Review: Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

Making A Mark has been reviewing episodes of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year every year since Series 4. 

This is my review of Episode 5 of Series 13 of Portrait Artist of the Year (2026). This was actually Heat 1 in terms of the filming at Battersea.

Episode 5 Artists with their Self Portraits
L to R: Ruth Fitton, Shyem Ramsay, Jacob Skinnard, Amy Zhou, Rafaela De Ascenio, 
Leo Bignell, Sophie Cleave, Sara Netherley and Rickie Niehaus

It follows my standard format, 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
• the sitters for the next episode.

First a quick update on my "broken neck". After the shock horrors of early last week, I have since spent several hours (and hours and hours) in the Royal London A&E trying to get two flexion X-rays of my neck, as requested by the neurosurgeons, to check whether I did indeed have two fractures of the cervival (neck) part of my spine. I finally got the X-rays on Monday - but still haven't got the results! I'm currently taking pain medication on a routine programmed into my Apple watch! I personally think it's more likely I've got collapsing cervical vertebrae from my galloping osteoarthritis. The word "degeneration" has been used more than once!

Episode 5: The Sitters

Left: Rylan Clark and
Right: Jamie Lloyd who had pink paper "blossom"
descending on him throughout the sitting.

The three artists (and a dog) all seemed to be very well behaved!

They are:

• Rylan Clark - an English television and radio personality and presenter, well known for his participation in the X factor (2012) and Celebrity Big Brother. He subsequently became a very popular presenter of a number of high profile programmes for various tv channels. (I personally thought he was very unlucky not to get the Strictly gig and his is the name most mentioned to remedy the current levels of dissatisfaction with the male new Judges!)
• Alison Balsam OBE - a retired professional trumpet soloist from 2001-2025. She is an arranger, producer, and music educator. Balsom was awarded Artist of the Year at the 2013 Gramophone Awards and has won three Classic BRIT Awards. She has also participated in a number of activities in the music world. She's married to the film director Sir Sam Mendes (making her Lady Mendes). She brought her dog to the sitting.

Alison Balsom and her dog plus trumpet!

• Jamie Lloyd - a British theatre director and producer. He is a prominent figure within contemporary British theatre and has won many awards and accolades. He is a proponent of affordable theatre for young and diverse audiences, and has been praised as "redefining West End theatre". In 2025, British Vogue labelled him as “one of the most celebrated theatre directors in the world” and Time Out described him as “the biggest director in the world.” In terms of appearance he is covered in tattoos - including across his bald head.

Episode 5: The Artists

What I always find interesting when doing this section is finding out who is following these artists. 

When reviewing their Instagram accounts, I'm looking to see if they have people following them who are 

• well known portrait artists that I am following (via my Making A Mark Instagram) 
• or artists that I have already identified as worth following having encountered their artwork in exhibitions I've been to.

I'm also always very impressed by artists who have been following me BEFORE I look them up online!! :) There again, quite a few tell me they find these reviews very helpful. 

THE ARTISTS, in alphabetical order, are:

Do charcoal drawings hang in National Portrait Galleries?

There's a fair few artists who would like to see portraiture embrace a wide range of media for portraits. 

If you, as an individual, are commissioning a portrait then you ca choose the artist you want and the media you would prefer it to be done in. For example, as an ex dry media artist (who used coloured pencils and pastels + pen and ink), I'd probably want mine in dry media.

This is about:

• considerations for commissions of charcoal artwork by National Portrait Galleries
• examples of charcoal drawings 
• in the collection of the NPG
• hung on display in the NPG

Considerations for Commissions by National Portrait Galleries

However, if you are commissioning for an important collection eg a National Portrait Gallery you might encounter a few more considerations relating to hanging, movement and conservation. 

This became a point of discussion on my Facebook Page following publication of my review of Review: Episode 4 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 which was won by Manny Woodard. 

Two portraits by Manny Woodard - displayed in Final of
Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2026
(left) Self portrait submission (right) portrait of actress Arti Shah

After the discussion, I took a look at the actual collection of charcoal artworks in the National Portrait Gallery.

Charcoal artwork in the National Portrait Gallery Collection

Here are a few facts

• there are over 220,000 artworks in the collection - dating from the 8th century to the present day
• of these, only 118 are in charcoal
• of these, only 4 are on display.

Which Media wins PAOTY?

The following is a query from my post on Facebook about my review of PAoTY Episode 4 2026

Does this mean the artists are prejudged and precluded from winning by their chosen medium?
Esme Roberts

I decided to go through those who have won and look at the media which has helped them win. To date we have had 

• Oils x 7
• Acrylics / Mixed media x 2(?)
• Charcoal x 1
• Coloured Pencils x 1
• Monochrome Print x 1

Traditional oil paint remains the most dominant winning medium - but Judges have also awarded the win to artists using other media.

