Review: Episode 7 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019

Episode 7 produced a bit of a pink shortlist - three girls on the shortlist with a dominant pink tinge to the portraits with colour, a graphite drawing was accompanied by a vivid pink scarf and the background included some very strong pink!

Lucy Fall, Annie Lee and Catherine Noone waiting to find out the winner of Episode 7
- who each draw or painted one of the sitters

The Artists, Self-portraits and Sitters

I'm beginning to think the descriptions should be Students, Amateurs and Professionals.

Professionals

• Hun Adamoglu (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - took 4 days to create his self-portrait which was about his connection to his Cypriot heritage.
• Neequaye Dsane (Dreph) (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - He has an Art, Design and Media degree and is as influenced by comic books as old Masters. He's well known as the street artist Dreph and has worked for three decades producing street based painting in Asia, Africa, the UAE, Central and South America and throughout Europe. He produced street murals - do have a look at his websites and in particular at his giant portraits in the street. He now produces giant murals for publicity for events eg Idris Elba's film Yardie and Michelle Obama's book 'Becoming'.  This is his webpage about painting Jamael Weston

he is best known for his large-scale murals and oil paintings. His portraits and their accompanying backstories present an alternative narrative, a tribute to living unsung heroes and heroines.

• Lucy Pass (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest) - video -  She paints within a certain constrained palette and also draws.  She's from Lancaster, draws and paints great eyes and confessed to being a big fan of Steve Mangan! Not a lot more about her on her website. 
• Khushna Sulaman-Butt (Instagram) - video  - Born in Lancashire. Graduated in 2016 from Oxford University with a BFA Fine Art. Artist-in-Residence, Kensington Aldridge Academy (the school at the foot of Grenfell Tower).  Currently doing an MA at the Slade. I recognised her straight away as she was selected for the BP Portrait Award Exhibition in 2017.  Her portrait was of a group of the friends she made, while studying at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University.  I met and interviewed her at the time - see BP Portrait Award 2017: Artists with their paintings
• Phil Tyler (Twitter | Instagram) - video - an experienced British painter who has exhibited his work throughout the UK who is also an Art Lecturer at the University of Brighton - which I guess is why the idea of a whole day to paint sounded such a luxury to him. He has exhibited in the ING Discerning Eye, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, The Lynn Painter-Stainers prize.  He was also shortlisted in the 2018 Heat - and lost out to the eventual winner of the Portrait Artist of the Year 2018.

Our lecturer Phil Tyler starred on @SkyArts Portrait Artist of the Year on Tuesday 📺

He painted actress and presenter Angela Griffin 🎨 Great work Phil 👍 pic.twitter.com/ndjNymJhIn

— University Brighton (@uniofbrighton) 28 March 2019

Amateur Artists

There were four amateur artists - two of which ended up in the shortlist - and one of them won!

• Annie Lee (Annabella Lee) (Facebook/ Twitter / Instagram) - video - Took her art A Level a week after the heat. Now studying at Central Saint Martins. Spent an hour plotting features before starting to paint.
• Catherine Noone (Instagram) - video - Widnes based Animator, Illustrator and Designer. Attended the Manchester School of Art for an MA Illustration with animation
• Emily Sharples - video - student and part-time hairdresser; about to start an Art Foundation Course at Camberwell
• Sharon Wright - video - A retired receptionist who lives in Suffolk. She is a regular painter who prefers to paint from life. She's a member of the local art society who entered for the prestige of the programme. 

The Sitters

The sitters for Episode 7 were:

• Angela Griffin - a well known actress who worked for many years on Coronation Street before becoming involved in other series such as Lewis.
• Gina McKee - an English actress who won the 1997 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Our Friends in the North
• Jamael Westman - an actor who Graduated from London's RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) in 2016 and has the lead role in the American musical Hamilton in the West End

The Self Portrait Review

Add caption

Discussions and Observations

The better the sitter the better the portrait

The artists were very lucky with these three sitters - they all maintained very steady poses - with no slouching, twitching or nodding off!

That said they might not have been there for some of the artists because they were only looking at their technology.

How rude to paint from technology!

Celebrity Painting Challenge on BBC1 - who's taking part?

Celebrity Painting Challenge is the second new art series on the BBC - on BBC1. 
Following on from my post TWO NEW BBC Art Shows last November, I can now reveal who's going to be doing the real work - the painting - and when the show starts!

Lachlan Goudie @lachlangoudie Mar 20
Strap on your palettes, arm your paint tubes and wind up the celebrities... here comes #CelebrityPaintingChallenge @BBCOne 8pm Thursday 4th April

Courtesy Mariella Frostrup Twitter

In this instance key facts and features are:

• six "celebs" (names below) will find their artistic skills are tested by various challenges (as per the previous Big Painting Challenge with 'ordinary mortals'). It does occur to me that some of the might be more accurately referred to as 'former well known people on the box'.
• the series starts on 4th April on BBC1 - with a self portrait and then hey get to paint a nude Keith Allen.

