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Friday, February 10, 2023

Review: Episode 5 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2023 - Ascot

The fifth episode of Landscape Artist of the Year 2023 - again at Royal Ascot - was broadcast on Wednesday night (repeated yesterday).

First up, I apologise for the negative notes which are creeping into my posts this series. 

My irritation and disappointment with this series means I've now actually got to the point where I've decided that I will be writing an additional critique post - after it's finished - at the end of this series highlighting the critical issues associated with production values and competence in delivery which are now actively DETERRING PEOPLE from:

  • wanting to watch
  • wanting to apply for the next series or future series.
I find this very, very sad - and something which must be addressed if this series is to continue and not become a figment of fun.

a top down view of the location of Episode 5 at Royal Ascot - in Car Park 7D
in between the picnics (behind them) and the racecourse (in front of them)
with the WildCards in front of them and the Royal Enclosure in the far distance

As always, my review covers:
  • the location and weather
  • the artists' profiles
  • themes arising during the episode
  • who was shortlisted and who won

Episode 5: Ascot


Location


Some of the locations in this series now appear to be actively deterring people from applying to be pod artists or wildcards for the filming this summer. It ought to be doing quite the reverse!

I have a number of VERY negative vibes about this location:
  • absolutely useless location re landscape
  • there was a strong reek of being gimmicky combined with "a jolly for the Judges and the Presenters" 
  • numerous comments about it being a very bad choice given the current economic context
  • I had a suspicion that the programme makers were working with the hosts so that it was advertising Ascot. We certainly got far too much footage of what the place is like during Royal Ascot. Maybe that was the condition or "quid pro quo" for filming there?
Bottom line, it very much felt like "selling out...."

Pod artists behind Wildcard Artists
in the car park / picnic area next to the very wide racecourse at Royal Ascot

The main problem for me is with where the pods were sited (in both episodes) in terms of what they did to try and resolve the "how to be at one location and have two totally different views" conundrum (it's what happens in ever series - and they mostly pull it off reasonably successfully) by 
  • putting the Pods next to the racecourse yet again
  • but this time further back so they had the Wildcard artists in front of them!
It simply didn't work. Which prompted the following comments
"We've never had so much in the foreground before" Katheleen Soriano

"so densely populated"  

"There's just such a lot of 'things'!"

"The scene does not lend itself to an organic approach" Peter Latchford

"It's very artificial in a sense" Tai Shan Shierenberg

Or as one of the viewers commenting afterwards put it

Thought Ascot was a dead loss as a venue the first time it was shown and this was just reinforced by the second airing. Felt so sorry for the artists. I noticed that the judges even seemed a bit bewildered and came close to criticising it - one of the times they were filmed sitting or standing together, they said something like "this is the most populous landscape we've ever had". "Full of people and not much landscape" but didn't actually go so far as to say "this is ridiculous". There was also far too much emphasis on how much they were enjoying the occasion - that's irrelevant IMO. It's an art competition first and foremost - not primarily a social occasion.
Says it all really. Except for the one artist - Luke Adam Hawker - who caught the location perfectly! (see below)

I am still completely bemused about what connection Ascot Racecourse has with the commission relating to the Van de Velde brother painters or the Netherlands. 

It strikes me some of the planning for each series is done the wrong way round.

The Weather


It was an absolutely scorching hot day - with repercussions because of the heat. 
I think the programme makers might well think twice about having very elderly painters in the show. They had to move the 91 year old lady pod artist out of the pod and put her in the shade and then surround her with fans so she could keep painting. I bet this had a few programme makers reaching for their third party liability insurance cover document! (i.e. irrespective of anything it might say in the terms and conditions, they have a duty of care to avoid and make provision for anything injurious to your health - not optional!) 

Personally I think they'd do an awful lot better to move filming of LAOTY out of the summer months and into Spring or Autumn. 
  • You can get rain and wind anytime of year 
  • but you're more likely to run into problems with heat during high summer - which is when they currently film.



