This review of Episode 4 of Series 5
Sky Arts Landscape of the Year is rather later than I had planned having been sideswiped by my errant iPad Pro which managed to go missing at Terminal 3 of Heathrow Airport when I was flying out to the USA last month. It popped up online and then needed retrieving from Lost Property - and that was the day I'd planned to do this post!
I have to say
I found this episode somewhat disappointing. I'm not sure whether it was artists not used to painting plein air or the nature of the day or what - but much of the art produced was actually very disappointing.
However I am even more convinced that one of the key criteria for the shortlist selection is the extent to which the painting produced in the heat have some sort of relationship with the one submitted at the Call for Entries stage.
In other words if the two paintings don't look like they were painted by the same painter, there may be no point in entering!
The Location
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| Pods in front of Herstmonceux Castle and its moat |
Heat 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year at
Herstmonceux Castle morphed into Episode 4 of Series 5.
One of the contestants wished that the pods had been pitched further away from the red brick crenellated castle - and I agree. So did Kathleen - she commented that the view was almost too close.
We had too much full on castle and not enough reflection on a building within a setting - and not a lot of scope to include the water because they were too close to the edge of the moat.
It was clear from the filming from above on a sunny day that it looked very different when there was good light.
I wonder if the person pitching the pods knows anything about how artists size up a view - or what happens to a subject when the light is bad.
The weather
They didn't have the rain of Heat 1/Episode 2 at the nearby observatory. Instead
they had
- a very grey sky with no light arriving to enhance the subject - a lot of brick castle and some greenery
- and WIND! Paintings were taking off from the easels!
The light issue turned into the key factor that Tai wanted addressed in this heat. How were they going to tackle the fact that the day was grey and the light was no helping them.
The Artists
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| Artists in their pods - waiting for the start |
In the listing of participating artists below you will find links included to :
- the artist's website - embedded in their name - for those wanting to know the standard of work by artists who get selected
- their social media - which follows - should you wish to follow them
- blog posts written about the day - IF they've written one
Seven Professional Artists
- Satdeep Grewal (Facebook | Instagram) - Born and raised in London, Satdeep now lives in Hampshire where she exhibits, produces painting commissions, and delivers art workshops. Describes herself as 'British artist painting chaos/science/nature'.
- Gary Jeffrey (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter) - Gary seems to live in south west London. he's painted a lot over the course of 15 years - for 10 years after college in the 1980s-90s; then a break of 16 years (four years in retail and 12 as a layout designer in children's publishing) and back to painting in 2015. He always works from life and really enjoys plein air painting. He's a gallery artist at the Riverside Gallery in Barnes and also sells paintings from his website. I'm just really surprised I've not seen his paintings more in the open exhibitions of the FBA societies based at the Mall Galleries. He's a natural for at least three of them! I like the way he holds his brush.
- Ian Leaver (Facebook | Instagram | Etsy) - Brighton based mural artist with a penchant for vintage movie posters
My nightmares were vivid and frequent.
Terrible weather, no light, impossible subject and worst of all, a disastrous outcome.
Some of my fears were realised, but do you know what? I had a bloody good time on the day and I’d definitely do it all again. Sarah Manolescue
- Fatma Ummanel (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter) - The youngest participant - age 25. Fatima is a Graduate with a BA Fine Art: Painting and Drawing, MA Fine Art and MA Art Psychotherapy (Trainee)
- Colin Watson (Facebook | Courses website) - Colin lives and works in Belfast and teaches painting in Morocco. He uses a home made blend of treated oils - incorporating a wax medium. He mixes his colours on the canvas. He has held seven solo exhibitions in London, at John Martin Gallery, the Pym’s Gallery and at Simon Dickinson Fine Art, as well as in Dublin, Northern Ireland and Morocco. In October 2008, Colin was invited by HRH The Prince of Wales to accompany him on the Royal Tour of Japan, Brunei and Indonesia, as his official Tour Artist. He has also exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, the Royal Ulster Academy and the Royal Hibernian Academy, winning awards at the latter two. He's had portrait paintings accepted for the BP Portrait Prize Exhibition, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibitions and at the Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries.
- Issy Wingham (Instagram) - Issy is a professional artist based in Norfolk. She graduated with a BA (Hons) Illustration degree from Norwich University of the Arts. She mainly creates drawings of the beautiful North Norfolk coast and surrounding villages - and sells digital prints of her work via Etsy.
One Amateur Artist
- Russell Ashcroft ( Instagram ) - describes himself as a permanent student
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| the artists - after they had finished |
I continue to be surprised as to who gets into which category of artist.
There again one can debate the label "professional" at length. I think maybe Sky Arts need to provide them with a bit more help in terms of what is an amateur artist and what is a professional artist. Or why not just call them all artists since the categorisation has become so very meaningless.
Indeed, very often, those painting as wildcard entrants sometimes produce much more interesting paintings than those in the pods. There again - that's probably because they include quite a few professional painters trying to get noticed!
50 Wildcard Artists
Just look at the amount of stuff which the wildcards bring with them!
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| Wildcards lugging their gear out to.... |
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....the orchard where the wildcard artists were situated for the duration.
More about trees than castle which can be just be seen peeping out behind the trees in the background |
Tip to the Editors of the programme - we can tell who is going to win the wildcard from the beginning!
Themes and Learning Points
Those who are regular readers will know that I offer up my comments on what I see as being the main themes of the episode - and try not to repeat those comments made in previous episodes. If you want to see a summary of what I came up with last year have a read of
Learning Points from Landscape Artist of the Year 2018 - a summary
What to do when it's a grey day with bad lighting