Budding Picasso’s prepare. We’re back! #CelebrityPaintingChallenge ⁦@BBCOne⁩ Thurs 4th April 8pm ⁦@iampascalanson⁩ @DianaAli22 @lachlangoudie @higeorgeshelley @amberlebon @philtufnell ⁦@LlewelynBowen⁩ @daphne_todd
⁦@josie_darby⁩ pic.twitter.com/DFeQ1sNLII

— Mariella Frostrup (@mariellaf1) 20 March 2019

BBC One’s Celebrity Painting Challenge

Participants

The participants are

• Jane Seymour - actress who has starred on both film and on television - who paints. She describes herself as an artist and homemaker on her website. She also has her very own Facebook Page called The Art of Jane Seymour. Here she is painting with Glenn Campbell on YouTube

• Phil Tufnell - ex England cricketer/spinner and skipper of one of the teams on a Question of Sport - who loves painting - and this is his art website! See Wife, painting art and pubs: Five things that Phil Tufnell can't live without

• Josie d'Arby - a Welsh television presenter and painter from Newport, Wales. She used to present a number of high-profile shows
• Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen - Laurence gained his fine art degree at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts before going on to work for the design firm Peter Leonard Associates. His art website - which is actually really badly designed! His output has included Limited edition fine art prints for DeMontfort Fine Art (one of the major players in the UK repro print market)
• Amber Le Bon - an English fashion model and the eldest of the three daughters of Duran Duran lead singer Simon Le Bon and model Yasmin Probably better known for attending the celeb preview of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art with her parents. Not big on images on her Twitter feed. 
• George Shelley - an English singer, television and radio presenter and actor. He is known as a former member of the boy band Union J. In 2015, he competed in the fifteenth series of the ITV reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and finished as a runner-up. I'm guessing he's the male version of "the totty" - because those 'casting BBC programmes are so VERY predictable!

I'm trying to work why they are listed in this order. Is it in order of fee earned - or skill as a painter - or how long they lasted?

Interestingly, given the fact that the "names" are known for other reasons they are accorded the status of presenter (unlike The Artisans without a credit on Arts and Crafts House)

The rest is pretty much as indicated previously.

People

• Presenter: Mariella Frostrup
• Judges: Daphne Todd and Lachlan Goudie who hitherto have been the Judges on The Big Painting Challenge
• Mentors: Diana Ali and Pascal Anson - as seen previously on The Big Painting Challenge

Format:

• a four part series 
• The Challenges will comprise
• traditional - portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, still life and life drawings
• fun challenges "with humour and a twist".
• The Final will comprise "the toughest challenge yet"
• A selection of paintings from the six artists will be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to charity.

except for rather more detail about the nature of the first episode!

Episode 1

Six celebrities tackle the human form as they capture on canvas a nude Keith Allen and their own self-portraits. Our judges and the public pick whose art will hang in the gallery.

!!! 

Looking for Rembrandt - on BBC4 in April

BBC4 is marking the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt's death by telling his story from how own perspective - despite the fact he fell on hard times towards the end of his life and left no diaries and fewer than 10 letters!

crop of a Self-portrait c. 1628 by Rembrandt van Rijn, (painted age 22)
oil on panel, h 22.6cm × w 18.7cm
It's an experiment with light - and his curls are drawn in the wet paint with the butt end of his paintbrush

Looking for Rembrandt

Looking for Rembrandt is a BBC Four documentary told in 3 one hour episodes starting Tuesday 9th April. It's uniques insofar that the story is told via fragments of information about him in:

• Amsterdam’s civic and legal archives
• his 90 self-portraits
• his many different paintings, etchings, and drawings

It will have a curious cast of characters providing information - including art collectors, art restorers, hand surgeons, security consultants, insolvency lawyers, novelists, curators and graffiti artists. 

The actor Toby Jones provides the voice of the artist as the series explores how such a great artist who was at one point the darling of Dutch high society could finally end up buried as a poor man in an unknown grave in the Westerkerk.

Critical questions are addressed:

• How could an artist made rich by the patronage of Amsterdam’s wealthiest elite come to declare bankruptcy? 
• Why did he fall out of favour at a time when he was painting his greatest masterpieces?

In the first of three episodes we learn how Rembrandt arrived in Amsterdam ‘like a thunderclap’ and was courted by the city’s wealthy elite, before falling into conflict with the city’s most powerful patrons. Jones explores the highs and lows of Rembrandt’s personal life too: from the new-found riches enjoyed with his wife, Saskia van Uylenburgh, to the tragedies that unfolded before him, leading to some of his most celebrated work.

Self-portrait, Etching at a Window, Rembrandt van Rijn, 1648
etching, h 160mm × w 130mm

Biography of Rembrandt

There's also a new biography of Rembrandt by Jonathan Bikker the curator of the new exhibition All the Rembrants at the Rijkmuseum

In Rembrandt: Biography of a Rebel, takes us on a journey past all of the ups and downs of Rembrandt’s life in seventeenth century Leiden and Amsterdam. With humour, insight and compassion, he shows us Rembrandt’s genius and the novelty of his works, and brings the artist back to life – you will not get any closer to Rembrandt than this.

Title: Rembrandt: Biography of a Rebel
Author: Jonathan Bikker
Design: Irma Boom
Price: €25
ISBN: Dutch 9789462084742
English: 9789462084759

Available from the Rijksmuseum online store

Review: Episode 6 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019

Episode 6 pf Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 was one of those where it was clear who definitely needed to be in the shortlist - but then there were a fair few also rans.

What follows is my review of the sixth episode - with a commentary on themes - and there's more about how choices are made later on.

The Artists, Self-portraits and Sitters

Below is a short description of each of the participating artists. The links are to websites and social media sites in the artist's name. Most of the group were not social media savvy.

