Episode 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)
This was filmed in Autumn 2019 and originally aired in 2020 in Canada. It's now being broadcast via
Sky Arts (Freeview) in the UK.
Location of the pods: HEAT 2 - Cobourg Marina
I was tut-tutting again about the location of the pods. All I can say
is that the location manager for this programme must have a very suburban
outlook when it comes to landscapes
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The pods in front of Cobourg Marina
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The primary criteria for locations seems to be "flat ground" - with more "flat
ground" nearby for the wildcards and then even more "flat ground" for the rest
of the set-up re the production team.
Not quite sure where the quality of the landscape and the view gets a
look in!
The secondary criteria seems to be somewhere where they don't have to carry
the pods too far!
"This is technically a seascape"
(Mark Meyer)
...except it wasn't since it was a lake not a sea! Its water is derived
from several rivers which all drain into the lake - and there are no tidal
flows.
This location offered:
- very little land in view
- just pontoons and boats, Lake Ontario and the sky.
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the trees were either side of them and in the far distance. So all those
who like to paint trees were out of luck!
.....and yet just around the corner was a nice little bay with a sandy beach
and some rather nice looking trees - and even better - reflections and
shadows!! (see top left in the above photo)
Maybe this is a case of commercial television programme-making as an advert
for recreational facilities? Permission to film dependent on those
providing permission telling you where they'd like you to go?
The weather
We had the first heat with interesting weather causing complications for
the artists.
The morning was clearly a typical maritime low key monochrome morning with a
grey sky and low cloud. To be followed around lunchtime by sweltering hot
weather and a brilliant blue sky and some very interesting high clouds.
I felt for all those who were not kitted out suitably for painting plein air
in changing weather.....
Especially that wild card painting in the sun
with a bald head and no hat.
The Artists in Episode 2
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(Left to right) Colin, Ian, Beckett, Andrew, Deborah and Anna
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Professional Artists
Four of the five artists came from Ontario - continuing the trend started
last week. Maybe those who made this programme didn't provide a very big production
budget for reimbursing the travel expenses of artists living in other
parts of Canada.
The standard seems to be one artist NOT from Ontario per heat!
If I was an artist living in Canada - somewhere other than Ontario - and I
had applied for this art competition on television, I think I'd be studying
the law and regulations around competitions and entries and how they are
treated - and maybe writing a letter to those who regulate such
things..... After all if it says "artists from all over Canada", surely there ought to be a better mix than we've seen so far!
Five professional artists took part - a listed below. There
were four painters and a book artist and I'll list them in that order