebies" for people i.e. I can stop my life and spend 5 minutes in helping you. Or you can ask for more help....

I've been asked to consider doing a talk about the topic of "how to get a grant" next year and will probably do this - to help aspiring grant applicants to do better in future.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on what help you need or you think artists need in making applications for grants and other forms of funding. I'll be highlighting this post on my Facebook Page - and will be inviting comments there.

Review: Episode 3 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 11)

Episode 3 pf Portrait Artist of the Year was an interesting one. I always perk up when the self portraits get bigger!

The Artists with series presenter Stephen Mangan

Episode 3: The Sitters

The sitters for Week 3 were all men aged between 30 and 45 - with short hair! 

I'm beginning to wonder if the strategy for series 11 is big names (Episodes 1 and 3), alternating with less well known names (Episodes 2 and 4?)

Top right: Dan Snow
Bottom left: Stephen Frayne
Bottom right: Layton Williams

"The sitters are all giving good sitting and the artists are responding" Tai

The three sitters were

• Dan Snow (age 45) -  a British popular historian and television presenter. He's done a number of epic projects related to past historical events. He seemed to talk most of the time and was a self-confessed fidgit. His special object was a ship in a bottle.
• Layton Williams (age 30) - an English actor, singer, dancer and musical theatre performer known for playing the role of Stephen Carmichael in the television series Bad Education (2012-2014) and his work in the West End theatre. His first job was at the age of twelve playing the title role in Billy Elliot the Musical in London's West End (2007-2008). More recently he excelled in the 21st series of Strictly Come Dancing and was a runner-up in the final. He wore feathers to the Heat - and some very odd trousers and shoes.  His special item was his vocal steamer. There was general agreement among the Judges and artists that Layton was a fantastic sitter.
• Steven Frayne aka "Dynamo" (age 41) - a British magician born in Bradford, West Yorkshire. His television show Dynamo: Magician Impossible ran from July 2011 to September 2014, and saw him win the Best Entertainment Programme award at the 2012 and 2013 Broadcast Awards. He brough a back of cards inside a bottle with an opening which was smaller than the cards.
  

Episode 3: The Artists

"There's some really good artists in the room today" 

Kathleen Soriano

All the artists are listed below alphabetically by surname - but are not differentiated between professional and amateur. 

• The link to their main 'contact' site is embedded in their name and social media sites follow - if available.
• however this week we have more people with no internet presence for their art. I'm assuming they're all amateurs....?

Still no link to their profiles on this page https://www.skyartsartistoftheyear.tv/portrait-artist-of-the-year/profiles/

Artists having a break after they finished

• Brogan Bertie (Instagram) - He was born in 1995 in South London and is now a painter and leatherworker based in Margate. In 2019, he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Illustration and Visual Media from London College of Communication. He worked in freelance illustration and animation until moving to Margate and training in leatherwork with Cope Studio.His self portrait took him 5 hours - but he's practiced painting a portrait within 4 hours before the heat
• Rachel Chen - She's a dental student from Dublin who trains for triathlons
• Manvir Dobb - She studied Spanish and History before switching to Medicine. Lives in Warwick.
• Bessie Kirkham (Instagram) - an artist and a barista living in London. She studied painting at Goldsmiths BA 2020-23 and was Goldsmiths Painter of the Year 2023. She likes painting in blue and her self portrait took 3 months to paint. (I was slightly confused with this artist when the subtitles decided to make her a barrister!)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bessie (@bessiefranceskirkham)

• Seana McEvoy (Instagram) - a film studies student from Warrenpoint in County Down. BA Fine Art Currently studying MA Production Design at the National Film and Television School. She likes surrealist art and spent 50 hours on her drawing which looks like a very detailed grissaile
• Simon Painter (Instagram) - A former art teacher, (called Mr Painter) who retired in 2021 from Darwen in Lancashire
• Rob Perry (Instagram) - The Director of Art at a prep school in Surrey. His self portrait was painted in oils and took eight hours. He produced a monumental head of Dan!
• Caroline Pool (Facebook | Instagram) - grew up in Bangkok, Thailand before moving to England where she gained her Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at Central St Martin’s, London and her BA (HONS) Illustration degree at Brighton University. After working in set design for feature films throughout her 20’s, Caroline followed her instincts and returned to painting. Now lives and works in South Shropshire and is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters

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A post shared by CAROLINE POOL (@carolinepoolart)

• Ben Wilshaw-Quinn (Instagram) - a traditionally trained artist, whose practice focuses on naturalistic figurative and animal art. He's a Fine Art Graduate from Loughborough University. Lives in Bedford and works for a fine art publisher. He had a portrait exhibited  in the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition in 2023 and was also awarded 3rd prize in the Windsor & Newton Young Artist Award for his self portrait - which is the one he submitted to get into this heat!