If I've made a mistake with any of the links or details please let me know. How to contact me is in the side column of this blog - or you can comment on the link to this blog post on my Facebook page. I'll then correct PDQ!

Professional Artists 

Tai talking with Jixuan Chen about how he draws and paints in ink and the brushes he uses

• Jixuan Chen (Facebook | Instagram) - video He paints in ink on paper - with two brushes in the same hand - one for outlining and the other for tone - and the change over between the two is too fast for my eyes! Art Education: 2018: MA (Painting Course) Royal College of Arts. London; 2015~2018: BA (Fine Art-Painting), Wimbledon College of Arts (UAL). London. Got to the final 200 in BP Portrait Artist Award in 2018. He completed his submission in 130 hours.
• Salvatore Fullam (Facebook | Twitter) - video A professional artist from from Lucan, Co. Dublin. He paints from photos and technology but can also paint from life - as he did in the heat.  Not really got to grips with social media other than Facebook.
• Sarah Gibson (Facebook) - video - From Cincinnati, OH. A contemporary realist artist, specializing in figurative works, portraits, and still-lifes. Spent seven years in Florence, with formal training in drawing and painting from the Angel Academy of Art and The Florence Academy of Art. Currently lives and works in the seaside town of Largs, on the west coast of Scotland - with her husband. Teaches part time at the Edinburgh Atelier of Fine Art and sells her own work.
• Emil Nikolla (Facebook | Instagram) - video Lives and works in Beckenham in London. He drives a bus, teaches art and paints. Studied at the ΑΝΩΤΑΤΗ ΣΧΟΛΗ ΚΑΛΩΝ ΤΕΧΝΩΝ / Athens School of Fine Arts - Greece's premier Art school ). He has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
• Rosso Spoto - video Born in Sicily. HTrack record of pre-selected for major competitions - but not yet selected. Website not kept up to date. No social media presence - although her work gets posted on social media.

I strive to create a visual imagery with which the viewers can easily connect and engage creatively and critically.

Amateur Artists 

• Sebastien Bishop (Facebook | Instagram) - video. The consensus was/is that he produces some interesting drawings
• Takwonda Mtawali - video an engineering student at the University of Sheffield. She paints using only primary colours.
• Ellie Preston (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video A Fine Art Graduate who works in an ice cream shop, paints every day and aspires to becoming a professional artist. Won the Brenda Landon prize for portrait painting at Chelsea
• Stephen Wood - video An army veteran and part-time carpenter with no formal art training. His submission was only his third painting and his heat painting was his fourth. He paints in watercolour and uses the grid method

The Self Portrait Review

I loved Ross Spoto's passport photo approach to her self-portrait which provided personality as well as a clear indication of an ability to paint well and consistently - as is also evidenced by her website. Her self portrait charmed the Judges.

Observations included:

• disturbing and brilliantly off - "but I think that's why we liked it" - about Salvatore's large self -portrait
• "lovely to have somebody working with watercolour in a different way". I thought this was an odd comment. It assumed watercolour is only painted in one way. I felt like sending the Judges on a watercolour appreciation course!
• a tondo within a square was a very unusual composition which caught the eye.

The Sitters

The sitters were

• Sophie Ellis Bextor - a British singer, songwriter and model and multi-platinum selling recording artist - who has an absolutely fascinating face
• Adrian Lester - an Olivier Award winning actor on film and in television dramas. He's also a director, and writer.
• Nitin Sawhney CBE CBE is a British Indian musician, producer and composer - who writes songs and music for film. In 2017 he received the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award

Discussions and Observations

Getting likeness by half way

The Judges obviously appreciate the artist who finds a likeness and they are less appreciative of those who never find one and/or lose it after they've found it.

Review - Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2019 - and pricing issues

the bottom half of the prizewinning painting by Jennifer McRae 

This is about the recent Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Exhibition. It covers:

• the prizewinners
• the nature of the artwork selected
• the artwork I liked
• pricing of artwork

You can still see all the artwork in the virtual exhibition on the website - except you don't get a sense of size - and some were very big and some were very small.

Prizewinners

The wall of Lynn Painter-Stainers Prizewinners 2019

First Prize (£20,000 and a Gold Medal): 

Jennifer McRae, Past, present, future: tracing the female line (2018), £16,000

I was fairly cockahoop having said in my blog post about selected artists last week

Terrific contemporary figurative painting! This is who I'd give the LPS Award too. Jennifer McRae never ever disappoints.

Seeing it in the exhibition, I was even more impressed with it.

The concept behind it - of three generations in one painting - and the utter clutter of the artist's working surface (see top of post) were both a joy to behold.  What I like about Jennifer mcRae's portraits - and I've admired a few in the past few years - is that she's never averse to the subject who looks straight out of the canvas - right at you!

Plus everything always feels quite natural - as if you've just walked through a door in her home (or the home of her sitters). There are very few portrait artists who can pull that off and I can only imagine it's something to do with the mindset of how she approaches her portrait painting.

Second Prize (£4,000) 

Lara Cobden, The Winterkeeper's Cabin (2018), £2,500

UPDATE: Many apologies to Lara Cobden - as I omitted commenting of her painting by mistake before publishing!

