This week, for the fourth episode of
Landscape Artist of the Year the artists are back in the Lake District to paint
Skiddaw which lies just north of Keswick.
This is my review, which covers the location, artists, wildcards, heat paintings, who got shortlisted and who won the heat. Plus the themes I found cropped up throughout the programme.
WARNING: Go and get a cup of tea or coffee and sit down. This is a very long one!- At the bottom of this post you will also find links to my REVIEWS of all previous episodes in Series 11.
- Plus you can find all my REVIEWS of previous LAOTY Series from Series 4 (2018) TO Series 10 (2025) - which ALL have lots of tips - on my Art on Television page.
Episode 4: Skiddaw
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LAOTY 2026: Episode 4 - Skiddaw Fell The wildcards arriving - with Skiddaw in the background aka "Look no houses!" |
Location and Weather
The 931-metre (3,054 ft) summit of Skiddaw is traditionally considered to be the fourth-highest peak and the sixth highest in the UK. Its slopes are grassy towards the bottom and the ridges are covered in ice-shattered scree and stones towards the top. It's located in what are called the Northern Fells
Up until the middle ages, its slopes were covered with a temperate rain forest. The Cumbria Wildlife Trust has an appeal for a 100 year project to help restore the Skiddaw Forest to its slopes
I think they relocated the LAOTY Pods from the edge of Derwent Water to the other side of Crow Park and then turned them around so they were facing the view of Skiddaw above the town of Keswick.
Interestingly Skiddaw actually looks very like Croagh Patrick (to be painted for the Commission) - so this was "the ideal audition". Except it wasn't.....
I'm guessing the pods were located where it was flattest. That's because I was somewhat surprised at the angle of the location. I was expecting them to be more turned towards Skiddaw - on the extreme left in the pic below - instead of being lined up in front of the town of Keswick.
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Wildcards and Pods trees in the foreground, Keswick in the middle ground and then Skiddaw in the background |
This was another very hot day - as happened for the first episode at Derwent Water. I'm not going to repeat all the hot weather recommendations from previous episodes of this series.
Episode 4: The Artists in the Pods
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| Episode 4: The Heat 4 Artists - out of their Pods and waiting to be shortlisted |
- Including a synopsis of their background
- Links to their websites (if they have one) are embedded in their names.
- Social media platforms are also referenced - but typically only one
- Ian Dowding - a former chef / restaurateur from East Sussex who is a self taught artist, painting in acrylics. (no social media relating to art that I can find)
- Stephanie Euphemia (Instagram) - a professional artist from Shropshire. She's a landscape artist who specialises in oil painting en plein air - and has exhibited in various art galleries in England. She's also a former tennis player who gave up a corporate career to become an artist. She brought her daughter to the heat.
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| Stephanie and her mini-me |
I had such an incredible experience meeting the judges, painting alongside the other artists (and my miniature artist who decided she wanted to get in on the action) and loved seeing all of the different artistic interpretations of the Skiddaw Mountains.
- Amelia Hemmings (Instagram) - From Oxfordshire, she is a linocut printmaker who mainly demonstrates (outdoors!) and exhibits in the border country between the west Midlands and Wales. She produces linocut, monotype & monoprint exploring landscape & memory. She works from direct experience of landscape. Walking in remote places is central to her practice, shaping both the subject matter and the way the work is made. As a result of being selected, Amelia very sensibly got herself some decent PR coverage in Oswestry Life (page 38). Plus this is her blog post about her day spent filming LAOTY. Kathleen thought her outdoor studio to be very well organised!
- Alison Paterson Mars - a local farmer, Alison lives and works in the rural, rolling, windswept and little known farming country of the Solway, between the high hills of the northern Lake District and the enclosing Cumbrian coast. She produces expressionistic paintings using dramatic colours. She exhibits in and around the Lake District/Cumbria. She comments on her website as follows...
It was the hottest day of the year. There were 8 of us artists who were given a pod to work in, there were also 50 others -‘ the wildcards’ who had to fend for themselves, and sit out in the sun, We’d to be there for 7am and it was after 7pm when I left, so it was a long day. Everyone had a brilliant time and we were well looked after.
- Cathy Pearce (Instagram) -a professional landscape painter from Wiltshire. She has been working in pastels for the last 13 years. As she says, there can be more pure pigment in a pastel than in oil paint. She had an article about Achieving Vibrancy in Pastels in The Artist magazine last year. I was very pleasued to have it confirmed that she was using Unison Pastels - which are made in Northumberland and are my pastel of choice too! I bought my first sets in the Lake District! Plus Clairefontaine Pastelmat. I've had my eye on her very striking submission (in the introduction image) from the beginning of this series. I'd wondered if it was pastels and if they were Unison! She has artwork currently exhibited in The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries (link is to the photo in the FB Album of her artwork!) Plus this is her explanation as to how.
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Yay - I found a pic of the Unison Pastels!! I've got all those boxes too! |
- Scott Simpson (Instagram) He was born in Aberdeen and has Scots Singaporean heritage. He graduated from Grays School of Art at Robert Gordon University. He is an award-winning painter now based in Alloa, Scotland. His drawings and paintings are, at the fundamental level, based on nature and seeing the world at a walking pace. He has exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, Society of Scottish Artists and Aberdeen Artist Society on several occasions. This is an interview with him.
- Dan West (Instagram) - Dan, age 24, is an emerging artist from Teddington who currently works full time in the marketing, branding and graphic design of events. He attended Esher College before studying marketing at the University of Portsmouth. He first appeared on LAOTY as a wildcard when he was 22. He works in graphite and coloured pencils. His artwork is a leisure time activity but goes way beyond the normal standard of leisure artists - particularly in relation to composition which is very good. He also does album cover designs for musicians.
His main body of work focuses on the relationship between people and their environment, finding stories in every day life. Dan's work varies in size and material, with a consistent eye for narrative. (his website)
- Chris Wright (Instagram) - He's an art teacher who has spent the last 25 years teaching art. He likes American Realism and uses strong shadows. He partocularly likes painting caravans! His artwork has been exhibited around the country. In 2025, it was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, The Royal Academy and The Royal West of England. There's a very good interview / explanation by Chris of this time on the show on his website
This was one of the most surreal experiences of my life and it is quite the memory to look back on. I’ve watched the show with my family for years and to have the opportunity to compete on it alongside a group of passionate and inspiring artists was amazing.