TIP: Bright sunlight is the enemy of the plein air painter. Apart from the obvious potential risk to your health (i.e. sunstroke!), painting in bright sunlight is an absolute plein air painting "no no" (because it distorts colours and tones) - as they would know if they had anybody who was involved with plein air painting involved with the programme!
  • READ my blog post about Plein air art - 10 tips for working with sunshine and shade which provides a number of very practical tips for those unused to working plein air.
  • If you are a wildcard artist remember to bring something to shade you and your painting if the weather forecast indicates sun. 
  • If you are a programme maker provide shade covers for the pods for all artists so they can see colours and tones more accurately on their supports - and artists don't boil over during the process! (I'm basing the comment on the fact I can see LOTS of shadows on the floor of the pods)

The Artists in the Pods


Episode 5 pod artists are listed BELOW in the alphabetical order of their surnames.
  • Links to their websites are embedded in their names.
  • Social media platforms are also referenced.
Episode 5 artists with their submission paintings
There was no image in the programme which showed them all together
and it was possible to see every one of them individually

The info in my profiles is pulled partly from the programme but also from their websites.
You can also see videos of them painting on https://www.skyartsartistoftheyear.tv/landscape-profiles/
  • Peter Latchford (Instagram) - a management consultant from Shropshire. He is a visiting Professor at BCU and was awarded an OBE in 2012. Largely self-taught, Peter has been a part-time professional artist for thirty years.
  • Michael Moore (Facebook | Instagram) - a retired head teacher from Hampshire
  • Steve Nice - a retired IT consultant from Nottingham. His submission was large and mostly monochromatic. He appears to have no presence online.
  • Tushar Sabale (Facebook | Instagram) - an Indian born British artist based in London. He mainly paints plein air in oil colours. Co-founder of ‘ The London Plein Air’ group. He was elected a Candidate member of ‘ The Wapping Group of Artists’ in 2022.
  • Edwina Sercombe (Facebook | Instagram) - an Oxfordshire based artist working across multiple disciplines. She studied at Chelsea College of Art & Design before completing a BA Hons in Textile Design, specialising in Print at the Glasgow School of Art in 2006. Edwina now works from her home studio in Oxfordshire. 

The Wildcards


Be at the front of the crowd if you want a good location.... ;) 

The Wildcards turned up again - suited, dressed and hatted for the car parks linked to the Royal Enclosure - although a number also remembered, very sensibly, to bring painting aprons!

Some also very sensibly remembered to bring parasols or umbrellas for shade.

Submissions


I've come to the view that whoever is managing locations for this series - apart from not understanding what are good locations - also doesn't understand how to deliver critical images for the integrity of the programme.

This is the best shot we got of all the submission artworks together - which initially I thought (like in other weeks) might be because they couldn't get a better one.

Absolutely no shot of ALL the submissions together


I was wrong. They just hadn't pulled back far enough and actually TRIED to get a shot of all the submissions together. 

Look how much more are visible below - or they would be if not totally obscured by the Judges!

Judges obscure the artwork yet again

It's almost as if the programme makers don't understand that 
  • the submission artwork is critically important to who gets shortlisted and who wins
  • people watch for the ARTWORK and NOT interminable pictures of the Judges.
In my view, it be would be such a better programme if more of the Judges' comments were done as voiceovers and NOT as 'talking heads" - and there was more emphasis on the visual art and much less on the judges and presenters. 

Somebody needs to construct a placard and walk round with it at the next filming. It could maybe say something like "People Watch for the Artwork and the Artists" - as it very much seems as if some people need reminding of this.

Themes, Learning Points and Tips


A very BAD location/programme for a country in economic crisis


How on earth anybody thought that showing these Ascot episodes in the current economic context was a good idea is completely beyond me. 