I kept getting a feeling before I saw it that is was somewhere heading into Peter Doig territory in terms of enigma and mystery - but not quite in terms of painterliness - although it's very well painted.  The painting certainly did not disappoint on viewing and I can well imagine that it was one of those which stuck in the brains of judges - which is what I always think a prizewinning painting should do.

Young Artist Award (£4,000) - For an artist who is 25 years of age or under: 

Ewan White, No.7 (2018)

It's really good to see young artists tackling scenes involving a group of figures - a subject which is ignored by very many portrait artists. This domestic subject has a curious perspective but reminded me of some of the narrative paintings of the past.

Brian Botting Prize (£5,000) - for an outstanding representation of the human figure

Charlie Schaffer, Preston (2018), NFS

I was extremely impressed with this portrait painting - and particularly liked the technique in relation to to the mark-making which you can see in the crop of detail below.  To me it's the type of portrait I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised to see in the BP Portrait Award.

The Daphne Todd Prize: £2,000

James Lloyd - in my room

James Lloyd has a habit of winning prizes with self-portraits of painting in his studio! (See James Lloyd wins The Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture 2008)

Selected artwork

I thought it a better exhibition than last year - and I LOVED the hang on the end wall - particularly the three central paintings.

Review: Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019

I have no quibbles with the shortlist produced by Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year.

The self portrait and heat portrait of the shortlisted artists from Episode 5 (2019)

Again we have an interesting mix of "amateur" painters and "professional" painters. I think I'm now understanding that those with another job say they are 'amateur'.

Five amateur artists

• Rubertine Allen - video - an ex fashion model who works as a billing analyst for a company in Northampton. 
• Laxmi Hussein (Facebook |  Instagram) - video - BA (Hons) Architecture from London Metropolitan University. Freelance Artist/Illustrator. Mother of two small sons. Not coming across as an amateur to me - but maybe says she is because of full time her day job. Likes working with W&M Blue Drawing Ink - a lot!

Laxmi’s distinctive style has attracted commissions for illustrations and artwork from a variety of commercial clients and individuals

• Amelia Webster (Facebook | Instagram) - video - a Devon based artist, practicing in painting and portraiture. Graduated in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking at Plymouth College of Art in 2017 and has completed a foundation course in art therapy.  Currently an artist in residence with . disability charity - Hannahs at Seale Hayne in Devon. 
• Henry Whaley - video - taught himself to paint last year while doing Art History at school.
• Eve Pettitt (Instagram) - video - a yoga teacher from West London who paints as a silent and solitary experience. She trained at the Heatherley School of Fine Art and The Royal Drawing School. Predominantly a figurative painter, working directly from life, she exhibited at the 2017 annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and has a solid exhibition record.

Increasingly concerned with colours and their relationships, Eve explores what happens when two colours meet, how they dance side by side and what occurs at the borderline.

Four professional artists

• Anastasia Shimshilashvili (Instagram | YouTube Channel) - video - Born in Moscow. MA in Fine Art, Surikov Academic Institute of Art, Moscow (2011). BA Monumental Art V.Surikov Moscow State Academy Art Institute (2009). Focuses a substantial amount of her time on teaching fine art, running a YouTube Art Channel, and recently publishing a 'self-teach' art book based on my teaching methods in Russia.
• Graham Duddridge  - video - Studied Fine Art and Art History at Kent Institute of Art and Design, Aberystwyth School of Art and the The Art Academy London.
• John Gledhill (Facebook | Twitter) - video - 1977-1980: Royal Academy Schools, London. (Awarded First Prize for Life Painting, 1978) Fine Artist at Kindred Studios
  Works at University of York. Regular exhibitor at the RA Summer Exhibition.
• Catherine McDiarmid  (Facebook | Facebook (for her Art Classes)) - video - the only professional to announce herself as a Portrait Artist in the title of her site.  Winner of various awards. Previously appeared in Sky Portrait Artist of the Year 2014 and 2017 painting Ashley Jenson and Ross Kemp both of whom chose her Portrait of them to keep. This is her blog post about My experience on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019. She has two works in the RI Exhibition 3 – 18 April 2019

The Sitters

The sitters for this Heat were:

• Mark Gatiss an English actor, comedian, screenwriter and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock and is a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen
• Georgina Campbell - an actress who won the 2015 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Murdered by My Boyfriend (2014)
• Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson - Paralympian - who broke 30 world records - Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords, Motivational Speaker and Broadcaster 

The theme of the day was rather more subdued this week (thank goodness!) and covered the Renaissance in terms of colours and techniques.

Discussions and Observations

Below are my observations on this week's Heat followed by the shortlist and why they got shortlisted and who won the Heat.

Owner of Artist Network, Wet Canvas & North Light Books files for Bankruptcy Protection

I've just caught up with the news which broke earlier this week that F&W Media have filed for bankruptcy protection. 

F+W Media, the multimedia company that publishes books, magazines, and digital content for hobbyists ranging from writers to quilters, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy March 10.

F&W Media has two divisions withins its largely arts and crafts empire

• Communities ($67.7 million in revenue in 2018) comprises 10-enthusiast categories and includes - for artists - Artists Network, Artists Network TV and Wet Canvas
• Books ($22 million revenue in 2018) includes North Light books as well as a lot of other specialist arts and crafts imprints for hobbyists and a backlist of 2,100 titles - one of which is mine!  Others of which belong to some long time artist friends.

