Episode 6 was a very strong heat - with various styles and some excellent self portraits and heat portraits.
I was pretty sure who was going to win from near the beginning - not least because the artist did not faff about, started well and zoomed through to a finish - with 30 minutes to spare. Experience helps a lot when you're under pressure!Episode 6: The Artists, Self-portraits and Sitters
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The beginning of Episode 6 |
The Professional Artists
There were only two professional artists in this heat - these were
- Sarah Cowley ( Website | Facebook | Instagram | Commissions ) - Based in Loughborough in Leicestershire. A self taught artist who has over 30 years' experience as a portrait artist. She specialises in creating highly detailed works of art in oils, pastels and pencil; capturing life in minute detail - and started pet portraits 15 years ago. Her very small self portrait ws on aluminium. A lot of her drawing happens with a paintbrush.
- Katherine Rowe ( Website | Facebook | Instagram ) - Based in SW London. History of Art Degree from Edinburgh University. In 2019 she was profiled in the Sunday Telegraph and dubbed ‘Britain’s most sought-after dog artist’ and was pictured with her dog, Toastie, in her studio. Her portrait of Skukura Murray features on page 20 of the new book Portraits for NHS Heroes. She;s written a blog post about her experience of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020: My experience and tips for future artists
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some of the artists having a break after the heat |
The Amateur Artists
- Josh Donkor ( Website | Instagram ) Studied illustration at Cardiff Metropolitan School of Art and Design. Shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards 2020 and featured in the AOI UK Graduates to watch. Startwith the eyes and then works in blocks.
- Rob Fellows ( Instagram ) - a primary school teacher in London. Used a completely white background for his self portrait and switched and used a completely black support for his heat portrait
- Thomas MacGregor ( Website | Instagram ) - born in Sidcup, raised in London and the Scottish highlands and now lives and works in London as a horticultural therapist. He studied at Edinburgh college of art in 1995-99. Taught drawing and painting within the scottish prison service from 2001 until 2006. Now enrolled on the studio programme at Turps Banana, cohort 2018-2020. He likes to employ narrative in his paintings.
- Eoin O'Sullivan ( Website | Instagram ) - an Illustrator based in London who works mainly in monochrome using pen and black ink. Works in pencil and then moves into black ink once he's got the drawing right. He reams of a career in illustration.
- Stuart Pearce ( Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter ) - a Marketing Manager, designer and portrait and figurative artist. Trained at Plymouth College of Art and Design and lives/works in Broadway in Worcestershire. Worked in the advertising industry as an illustrator and designer for more than 30 years. Also undertakes commissions for advertising, film and theatre set design
- Daisy Potter ( Instagram ) - Based in Brighton.
- Hattie Quigley ( Instagram ) - Studied She was the Bristol Winner of the LARA Summer Scholarship Competition in 2019. This is an interview with her.
The Self Portraits
- SIZE
- Large x 3
- Medium x 5
- Small x 0
- Very small x 1
- FORMAT
- Landscape format x 0
- Portrait format x 5
- Square format x 4
- CONTENT OF SELF-PORTRAIT
- full size x 0
- torso + head + hands with another person x 0
- torso including head and hand(s) x 2
- Head and shoulders + hand(s) x 1
- head and shoulders x 5
- head x 1
"We do like a painting of an artist in action"
The Sitters
- Sian Clifford - played the older uptight sister in Fleabag. After its second season she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance, and received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series as well as a Critics' Choice nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
- Eddie Marsan - has appeared in a wide range of film and television roles often as the villain and sometimes as the detective!
- Paul Mescal - an Irish actor, best known for his starring role in the 2020 miniseries Normal People, which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He's also won numerous newcomer awards.
Themes and Tips
The sitter is a long, long way away
If you doubt the truth of this statement - just look at this photo below by Sarah Cowley showing her view of Eddie. Is that the sort of distance you like to paint people from?
This is one of the main reasons why people use technological devices for their portraits.
They simply can't see any detail given the distance they're working from.
Bottom line you probably need at least one reference photo - even if you paint from life to get the sense of person and colours and ones right.
So how does that work?
Getting a reference photo
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Sarah and Eoin - getting a reference photo at the beginning |
Of course then you need to work out how you are going to place the device which holds your reference photo.
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Hattie and Josh with a reference image on a tablet propped on their easel. |
- the holder is big enough to be able to grip your tablet size/weight
- AND keep it at the angle you want it - so do make sure you try it out and work with at home first!
