Dates for 2023 series of Landscape Artist of the Year announced

Series 8 of Landscape Artist of the Year (2023) starts on Sky Arts on Wednesday 11th January 2023. It will then be on every Wednesday evening at 8pm for the rest of January and February.

Below you can find out about 

• the dates and locations - and 
• see a video of filming in progress at one location that I'm sure will have everybody who applied but didn't get selected saying "I'm glad I didn't have to do that one!"
• plus a REMINDER: the call for entries for Series 8 of Landscape Artist of the Year is still open and tomorrow I'll publish a post about the Call for Entries!

You can watch the series - if you live in the UK - on Sky Arts, Sky Arts on Freeview (Freeview channel 11 and Freesat channel 147) and via the NOW app.

Image used for the Call for Entries for Series 8

The series is the same format as previous series 

• In each heat, eight artists will choose their preferred medium to create a plein air painting in just four hours 
• 50 wildcard entrants - keen professional and amateur artists who have not made the official contestant list - compete at the same locations near to wherever the pods sit. The judges will assess their work nominating one best wild-card artist each week, one of whom will then go through to the semi-final.
• the judges, award winning portrait artist Tai Shan Schierenberg, curator Kathleen Soriano and art historian Kate Bryan, will assess their progress and choose who will advance to the semi-final.
• The Six Heat Winners and the selected Wild Card Winner compete in the Semi Finals for one of three places in the Finals.
• Three artists in the Finals compete for Landscape Artist of the Year 2023 - and a £10,000 Commission to paint a specific location (to be announced)

EXCEPT the number of heats is different. There are only five heats this year ( like last year) where previously there were six. (Which is the same as happened to PAOTY - where they also reduced the number of heats by one)

So the dates for the eight episodes - for your diary - are:

1. Heat 1: 11th January 2023
2. Heat 2: 18th January 2023
3. Heat 3: 25th January 2023
4. Heat 4: 1st February 2023
5. Heat 5: 8th February 2023
6. Heat 6: 15th February 2023
7. Semi Finals: 22nd February 2023
8. The Final: 1st March 2023
9. Commission: 1st March 2023?

Episode Locations

2023 LAOTY Heats

The two presenters of Landscape Artist of the Year
Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan dressed for the heat at Royal Ascot

As always, this series spans the width and breadth of the country and will challenge the artists with some of the most breathtaking and complex views (press release)

We have to wait and see which Heat was where until the series is broadcast. However I do know that filming took place at:  

• Royal Ascot - which has a dress code see Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan above - dressed for action! It's also possibly one of the most challenging locations the artists have ever been asked to paint.
• Northern Ireland: 
• the gothic grounds of Castle Ward in Northern Ireland, a National Trust site and the iconic filming location for Winterfell in Sky Atlantic’s hit series Game of Thrones 
• the shores of Strangford Lough - the he largest sea lough in the British Isles.
• Blackpool  (in June 2022): 
• one heat took place on the Blackpool Pleasure Beach on what looks very like a bleak breezy day on the Lancashire Coast - see the video below by Visit Fylde Coast (who rather amusingly thinks it's "Watercolour Challenge" for most of the video) of presenters sat having a discussion; the painters in their pods and the wild cards 
• I've also seen a second photo of the pods down on the sands of Blackpool Beach. Weather doesn't look much different.

Semi Finals and Final Locations

The Semi- Finals were filmed at the Thames Barrier - which is a a retractable barrier system built to protect the floodplain of most of Greater London from exceptionally high tides and storm surges.

The Finals were held at the picturesque and whimsical Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales.

The Commission

This season’s Landscape Artist of the Year winner will receive a £10,000 commission 

• THE CLIENT: Royal Museums Greenwich 
• COMMISSION: to create an artwork inspired by the Dutch fathers of seascape painting, The Van de Veldes. 
• EXHIBITION: The work will be exhibited in the Queen’s House, Royal Museums Greenwich alongside an exhibition The Van de Veldes: Greenwich, Art and the Sea celebrating the Dutch painters which opens on 2nd March 2023.
  

No pressure there then!

To be perfectly honest, I really cannot see how any of the locations will identify the artist who is likely to be best at delivering a commission of that nature - given both the Van der Veldes were marine painters. 

Landscape Artist of the Year sometimes makes me think they choose the Heat Locations first - before they've signed the deal on the Commission Client, location and nature of the painting!

My Reviews and Series 9 Call for Entries

Anyway - I'll be publishing a review of each episode on this blog every week following the broadcast. These will highlight key themes and learning points for those aspiring to enter future series of Landscape Artist of the Year

Don't forget - the Call for Entries for Landscape Artist Series 8 (to be shown in 2024) is still open - and I'll posting details AND TIPS tomorrow - and links to all the tips from episode reviews for previous series! 

PS You can subscribe to this blog and get an alert by email to every post published by completing the form below.