I have written four books, which they have had me revise and expand for a total of eight. At last count, five were still in print, but they have frozen royalty payments and the authors haven’t been paid. This came as a shock last week. One of the authors

F&W Fine Art includes:

• ArtistsNetwork.com
• Artists Magazine
• Pastel Journal
• Watercolor Artist
• SouthwestArt.com
• Southwest Art
• wetcanvas.com

You can read the filing here - from which I can see that F&W Media owes significant money to various other art book publishers - which is somewhat worrying.

It has outstanding debts totaling $105.2 million and only $2.5 million in available cash
Authors of art instruction books who are due royalty cheques will be receiving nothing until such time as a sale of their imprint occurs - if this indeed happens. Whether they can retrieve their content (for publication elsewhere) should a sale not occur depends on how their contract is worded.


I have little else other than links to news coverage at the moment

• Publishers Weekly - F+W Media Files Chapter 11, Will Sell Assets | 
• Forbes - F+W Media, Citing Debt, Decline And Mismanagement, Files For Bankruptcy Protection
• Forbes - Two Years At F+W Media: Behind The Scenes At A Company In Chaos
• Craft Industry Alliance - F+W Media Files for Bankruptcy
• Folio - After a Decade-Long Struggle, F+W Media Declares Bankruptcy
• Cole Schotz P.C. - New Delaware Chapter 11 Filing – F+W Media, Inc.

Oddly there is absolutely no indication of the bankruptcy filing or what's happening on any of the F&W websites that I can find. I'm assuming that means either those administering the sites have not yet been told, have been told not to say anything in public and/or or nobody quite knows what to say about the devastating critique of the reasons for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing indicated by the current CEO

The term Bankruptcy Protection is used because a bankruptcy filing in a court of law stops all collections activity and legal proceedings regarding debt and financial matters. BLP Bankruptcy Law Professionals

UPDATE: This is the official site recording matters re. legal proceedings and there is a Creditors Meeting in early April.

Pursuant to Section 341 of the Bankruptcy Code, a meeting of creditors will be held on April 8, 2019 at 3:00 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time) at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building, 844 King Street, 2nd Floor, Rm. 3209, Wilmington, DE 19801.

I'm not surprised by the fact of the bankruptcy protection filing - except by the length of time they have managed to last.

The bankruptcy filings made this week by F+W Media offer a rare and revealing look at a company spinning out of control during the last two years, struggling with debt, the secular decline of print media, the loss of ad revenue, the harmful impact of free online content, and an ecommerce strategy that suddenly turned disastrous.

It pains me to say this but I saw this coming a very long time ago when I realised that the owners failed to grasp the reality of the move of commerce to online and what the requirements are of a new type of business model. They seemed to have a vision of ecommerce which was was corporate and conglomerate and failed to realise how nimbler smaller operations would move faster to satisfy demand from its consumers.

To my mind, it was a lumbering giant in an ecommerce world full of micro-entrepreneurs.

Call for Entries - Royal Society of British Artists 302nd Exhibition

This is a reminder that you have until Friday 15th March 2019 to submit an entry to the 2019 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA)

This post is about the Call for Entries. It covers

• how to become a member of the RBA
• who can enter
• how to enter
• the exhibition

Last year, the RBA selected a record number of 174 works from the open submission.

a view of part of the main gallery at last year's exhibition

Artists are invited to submit works for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Society of British Artists at their Annual Exhibition 2019.

This then is your opportunity to exhibit with the Royal Society of British Artists whose past exhibitions have included works by past members such as

• James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) - who was RBA President 1886-1888
• Walter Richard Sickert, RA (1860-1942) - Elected RBA President 1928 - 1930
• LS Lowry, RA (1887-1976) - RBA Member 1935
• amongst a number of other well known artists

You too could have work selected from the open entry as Claude Monet (1840 – 1926) did when four of his works, each priced at £160, were included in the winter show of 1887/8!

303rd Exhibition in 2019

The 303rd exhibition in 2019 will be held in July 2019 at the Mall Galleries. It's usually held across all three galleries due to its size.

• Opens on Thursday 4th July  2018 
• Open to the public every day from 10am - 5pm (except the last day)
• Closes at 1pm on Saturday 14th July 2019.
• The Private View will be on Wednesday 3rd July 2018, 11am – 8pm - with speeches at 6pm.

How to become a member of the RBA

The RBA is a society where membership is often seen as a complement to membership of other national art societies. Indeed this was its original intention.

A group of painters met at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on May 21st 1823, to form the ‘Society of British Artists’, whose manifesto stated, ‘This organisation was not formed to rival existing societies but that every Member was to be at liberty to assist and support any other society.’

Those wanting to join the Society are invited to submit to the annual exhibition. You'll need to submit and be selected for several annual exhibitions before you are accepted as a member.

This is how to join the RBA

Candidates for membership are exhibited in one part of the exhibition (and of the five people who exhibited at the 2018 exhibition who I said I hoped to see as members of the RBA after the exhibition, four of the five now are!)