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Rob Fellow - reference photo, tablet and bendy tablet holder |
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Thomas McGregor working on his portrait of Eddie Marsan - referencing the pic on his phone |
The "Inner Self" and "Used to staring at them on TV"
Having a sitter who is a familiar face from television or film can be a big help. However you can also be in danger of painting a character and not the person.- There was a lot of very nervous laughter from the Judges at one point when Steven Mangan called them out repeatedly on comments about the portrait by Rob Fellows after all three agreed he had not captured the likeness - but instead had captured "the enigma / presence / something of the sitter"!
- Kate Bryan stepped in and stated that a judging algorithm exists whereby if an artists produces a cracking portrait - even if it doesn't look like the sitter - they forgive the lack of likeness.
In relation to the "Inner Self" - In my book, the only person who can determine whether or not they have captured the inner self of the sitter is the sitter. Listen to comments made by sitters about ways in which artists have captured them - and you can often hear them remark on things the artists have seen which are private.
HOT TIP: Bright lights can shine through your canvas
This TIP comes from Katherine Rowe who found that the bright lights for filming were shining straight through her canvas and making it difficult for her to paint - so she popped one of her spares behind it to make it more opaque.
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Note the two canvases on Katherine Rowe's easel |
Knowing when to stop
Knowing when to stop is a prize attribute which I see demonstrated more often in winners than runners up. Decision Time
Sitters choose portrait to take home
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Turning the portraits of Sian Clifford |
Sian Clifford chose the painting by Katherine Rowe - it turns out that Katherine was painting for her subject - and not the Judges - as she had researched Sian's favourite rose.........
The portraits of Eddie were very variable in style and media - but they all got a good likeness.
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Portraits of Eddie Mersan by Sarah, Thomas and Ioin. |
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Hattie Quigley with her portrait of Paul Mescal |
Judges choose shortlist of three
What the Judges
- ability to see beyond the roles played by actors and paint the sitter in front of them
- skill in use of media
- skilled use of tones
- capturing youthfulness
What could be improved
- likeness not quite there
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Waiting to hear who has been shortlisted |
The Judges chose a short list of three which were:
- Sarah Cowley
- Hattie Quigley and
- Rob Fellows
The shortlist
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The paintings by the shortlisted artists |
As always the continuity and consistency of style between the self-portrait and the heat portrait was self evident among those shortlisted.
For me it's a key characteristic of shortlisted artists i.e. confirmation that this is how this artist paints.
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Self portrait and heat portrait by Rob Fellows |
Rob very obviously likes black. But it's his use of contrast and shape and tonality within the black which makes it special. Such that the black of her hair was different from the disk behind Sian's head - which was a complete invention given that she was sitting with a background of water.
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Self portrait and heat portrait by Hattie Quigley |
The self portrait was a real "look at ME!" painting - bound to attract attention and then comment about the rendering of the different textures of chocolate, skin and hair.
The winner
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Waiting for the final decision - Rob Fellows, Hattie Quigley and Sarah Cowley |
"The artist revelled in the sitter and as a result was able to create an engaging portrait"
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The result - Sarah won the heat! |
REFERENCE
This is probably the most important post for all those who don't have Sky or access to Freeview or want to watch on demand - it's how I watch the competition "on demand" - except I now use a Now TV stick plugged into my television - How to watch Sky Arts - Portrait Artist of the Year 2018 without subscribing to SkyThese are previous posts about the competition
Learning Points re the 2020 competition
- Review: Episode 1 of Portrait Artist of the Year Series 7 (Autumn 2020)
- Review: Episode 2 of Portrait Artist of the Year Series 7 (Autumn 2020)
- Review: Episode 3 of Portrait Artist of the Year Series 7 (Autumn 2020)
- Review: Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year Series 7 (Autumn 2020)
- Review: Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year Series 7 (Autumn 2020)
Learning Points re the (early) 2020 competition
- Review: Episode 1 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Episode 2 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Episode 3 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Episode 6 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Episode 7 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Episode 8 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
- Review: Semi-Final of Portrait Artist of the Year 2020
plus my blog post which highlighted Does Portrait Artist of the Year ignore older artists?
However How to watch heats of Portrait Artist of the Year 2021 was followed by PAOTY 2021 Heats Closed to the Public - which is why there will be none of my photos of the process this year.
Learning Points re the 2019 competition
Below - my blog posts from last year which contains lots of learning points about painting in this competition for those aspiring to compete this year.
- Call for Entries - Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 1 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 2 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 3 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 6 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 7 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Episode 8 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Review: Semi-Final of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Duncan Shoosmith is Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Celebrity Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
- Portrait Artist of the Year comes to Channel 4
- Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 starts on....
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