Review: Episode 3 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

Apologies for the late publication of my review of Episode 3 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2026. This is not one of my better reviews for a variety of reasons.

I had a few distractions last week 

• Tuesday: Met with Commissioning Editor of a reputable publisher and got commissioned to write a second art book, of which more in due course - but I'm excited and had started jotting things down - which was a major distraction - before...
• Wednesday: got up very early to escort my other half partner for his surgery - and then got sent back home because of no bed;
• Thursday: an excruciating pain developed in the back of my neck (fracture from recent fall or cervical spondylosis?) which painkillers did not dampen down. The only thing that worked was an Icepack - tied on with a scarf! So I went looking for solutions.... which lost a day... plus did a 111 assessment and got a GP appointment and had a very bad night's sleep despite trying every pain medication! 
• Friday: Saw the GP - discussed what it might be; got an appointment for an x-ray and appointment with normal GP for next week. PLUS I developed a very "wet nose" sneezy cold - presumably caught from sitting around in crowded hospitals and GP surgeries!
• Very tired all through Friday and Saturday.

Anyway, so now on to what was supposed to be one of the intended brightspots of the week - my review of Episode 3 of PAOTY Series 13.

I sneezed constantly through writing most of this....

PAOTY Episode 3

"A little bit of judging"

This is my review of Episode 3 which covers:

• the three sitters
• the nine artists
• self-portrait submissions
• themes arising in the episode
• who the sitters chose
• the shortlist for a place in the semi-finals of PAOTY 2026
• the winner

Episode 3: The Sitters

The Aberfan Portraits

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster in South Wales. 

A colliery spoil tip soaked by rain collapsed down a hillside. Around 150,000 tonnes of wet slurry crashed into the village of Aberfan. The Pantglas Junior School was directly in its path and was buried. In total 116 children and 28 adults were killed in the Junior School, part of the neighbouring Secondary School and a nearby row of houses. It happened at 9.15am and no survivors were found after 11am.

A new BBC programme "Unseen: The Aberfan Portraits" tells the story of how paintings were created of some of the children who were lost. (see below for how to watch it)

An artist called William Richardson worked in North Wales, Llandudno, sketching visitors on holiday and celebrities. He was greatly affected by what had happened. He very much wanted to help the families who has lost children. Which is how he came to paint their portraits from family photos. In all he painted about a 100 portraits.

Some of the portraits of Aberfan children lost in the disaster
painted by William Richardson

The paintings were not small, as these extracts from the BBC film illustrate

Jeanette Keane - with the portrait of her sister Edwina

Denise Morgan with her portrait of her younger sister Annette

Importantly, the portraits recreated the children within the family home and enabled people to talk about them - and to them - again.

They are now being passed down to the generations or donated to local museums so that this important record of their existence ensures they will never be forgotten.

I don't know if William Richardson was ever honoured for what he did - but I rather think he should have been.

You can watch the programme about the portraits on BBC iPlayer - Unseen: The Aberfan Portraits

I remember the disaster really well. At the time I was 12, just a few years older than the children who were killed. I'll never ever forget the shock of seeing the television news and the Junior School which was submerged and destroyed by the coal slurry. Inside it were 116 children who never made it out alive.

Pantglas Junior School
and the efforts to retrieve the bodies of the living and the dead

The Pros and Cons of Online Exhibitions for Art Societies (ref. SOFA Winter Exhibition)

Many moons ago, just after I'd taken early retirement, I had the pleasure of exhibiting with the Society of Feline Artists at the Llewellyn Alexander Gallery on The Cut, near to both the Old Vic and Waterloo Station in London. Unfortunately, although SOFA exhibited very happily there for 25 years, that gallery "shut up shop" a while back. Since then they've tried a number of alternative venues - and online exhibitions.

The Society of Feline Artists has been exhibiting paintings, drawings, sculpture and other feline-inspired artwork since our very first exhibition in 1995.

This is about SOFA's new Winter Exhibition (17th October - 15th November) - which is not in a gallery, it's ONLINE. 

AND It's a very different kind of review given it's very much focused on

• pros and cons of online exhibitions 
• what you must do when selling art online 
• the legal and regulatory compliance side of online exhibitions selling art

I'm seeing art societies do more and more online art exhibitions - with art for sale. 

I do wonder if all those organising know all the questions they need to ask re what they need to do.