On average, there are 110 members elected to the RBA, all of whom are entitled to exhibit in the Annual Exhibition which is held at Mall Galleries in London. The membership procedure is competitive; candidates will normally be expected to have previously exhibited several times with the Society after which they may apply for election to the RBA.

artwork in the north gallery last year

Call for Entries Royal Society of British Artists 2019

Prizes

There are many prizes and awards available to win, including:

Cash Prizes

• The de Laszlo Foundation Prize: The de Laszlo Medal and £1,500 will be awarded to the artist aged 35 or under for the best art work from life
• The Patron's Prize: £500
• The Stuart Southall Print Prize: £250
• The Gordon Hulson Memorial Prize for Draughtsmanship, Variety & Exploration: £200
• The Nathan David Award for Sculpture: £150
• The Davison Award for Oil Painting: £100
• The Geoffrey Vivis Memorial Award: £100
• The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award: £50

Tuition Prize

• The LARA Prize for a Young Artist: Short course at London or Bristol

Publication Prizes

• The Artist Magazine Award: The winner will be interviewed in The Artist magazine, print and digital editions
• The Dry Red Press Award: The winning work will be published as a greeting card in the Dry Red Press 'Prize Winners' range, with royalties from the sale of the cards going to the artist

Art Materials Prizes

• The Michael Harding Awards: Two awards of £500 worth of Michael Harding art materials, and 10 painting starter sets
• The Winsor & Newton Painting Award: Art materials to the value of £500
• Hahnemuhle Fine Art UK Award: A prize of artist paper, worth £250
• Frinton Frames Award: £200 of picture framing at Frinton Frames bespoke handfinished picture frame makers

Who can Submit?

This is an OPEN EXHIBITION.

Any artist - over the age of 18 - living anywhere in the world can submit artwork to this exhibition.

• On the Mall galleries website you can find 
• Information about the exhibition 
• the full terms and conditions
• Below you can also find my summary of how to enter the next annual exhibition.

I recommend you also have a read of my review of last year's exhibition before deciding on your submission. It has LOTS of images of the exhibition.

What can you submit?

• Acceptable media: Any medium including sculpture and original prints.
• Age of artwork: no requirement
• No. of artworks: up to six - of which up to four will be selected
• Previous exhibitions: Work must not have been exhibited previously.
• Dry: Paintings should be completely dry at the time of delivery (or they won't be hung)
• Size: Works should not be larger than 2.4m along the longest dimension.
• For Sale: All work must be for sale
• Price: The minimum price is £300 (framed prints: £180, unframed prints: £120).

I'm a big fan of art societies who refuse to allow people to exhibit work they have previously exhibited elsewhere - it makes for a better exhibition of work which is fresh to the eye.

the RBA Exhibition in the Threadneedle Space last year

How to enter

Entry is digital - after the preselection, artists will be invited to submit work for the second stage review.

• All entries are via digital submission online. (You cannot bring your artwork to London to enter)
• Images must be in JPEG format and under 5MB]
• Entry fee is £18 per work payable at the time of submitting (£12 per work for artists aged 35 or under) and includes free admission to all artists SUBMITTING work to the exhibition (normally £4).

VAT

HMRC define you as an overseas seller if you sell goods stored in the UK to UK consumers and do not have a business establishment in the UK.  In this instance the Mall Galleries acts as your agent.

Those submitting from outside the UK must decide 

• whether they need to register for VAT in advance (see Overseas business and VAT)
• engage an art carrier to deliver their work

Timeline - submission to exhibition

• Submission closes: Friday 15 March 2019, 12 noon
• Pre-selection: Monday 18 March, 10am to 5pm
• Pre-selection notification: Friday 22 March, 12 noon
• Receiving Day: Saturday 27 April, 10am to 5pm
• Selection Day: Tuesday 30 April, 10am to 5pm
• Acceptance notification: Wednesday 1 May, 12 noon
• Collection of unaccepted work: Friday 3 May, 10am to 5pm
• Private View: Wednesday 3 July, 11am to 8pm (speeches at 6pm)
• Exhibition open: Thursday 4 July 10am to 5pm
• Exhibition closes: Sunday 14 July, 1pm

TIP: This is a link to images and details of the artwork in last year's exhibition which is on the RBA website. I've ordered it by price - starting with the lowest priced. You can see which ones sold.

I expressed the view last year that some of those who were exhibiting were using very silly prices.

I recommend you study carefully the price ranges for different sized work - and work in different media - and which sold.  That gives you some sort of context for a submission this week.

Alan Woollett named Master Artist for 'Birds in Art' 2019

Alan Woollett

British coloured pencil artist Alan Woollett will be the 2019 Master Artist at the 44th annual “Birds in Art” exhibition at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in USA in the Autumn.  The annual exhibition is one of the premier international exhibitions of bird artwork - and attracts entrants from around the world.

Alan's name will be joining this list of Master Wildlife Artists previously honoured in this way.

Features of his artwork include:

• he's passionate about conveying the beauty of birds and the complexities and simplicity of these amazing creatures. 
• his artwork conveys the joys of observing, drawing, and appreciating nature.
• his compositions are always unusual. I find he has a way of revealing new ways of looking at birds or enabling you to notice something you've not noticed before
• his bird are often given a context which means they don't jump out at you but cleave to their camouflage
• he draws in graphite and/or coloured pencil - and has transitioned from graphite to coloured pencil over time

In terms of "Birds in Art"

Birds in Art is an international juried exhibition organized annually by the Woodson Art Museum.

• Alan demonstrated persistence and submitted artwork for the annual exhibition five times before he was successful in 2011 with a graphite work and attended the exhibition.

“When I initially scanned the galleries, I knew I’d have to step it up even more, if I hoped to return.”