However note, from the details below, that not all continue to use their primary media for the £10,000 Commission Portrait. I'm guessing this, in part, depends on which institution the commission is for.

(Note: it remains a mystery as to whether the £10,000 first prize is paid by Sky Arts or the institution. However it's a not untypical artist's fee for a decent size portrait by a portrait artist of repute.)

LINKS BELOW are to 

• either the artist's website 
• or my reviews of the episodes (which started at the end of Series 3)

Media used by PAOTY Winners

Series 1 Nick Lord used Acrylic, Spray Paint, Oil Pastel, Paint Markers on Canvas (?)

• Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC in the Final and Sophie Dahl as his commission
• painted Hilary Mantel for his Commission using  as his commission for the British Library

Series 2: Christian Hook painted 

• Sir Ian McKellen in the National Portrait Gallery and boxer Amir Khan as his commission
• his commission was to paint Alan Cumming for the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland

The internet (but not his website) tells me that he paints using a mix of acrylics, water-based oils, traditional oils, and mixed media.

Waiting to hear who has won, Christian Hook in the middle

Series 3: Gareth Reid used Nitram Charcoal and red Pastel in the Final. He won with a portrait of Tom Courtenay and a Commission painting of The Hon. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb His commission was of Graham Norton and was for the National Gallery of Ireland - so he switched to oils for that.

Series 3 Final Portraits of Sir Tom Courtenay
and the Commission (The Hon. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb)
Nitram Charcoal and pastel
by Gareth Reid

Series 4 Samira Addo won with 

• oil on canvas portraits of Emili Sande and a Finals Commission Zandra Rhodes, the fashion designer for the Fashion and Textile Museum. 
• She then did a portrait of Kim Cattrall (oil on canvas) for the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool

portraits of Zandra Rhodes and Emili Sande
by Samira Addo

Series 5: Duncan Shoosmith won with 

• portraits painted in oils on boards of Laura Linney (in the Final) and Dame Cleo Laine (commission for the Final). 
• He then painted Sir Tom Jones in oils for the £10k Commission

Paintings in the competition by Duncan Shoosmith (left to right) Self Portrait, Jodie Comer, Laura Linney (in the Final) Courtney Pine, Dame Cleo Laine (Commission for the Final)

Series 6: Christobel Blackburn won with oil on linen portraits of Lemn Sissay and a Commission Portrait of Nile Rogers, for the Royal Albert Hall
(She won just as Covid was starting - and somehow I missed doing a blog post re the final and the Commission)

Portraits of Lemn Sissay and her Final Commission

Series 7: Curtis Holder won with coloured pencil portraits of Eddie Izard. He also did a £10k Commission portrait of Carlos Acosta

Review: Episode 4 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

PAOTY Episode 4

As usual, this review of Episode 4 follows my standard format, 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
• the sitters for the next episode.

The Arti Shah "Cheese" (what they call one of the segments)
- before she chooses which finished artwork to take home.

This post is a bit later again this week due to four days this week spent connecting my neck with the NHS. Those who follow on Facebook will know what I'm talking about!

Yesterday I was supposed to have two more "flexion" X-rays (to be absolutely 100% sure I've not broken my neck in two places!) but that didn't happen due to a paperwork cockup. Then this morning phone calls with neurosurgery sorting it out - and they phoned me! The end is in sight - hopefully tomorrow.....

Episode 4: The Sitters

To me they all seemed to be very good sitters, staying remarkably still.

The sitters were:

• Danny Beard - a British drag performer and singer who won the fourth series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. He has also appeared on other popular television reality tv competitions and tends to do reasonably well. 

Danny Beard - in drag

• Arti Shah -  a person of reduced stature (she's just four feet tall) who is an actress and motivational speaker with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. Her most recent roles has involved starring as Paddington in Paddington: The Musical in London’s West End - which won Best New Musical at the Laurence Olivier Awards in April 2026. She's also very active in the world of Creature FX where she with prosthetics, movement reference, and motion capture.to bring creatures to life.

Manny Woodard meeting Arti Shah for the first time

• Yalda Hakim - an Afghan-born Australian broadcast journalist who grew up in Sydney and worked for Australian TV before moving to the BBC and subsequently Sky News as Lead World News presenter. She is also a documentary maker. She is a specialist in Middle Asia and is a fluent speaker in 5 languages: English, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, and Pashto - and she's learning Mandarin. She's the daughter of Afghan refugees and her special object was a bowl made of lapis lazuli - which comes from Afghanistan, which was wonderful to see.

Episode 4: The Artists

three of the artists - Sammy, Suzanne and Luke
talking with their sitter - Danny Beard

There is a profile of the artists on the PAOTY website. Below you get a mini profile of each artist which is missing from that page.