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A post shared by Ben Wilshaw-Quinn (@ben_wq)

The Self Portrait Submissions

Van Gogh at the National Gallery - some practical pointers you'll wish you knew before you went

This is about the Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers Exhibition at the National Gallery - from a different perspective.

I'm not going to review the exhibition per se - instead I'm highlighting 

• PRACTICAL ISSUES for those wanting to visit it.
• Plus a little bit about the exhibition - and other reviews
• AT THE END: For those who want to know more about Van Gogh and his drawings and paintings: a LONG list of previous blog posts I've written about Van Gogh on this blog over nearly two decades.

The Practical Issues

The View of the Sunflowers

FACT: Everybody wants to see this exhibition. 

1. Booking is a challenge
2. Queuing to get in is a challenge
3. Navigating the exhibition is a challenge!! Everybody has got a friend or a family member who may be slightly less enthusiastic, doesn't know how to operate in crowded exhibitions and has equal capacity to "get in the way"
4. Getting a cup of tea afterwards is not straightforward!

#1 TIP:  BOOKING - Don't assume you can visit when you want to

This is a VERY popular exhibition which means:

• you can't walk up and buy a ticket
• it's SOLD OUT on very many days and at very many times in the short term future. 
• they're keeping very strict control about how and when tickets are allocated.

The exhibition closes on 19 JANUARY 2025. 

At the moment, tickets are "available" for dates until 8 December 2024 for non-Members. (i.e. at the moment you cannot book for the Christmas Holidays - I'd recommend not visiting at this time in any case.)

EXCEPT the screens indicate they're very nearly booked up for non-Members

November 2024 - almost 100% booked up for all non-members

Tickets are continuing to book up very fast.  

• Mornings are booking up particularly fast (i.e. by the crowd who come to London for the day, see an exhibition, have lunch, do some shopping, go home)
• In general avoid the middle of the day and early afternoon
• If you are flexible, I'd check out the more 'unpopular times'
• In terms of time, allow at least an hour to view the exhibition. If you want to go round twice (which I'd recommend for all serious fans) you need longer
• However you also need to allow at least another hour to get in. (see queuing below)

In terms of times, if you get the option, I'd recommend 

• avoid the middle of the day.
• Note that Sunday does not get booked up as fast as other days.
• Morning is ideal for avoiding all those people who are lingering long from previous entry times

We went Wednesday morning and really enjoyed it. Not overly crowded, no queue and we could spend time looking at each painting. Plenty of seating if needed.

Liz Wyatt

This is the link to BOOKING TICKETS. 

There is a major bonus for all those, like me, who are Friends of the National Gallery.

• it doesn't cost me anything to get in (although the booking process is confusing and the ticket price does not get knocked off until the end when booking)
• I can go more than once. Last weekend I booked to go back on the 10 December early morning
• Tickets are reserved for members

I do NOT recommend booking for 

• children or 
• anybody who is not a dedicated enthuisiast 
• who is also prepared to put up with the booking issues, the queues and the challenges once you get in!

#2 TIP: You'll be in a queue for A VERY LONG TIME

You are NOT going to just walk in just before your entry time.

Review: 61st Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists

The Natural Eye 2024
61st Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists
in the East Gallery of the Mall Galleries

I saw the Annual Exhibition 2024 of the Society of Wildlife Artists in two parts last week - however they were mixed up with blood tests, innoculations, the Van Gogh Exhibition and a rather remarkable exhibition of bronze desert plants in Chelsea.  So my brain was a tad overloaded last week! Which is why this review is rather late!

Also, this week, I'm having problems syncing my photos between iPhone and Macbook and then between Macbook and Facebook.  I've managed to get one album on FB so far - but the photos aren't all in the right order and some are missing - which I find intensely irritating. (If you saw my folder and file structures you'd know why - I'm VERY organised when it comes to photos and documents).

So - mega whinge out of the way - what I did think of the exhibition?

View of the West Gallery

First, a reminder of the SWLA aims which include 

seeks to generate an appreciation of and delight in the natural world through all forms of fine art based on or representing the world’s wildlife.

Through exhibitions and publications of fine art, the Society aims to further an awareness of the importance of conservation in order to maintain the variety of the world’s ecosystems and its wildlife.

As usual, the SWLA Annual Exhibition is possibly the most contemporary of ALL the FBA Societies (and others) exhibiting at the Mall Galleries. 