• Woollett’s first colored-pencil work to be exhibited in “Birds in Art,” “Northern Mockingbird,” was acquired by the Woodson Art Museum in 2013, which he described as “a great feeling and an honor.” 

Northern Mockingbird by Alan Woollett

• Selected for inclusion in “Birds in Art” seven times, he travelled from England to Wausau, Wisconsin (inbetween Minnepolis and Lake Michigan) to attend the exhibition opening again in 2012 and 2015. 

“Seeing my work in the ‘Birds in Art’ exhibition alongside that of so many great artists never ceases to make me smile. It is really such an honor.”

The 2019 “Birds in Art” exhibition, on view September 7 through December 1, will feature

• a selection of Woollett’s artwork 
• more than 100 original paintings, sculptures, and graphics created within the last three years by artists from throughout the world. 
• The exhibition’s full-color catalogue, featuring an essay about the 2019 Master Artist, will be available for purchase in September at the Woodson Art Museum.

Submissions for the exhibition can still be made. The Online submission and postmark deadline  for entries is April 22, 2019. This is the prospectus for the exhibition.

About Alan Woollett

• Born in 1964 in Chatham, Kent, England, he now lives and works in Maidstone, Kent, England, with his wife, two children, and two springer spaniels.
• He became interested in birds while birdwatching in his back garden as a young boy. 
• His childhood drawing pursuits and an “I-Spy Birds” book given to him by his mother ingrained an interest that was to lie dormant until many years later. 
• He studied graphic design at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, now called the University for the Creative Arts. His two years as a student there “reignited my passion for art, drawing, and the natural world,” 
• In 1993 he received an OND, Ordinary National Diploma, in graphic design and illustration. 
• Since graduation he has concentrated on bird and wildlife art. 
• He further developed his skills drawing with graphite “whilst seriously harboring a desire to paint birds in watercolor,” he said. 
• A local naturalist and illustrator taught him how to use a paintbrush, and he focused on honing his painting skills during the next few years as a stay-at-home parent of his two children.
• Gradually, he transitioned to working in colored pencil, after initially using them to add fine details to his paintings and then using them more extensively to complete his drawings. 

“I had always felt much more comfortable with a pencil in hand than a paintbrush"

• In 2000, Alan won the prestigious, ‘Bird Artist of the Year’ award for the year 2000, which is awarded by Birdwatch Magazine, for his pencil drawing of a heron. 
• In 2016, he won the Earth’s Beautiful Creatures Award, 2016 at the “Wildlife Artist of the Year,” exhibition run by the David Shephard Foundation (see Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 - The Awards).
• In 2017, his book “Bird Art,” was published by Search Press Limited. (See my blog post Review: Bird Art by Alan Woollett). 
• You can also read An interview with Alan Woollett on the Jackson's Art Blog, which followed publication of his book. 
• Alan - whose work also features in my book Sketching 365 - creates his art in his studio at the bottom of his garden at his home in Kent. 

Alan Woollett working in his studio in Maidstone

“I’m still taking in the fact that my work is deemed worthy of being exhibited alongside that of such esteemed and talented artists. It’s such a huge honor and one that has me still pinching myself most mornings when I sit to draw in my humble little studio.” 

Alan Woollett’s artwork has been featured in exhibitions throughout England, including 

• “National Exhibition of Wildlife Art” at the Gordale Garden Centre, Burton, South Wirral; 
• seasonal exhibitions at Francis Iles Galleries in Rochester, Kent; 
• Annual Exhibitions of the “United Kingdom Colored Pencil Society” at Menier Gallery in London. 

His awards include 

• Earth’s Beautiful Creatures Award, 2016, “Wildlife Artist of the Year,” from Mall Galleries in London (see the top photo) and 
• Bird Artist of the Year, 2000, by “Birdwatch Magazine.”

Alan does not have a website but does have a Facebook Page where you can see his artwork and contact him if interested in making a purchase. You can also follow him on Twitter @awoollett

He is also represented by the Francis Iles Gallery in Rochester in Kent - who take his artwork to Art Fairs in the UK.

Drawings by Alan Woollett at the Works on paper Fair in 2017

OFFICIAL: No 12,000 cap on entries to RA Summer Exhibition + dates change

OFFICIAL: There is no 12,000 cap on entries to the RA Summer Exhibition

This is an update - and clarification - regarding my original Call for Entries for the Summer Exhibition - RA Summer Exhibition 2019: Call for 12,000 entries

In the middle of February, I was contacted by the marketing team for the Royal Academy of Arts and asked to change three things

• my reference to the 12,000 entries cap - which was REMOVED in 2018
• the dates for announcements of the digital selection announcement and those selected for the exhibition - as these dates were changed (by a few days) shortly after the announcement of the call for entries. 

I duly changed my blog post.

However it appears that there's still some confusion (see the above email) - hence this post.

Absolutely everyone who submitted work for the show is having it considered by the selection committee which devotes a huge amount of unpaid time and effort into that process. Anne Desmet

The 12,000 entries cap has been removed

The Cap on Entries introduced by the Royal Academy of Arts no longer exists. 
Apparently it was removed last year - but this was not announced at the time.

It also did NOT apply to this year's entry - and I apologise if I confused anybody.

I'm guessing that:

• the opportunity last year to open more spaces for the exhibition and the fact it was the 250th meant they wanted to able to selected more works from the open entry.
• the entry fee income is always welcome....