"Welcome to the SOFA Online Exhibition" on the website

This post will comment on:

• viewing the SOFA exhibition 
• Pros and Cons of Online Exhibitions
• savings for the art society!
• buying the art
• selling the art 
• plus Trading, Ecommerce, Money Laundering, VAT and GDPR Regulations

My comments are largely focused on helping SOFA (or any other art societies aiming to sell via online exhibitions) to be more effective and completely legal.

Below is one of my artworks which was exhibited at SOFA many years ago! - of my cat Cosmo (who passed away 10 years ago + more drawings of him). 

It now hangs opposite where I'm sat writing this.

I spy a spider

12" x 8", coloured pencils

selected for SOFA Annual Exhibition 2008 

at the Llewellyn Alexander Galleries

copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Artworks

Let's not forget that very many famous artists loved drawing and painting their cats! Never ever "sniff" at somebody who mainly draws and paint cats!

Leonardo da Vinci famously sketched cats in various postures and movements across his notebooks, marveling at their anatomical balance, agility, and grace.

The artwork in every SOFA Exhibition celebrates cats - and if you're a cat fan, you'll LOVE looking at the artwork on this website. Subject matter includes both domestic felines and wild / big cats and the art media and styles are various and diverse.

We are thrilled to showcase an incredible collection of feline-inspired artwork, celebrating cats of all shapes, sizes, and personalities. From bold digital paintings to cozy traditional sketches

• There are 125 artworks in the show. That's about a third of the number exhibited by the bigger national art societies at the Mall Galleries. It's enough to need a large space - but maybe not enough to make the budgeting easy.
• The artwork is by more than 50 artists, who work in a variety of media, from oils and watercolour to pencil and printmaking.

The SOFA Winter Exhibition

Review: Episode 2 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

PAOTY 2026 Episode 2 Artists with self portraits

The Sitters for the Second Episode of Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 were Louis Theroux, Anthony Scaramucci and Joanna Scanlon and one of them made it to the shortlist twice - while another missed out!

This is my review of Episode 2 which covers:

• the artists
• the sitters
• self-portrait submissions
• themes arising in the episode
• who the sitters chose
• the shortlist
• the winner

PAOTY Episode 1

Episode 2: The Sitters

Two of the sitters
Anthony Scarramucci and Joanna Scanlon

Unlike the first episode, the three sitters had very diverse backgrounds and occupations. All are aged above 50 so a generally more relaxed set of sitters.

• Louis Theroux (age 56) is a presenter and BBC documentary maker of some renown. His programmes - often about odd people or organisations - have won him three BAFTAs and a Royal Television Society Television Award. Somebody gave him some very bad advice about what to bring.
• Anthony Scarramucci's claim to fame is he briefly served (11 days) as Trump's  White House communications director in 2017. Age 64, he started out working at Goldman Sachs - ininvestment banking, equities, and private wealth management - before going on to found his own investment firm and subsequently write a number of books. Since April 2024, I've been listening to him as one half of "The Rest is Politics US Edition" podcast with Katty Kay - and he's very good!
• Joanna Scanlon (age 65) is a British actress and writer. She's had a number of nominations for various awards and won a BAFTA for best actress in a leading role in 2020. I remember her best as a completely pivotal person in "The Thick of It" which satirised the inner workings of government, which used to be much appreciated by those of us who'd been in there!

Episode 2: The Artists

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Maggie McManus (@maggiemcmanusart)

Left to right: Nasha Cash, Alice Parsloe, Maggie Macmanus, Mackenzy Beard, Andrea Broug, Joshua Obichere, Sam Reeves, Joanna Houghton, Jake Fern.

The artists, in alphabetical order, are:

• Makenzy Beard (Instagram) (Linkedin)(age 19) from Swansea in South Wales, her appearance on the programme got her a spot on her local BBC News programme. She is an established Welsh portrait artist who earned international recognition from a very young age. Age 14, she started painting in the garden shed during Covid lockdown. Next she had work accepted for the RA Summer Exhibition. Recently she has worked with a gallery in Cardiff where she has held multiple sellout solo-exhibitions and raised over £45k for charity since her painting journey began. Her work has also been featured in The Times, BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, ITV News, Sky News with Alastair Stewart, The Times Radio. She became a professional artist, in September 2025, while having a gap year after her A Levels. She also plans to do a philosophy degree.
• Andrea Broug (Instagram) (age 18) - A sixth form student, currently sitting her "A" Levels. Now based in London, she is a former student of North Halifax Grammar School. She likes to explore cultural identity, familial bonding, and historical representations of skin tones and Black history in painting
• Nasha Cash - she is a Sheffield born, multi-disciplinary artist and illustrator who’s spent the last decade living and working in Manchester. She does "Live Painting and Murals" and "Speed Portraiture for Events". She's worked with a number of clients to create works for many different projects, campaigns and events.
• Jake Fern (Instagram)- a British portrait and landscape artist living and working in Saltdean, Brighton, England. He usually works from life and on commission re. portraits. BELOW Eva Langret was asking a question (in true Socratic method - designed to stimulate creative thinking) rather than giving tips! This is a link to a very interesting interview with him by "Artists and Illustrators"

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jake Fern (@jake_fern_art)

• Joanna Houghton (Instagram)- an artist based in Manchester. Originally from North Wales, Joanna graduated from Manchester School of Art with a degree in Illustration in 2012. Her submission was a very small drawing of her one year old in coloured pencils.
• Maggie McManus (Instagram) - Originally from Leeds, now living in Manchester, teaching secondary Art full time and painting. She describes herself as an art teacher, artist and mother.
• Joshua Obichere (Instagram) - from East London. MA Fine Art, Fine/Studio Arts, General from Central St. Martins. Master of Education - MEd from Cambridge University. Full time Artist and Art Educator passionate about creativity, art for race and social justice. He runs workshops as one half of an art duo. He talked very confidently about his process of using grout and oil paints to create portraits. Jonathan Yeo commented he was one of the most original artists in terms of the materials he was using. He paints by icing the outline in grout.
• Alice Parsloe (Instagram) - an artist and former actor based in North London. She now freelances as a voiceover artist. She works with oil pastels on cardboard.
• Sam Reeves (Instagram, Facebook) - a Fine Art student studying at Liverpool Hope University, who specialises in realistic portraiture of people and pets. He works primarily in oil paint. He's due to graduate in June 2027. He's participated in a number of exhibitions. This was his self portrait The Gridded Self

Self Portrait Submissions

Judges viewing the self portrait submissions.

Review: "Future Ruins" by Michael Landy at the Sir John Soane Museum

It was my very great pleasure yesterday to meet former "Young British Artist" Michael Landy RA. He is an amazing draughtsman who is justly renowned for his meticulous drawings

As I'm a huge fan of drawing, I've always very much enjoyed his series of etchings of weeds titled "Nourishment" - which I've been to see in the Archive of Tate Britain.

This series was created immediately after and maybe in response to possibly his most famous work. His major 2001 installation work Breakdown — saw all 7,227 of his personal possessions being destroyed in the windows of the defunct C&A store on London's Oxford Street - after which he was left with nothing.

In the series Nourishment (2002) the overlooked city weeds were collected from city pavements.

They served as personal metaphors for resilience, survival, and finding life in hostile urban environments. (see also Nourishment (2024) at the Thomas Dane Gallery which includes weeds collected from the streets of Naples).

That's by way of a very long preamble and introduction to his current work....

Future Ruins

His series "Future Ruins" imagines what some iconic buildings might look like in future after an event which left them in ruins. 

For anybody who likes drawing and/or architecture or both, I'd highly recommend you pay a visit ot the Sir John Soane Museum in Lincoln's In Fields.

The exhibition features new and recent work which is shown in the context of the art that first inspired Landy to create the series.

A work from the museum’s collection - Joseph Michael Gandy’s watercolour Architectural Ruins - A Vision (1798) - commissioned by Sir John Soane and depicting the then-Bank of England as a Roman ruin was an inspiration for Landy. Now this work will be displayed alongside the artist’s own imagining of a future filled with overgrown nature and crumbling structures.

The vast majority of the drawings of imaginary future ruins. Some are drawings done of existing ruined buildings.

The scope of buildings includes everything from the Bank of England, to the art shop where he used to buy his art materials and his old home in Ilford to Mar A Largo and Kanye West's house in Malibu at 24844 Malibu Road - which oddly was one of the houses which burned during the bad Californian fires last year.

Imaginary view of The Bank of England in ruins (2023)

after Joseph Michael Gandy
signed titled verso indelible pen
permanent pen on paper
76 x 56.1 cm. 30 x 22 in.