It includes paintings, drawings, collage, sculpture, original prints and animation! (I'm seeing more and more videos and animation in art shows). The work is of a very high quality and I'd highly recommend all those aspiring to be selected from the open entry and exhibit in the show to view a visit to the exhibition as a MUST DO if they are to get the scope and flavour of the exhibition.

Looking towards the end wall of the West Gallery

The 61st annual exhibition of the SWLA, The Natural Eye is open to the public until 27 October 10am-5pm (closes 1pm final day). 

Please note that the gallery is closed Tuesday 22 October for a private event.

I try to show people what it looks like with my photos. These will be going online just as soon as I can browbeat my devices and software to talk to one another!! Links below.....

Review: Episode 2 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 11)

I've noticed before that Episode 1 of Portrait Artist of the Year is often a very good episode with some strong contenders.

Whereas Episode 2 often seems to bring us back down to earth in terms of the experience and calibre of some of the artists.

Episode 2: The Sitters

I think I'm calling this the entertainment episode. I only knew who the first sitter was and the other two operate in very specialised fields within music. 

The three sitters - as seen in the Heat

The three sitters were

• Cush Jumbo – The brilliant screen and stage actress who had roles in The Good Wife, The Good Fight, and has also delivered performances in West End Theatres winning her Olivier nominations. She was called an artist's dream sitter as she has a very strong persona.
• Baaba Maal – The legendary singer and guitar player who has spread the rich sounds of Senegal across the globe with his soulful voice and powerful storytelling.
• Carly Paoli – A British classical singer with an italian heritage and a voice so heavenly, even Pope Francis called her “the voice of an angel.” She wore an amazing white sheath with a HUGE red train - and then was invited to sing!

Episode 2: The Artists

Artists in Episode 2 - in a group at the beginning of the heat
Their self portraits are behind them.

All the artists are listed below alphabetically by surname - but are not differentiated between professional and amateur. The link to their main 'contact' site is embedded in their name and social media sites follow - if available.

As always I've dug around online, and these profiles provide more information than the programme does.

The mini bio provided in the programme skips over some rather important information about some of the participating artists.

• Tussi Dunstall - an art teacher from Weymouth
• Tamzin Hennessy - a Warwickshire based property developer. Her self-portrait submission was the first she had ever painted.
• Georgie Huxley (Instagram)  - based in East London she is a professional artist
• Lizzie Little (Instagram Art Pistol) - an art and design teacher who lives in Glasgow. She's a graduate in Painting and Printmaking from the Glasgow College of Art. Likes to draw in graphite and has a curious havit of making her marks horizontally. 
• Mick McNicholas (Facebook, Instagram) - an artist and musician who lives and works in Wokingham in Berkshire. He's a member of the Reading Guild of Artists. He studied Art & Design Foundation in his youth, and has an MA in Digital Media. However all his representative art is self-taught. All his artwork is primarily produced by working from life. He's exhibited in various shows.
• Polly Pincott (Instagram) - a full time professional artist based in Oxfordshire. She is a member of the Oxford Art Society and was a shortlisted artist selected to exhibit at the British Art Prize 2023. She made a point of practising in advance.
• Shyem Ramsay (Instagram) - a freelance artist and property developer. He's  a graduate of the University College of London with a 2.1 honours in architecture.  He turned out to be very cheeky in batting his eyelashes (proverbially speaking) asking the two female Judges what they thought he should do next! They didn't give him any help though. He was also a wildcard in Episode 1 ofLandscape Artist of the Year 2024 at Dunnottar Castle, Aberdeenshire (see Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 9 (2024) ). I'm not getting the sense of he's produced a lot of artwork.
• Pierce Rhodes (Instagram) - based in Dublin but currently based in the Netherlands. He is a self taught artist, art teacher (through YouTube tutorials, workshops, and one-on-one sessions) and life model. 
• Yishu Wang (Instagram) - based in London she is an artist, dancer and model. She's a a recent graduate from Goldsmiths MFA Fine Art in 2023. With a BFA training in oil painting from China Academy of Art (2017-2021). She-s participated in a number of exhibitions in China and London.

QUESTION: Why has the the page on the Portrait Artist of the Year website not been updated for the profiles of participaints in Series 11. I think maybe the social media person must have changed and the replacement has not got a proper set of "this is what you have to do" instructions.

I find you can tell an awful lot about an artist by looking at their own art materials that they've brought with them. It's my entertainment from the setting up stage of the show. It also provides an immediate indicator of who is unlikely to do well.

The Self Portrait Submissions