THE ARTISTS, in alphabetical order, are:

• Sammy Alam (Instagram) - a fashion student from Montreal, Quebec, Canada now based in London. He completed his Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Central St Martins in 1925.
• Suzanne Barton (Instagram) - A former author and illustrator of children's books based in Oxford. She has done classes with the Art Students League (New York),  Sunningwell School of Art, and Heatherleys. She became interested in oil painting in 2021. Her submission for this competition was her first ever self portrait.
• Oliver Bedeman (Instagram) - a contemporary figurative painter who specialises in portraiture and reverse oil painting on glass. He is based in Oxfordshire and works primarily from life and also as an art teacher. He graduated from the University of Brighton in 2007 with a B.A (Hons) Fine Art Painting. Followed by the Postgraduate Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School. He has been successful in being selected for leading awards eg Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (See my two posts about "Artists with their Paintings" in 2018 and 2024). Prior to this he was selected for The Threadneedle Prize in 2016 and 2018. His track record to date suggests to me he will, in due course, be approved for membership of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

Oliver Bedeman - with his self portrait (reverse oil painting on glass)
outside Battersea Arts Centre where PAOTY heats are filmed

• Harry Garner (Instagram) - Now based in Liverpool, he was Born in rural Leicestershire into a multi-generational farming family, he left the family farm to study Fine Art & Art History at the Liverpool School of Creative and Performing Arts, graduating with First Class Honours in 2019. He is now 
• Svetlana Kornilova (Instagram) A Russian artist who now lives in London. She studied art in Russia.  
• Luke McKenzie (Instagram) - an artist and writer based in Newcastle - with a BA (Hons) Fine Art (2024) from Newcastle University. His artwork is inspired by the high renaissance and explores themes of queer martyrdom. He is very used to painting drag queens. He very definitely got paired with the right sitter!
• Sebastien Shead (Instagram) - a retail associate and an art student from a village in North Yorkshire - now based in London. He has a BA in Fine Art (Bath Spa University 2024) which allowed him to spend time on his studies of the methods and materials of the Old Masters. Followed by two years spent studying observational drawing and painting at the Heatherley School of Art. Which means I attended his graduation show this summer.
• Minnie Themba (Instagram) - a fine art student, currently studying for a BA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins. 
• Manny Woodard (Instagram) - Based in Arundel. She is a sculptor who has developed her drawing activities of late. She began making portraits in 2023 after being accepted into the Worthing Portrait Artist of the Year competition (based on PAOTY). In 2025, she won the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Purchase Prize for Drawing. She now draws from life every week at local art groups, finding the study of faces and character endlessly fascinating

Episode 4: Self Portrait Submissions

THANKS for getting me through my Spinal Shocker

Yesterday was one of those days I will never ever forget.

I walked into A&E at my local teaching hospital to get a CT Scan done on my neck. (I'd had an excruciating pain at the back of my neck the previous week - you will remember my review of PAOTY was delayed until Sunday)

The first thing I was told by the doctor who saw me, who had read the Radiologist's report from the local community hospital where I had my x-Ray done on Monday was that

"You've broken your neck in two places"

A bit of a shocker - as I'm sure you will agree.

So I had ID tag put round my wrist, a cannula put in, bloods taken, a gown put on and a hard cervical collar put on - until I looked like this

Me at the Royal London Hospital
yesterday morning

Being all on my own, (I thought I was just going for a CT Scan for a better picture of my neck), I rang my partner and told him what I'd been told and told him not to come down until things were clearer i.e. saving him from coming and going if I needed to be admitted.

Then I needed to talk, so told all my followers on my Making A Mark Facebook Page what was happening to me.

Apparently, I’ve broken my neck in two places! Just waiting for a hard collar to go on (got it!) Then CT Scan. Then MRI scan. Then a chat with a neuro surgeon….

THANK YOU

Thank you all your kind words of 

support and information and advice 

These kept me going through several hours of 

• arranging a CT Scan and 
• then waiting for the results and 
• then getting signed off by the Neurosurgery doctors - as they could not see a fracture.

I am so very grateful to all of you who commented. 

Your responses allowed me to reply and kept me occupied while I sat and worried about what was happening and what it all meant - and the implications were numerous and horrifying. (i.e. what do you do for the rest of your life if you sever your spinal cord at your cervical spine???)

This morning, one of the neurosurgery doctors rang and said they'd like a couple of more x-rays just to be absolutely safe that there's no fracture. Which I'm very happy to do. Double checking and being super safe is my kind of medicine.

So I've got to go back for two flexion x-rays - with neck leaning forward and backwards. But they're not expecting them to find anything - apart from the degenerative damage caused by my age and osteoarthritis.

I'll be updating all my friends and followers on Facebook with what happened next - because you were the BEST yesterday! You got me through a very frightening experience. 

PS Never ever go to hospital without packing a battery charger!