Pity they forgot to mention that the 12,000 cap had been disbanded!

Please note, I'm also not the only person quoting the 12,000 cap in relation to this year's entries.

New Dates

The new dates are marginally different.

Apparently they changed the website and the leaflet but made no other announcement.

This is why those of us who download on the day the call for entries opens were still working off the first document uploaded to the website - and why my post which was published the same day the call for entries opened had the original dates.

Below is what it now says in my original post

• Shortlisted works from the first round of selection will be announced on [THIS IS AN UPDATE] Thursday 14 March 2019
• The final list of exhibitors for the Summer Exhibition will be announced [THIS IS AN UPDATE] on MONDAY 20 May 2019

This means:

• digital selection is a day earlier
• final selection is two days later.

So I suggest you change your dates in your dairy/calendar if you were working off the original announcement.

I've suggested to the Royal Academy that it would be very helpful when CHANGING things, if these could be highlighted in an email to those who are interested in the exhibition and signed up for notifications.

Review: Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019

Episode 4 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 seemed different and I'm not quite sure why. 

• the Judges picked their shortlist in record time 
• the Twittersphere did not go into meltdown. 
• Instead we had lots of tweets commenting that even the Judges can get it right some of the time!

The best portrait (of Beverley Knight) in Episode 4 - by Archie Wardlaw

I'm not going to repeat what I've said in other reviews of this series other than this post includes:

• a list of the professional and amateur artists participating in Episode 3 of the series
• my commentary on themes which I spotted
• who got shortlisted
• who won the Heat and goes through to the Semi-Finals.

More about the competition and the judges in my first blog post - listed at the end.

The Artists, Self-portraits and Sitters

You will find links to:

• the artist's website - embedded in their name - click the link to see more of their artwork
• artists' social media accounts if I can find them online.
• the speeded up time lapse video of each artist working on their portrait - which means that even if you can't watch the television episode you can at least see the portraits being painted

Please contact me (see side column or via Facebook Page) re. any inadvertent errors of spelling or links ASAP

Oddly, this Heat has more contestants without a website or any social media presence.

The Professional Artists

The five professional artists were:

• Archie Wardlaw (Facebook | Instagram) - video - He is a contemporary painter specialising in portraiture and still life. He studied Classics and Philosophy with Mandarin at the University of Exeter and then trained for five years in the Classical Atelier method at London Fine Art Studios where he is now a senior tutor.  He has also taught art to the inmates of a prison. He lives in London and undertakes portrait commissions from his studio at Battersea Business Centre in London.
• Dante Turner - video - Nothing much online. A Peruvian artist who lives in Somerset with his husband. He won the Public Choice Prize at Wells Art Contemporary (WAC) Competition and Exhibition in 2016.
• Daisy Murdoch - video - Lives and works in the Cotswold Village of Amberley, near Stroud. She works predominantly in oils, painting small still lives and portraits
• Zoe Beaudry (Facebook | Instagram) - video -  (b. 1991) an American artist from East Lansing, Michigan, specializing in oil painting with an emphasis on portraiture and the figure. BA in studio art from Kalamazoo College in 2014 and her MFA from The Glasgow School of Art in 2018. In in 2019 was featured in the annual FBA Futures exhibition at Mall Galleries in London. Currently on a residency with Kriti Gallery in Varanasi!
• Jane Clatworthy (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - a figurative artist based in London. Her studio is in Earlsfield. Born in the north of England, raised in Zimbabwe, lived most of her adult life in South Africa. Did a portrait Diploma at Heatherly's Art School. This is an Interview with Jane Clatworthy. She wasn't joking about the thing she liked to paint best!  It's the first time I've looked at a contestant's website and recognise people in the portraits on the website!  This is how she saw Stephen Graham on the day of filming.

Amateur Artists

•  Shalewa Olayiwola - video - a 19 year old psychology student.
•  Romy Kelleher - video - age 17; lives in Hertforshire. D doing her 'A' Levels after the competition. This was her first self portrait and it took her four hours to complete it which was impressive. 
•  Feisal Brimah (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - Revenues Officer with Brent Council who paints in his spare time. He prefers painting animals.
• Robyn Parker (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - 28 year old Artist and School Photographer based in Clacton, Essex. She specialises in coloured pencil drawings, oil paintings and Ink work and also runs workshops - including taster sessions for those who'd like to try alcohol ink work. Wants to be a full time artist.

The Review of the Self Portrait Wall

Art is like handwriting. The more you do it the more you develop a style. Age has nothing to do with it. How much you've painted has.

When you have finished watching the programme, go back and review the self-portraits again and ask yourself

• what's the difference between the self portrait and the heat portrait when reviewing those who were shortlisted and everybody else?
• what's the difference between between the short-listed heat portrait and the self-portrait submitted in advance?
• Do they look like they've both been produced by the same artist? 

That's the really important point about the self-portraits. You need to assess if they've been done by the same person. In the case of the shortlisted artists / heat winner it's often very easy to give a very fast response.

The Sitters

The three sitters were:

• Anna Chancellor - actress
• Beverley Knight - singer
• Stephen Graham - actor

I always think the chairs could be more helpful to the sitters. It might just be me. Every time I look at them and think I'd be walking straight out again, saying "I'll be back once you've got me a chair which is suitable for sitting completely still for four hours".

Discussions and Observations