Instead what we got was lots of footage of a very segregated location with toffs on "a very expensive jolly" displaying their wealth via quaffing champagne and general very conspicuous consumption so they can have a good time - and display their wealth! Let's not forget the 'in your face' wealth!

I'm assuming nobody at Storyvault or Sky Arts has the sensitivity or perception to realise that many people watching this episode would find these episodes HUGELY INSENSITIVE - if not offensive - within the context of a country which has experienced massive hikes in mortgage rates, food bills and energy costs. 

Why also were we getting shots of the Royal Enclosure when the artists were nowhere near it and could not see it even if they had binoculars?

Is this a programme and/or companies with no moral values whatsoever? 

Luke Adam Hawker caught the nature of the place exactly - and I thought his drawing was very brave - and I thank him for that. His imaginative composition of the sense of segregation was spectacular - as was his mark-making in pen and ink. I thought it was stunning.


Get a pair of binoculars and take them with you


One of the big problems with the location was that they were a VERY long way from any action - unless you count an excess of green racecourse with trees in the background as all you need for a landscape - plus horses streaking past very fast from time to time!

If they are going to carry on with these very silly locations, I strongly recommend you do as one artist did - and bring a pair of binoculars with you to work out what you're looking at.

Or maybe to confirm that you can't actually see what they tell you is out there!

Maybe also turn round and look the other way too. There's no reason why you have to paint what you're pointed at!


"It's very undone"


The word 'undone' has been been a description used by Kate Bryan REPEATEDLY this season. She needs to stop.

It's shorthand art lingo - which makes it sound rather "arty farty" but, in case you were wondering, the term is not included in any recognised dictionary or glossary of art terms.  
  • She means "it's not very finished" - but spares us the explanation of whether this is a good or bad thing. 
  • The definition of 'undone' is 'NOT DONE' or 'UNFINISHED'. 
What it would be more interesting to know is whether this quality of 'undone' is positive or negative - as she's used it in both senses! 

Maybe the use of other words would be more instructive?

Very hot days and media don't mix!


I know that quite a lot of those turning up for LAOTY filming have never painted plein air before - and can experience some nasty surprises as a result - particularly in extremes of weather.

For those not used to plein air painting, it's worth remembering that ALL art media behaves differently when it's blisteringly hot. In general, it affects the way the paint binds with the support - although sometimes the impact is noticed later rather than sooner!
  • watercolour dries almost instantly. 
  • acrylic also dries much faster and becomes ever more difficult to handle - except in the hands of those who've experienced this before
  • it's unwise to use oil paints in temperatures in excess of 90 degreesF
Dry media and pen and ink are sometimes better options. I've certainly drawn all over the world using these and had no problems. Mind you I was doing the sketches rather than "paintings to impress"!

TIP: If you want to participate in LAOTY, make sure you acquaint yourself with how media behaves differently in different types of weather


Decision Time


Wildcard Winner

As somebody observed, "there's nothing monochrome about (the wildcards') efforts".

an ambitious watercolour diptych on paper by a wildcard

The wildcard winner was Lucia Hardy - who you can see below.  I think I liked her painting more than any of those by the shortlisted artists! Do visit the link embedded in 'her painting' - where she describes what it was like painting there on the day!

I'd never been to Ascot before, I quickly realised I felt much more suited to the stables than the trackside glamour we had surrounding us. But I was fascinated by the horses and their riders, the connection, the dynamics and energy they brought to the race.

Our painting time started long before the races were due to run and although I could work on most of the painting in the lead up - I wanted to take the gamble and include the racers before finishing my painting

She paints in acrylics, draw and use mixed media, working from her garden studio on the borders of London and Essex, UK and exhibits with Bob Cat Gallery Online, Gallery No.3 in Ingatestone, Essex and the George Farnham Gallery, Saxmundham, Suffolk. 

She's also written some interesting blog posts about using acrylics for painting which are worth a read



Shortlisted Artists

Episode 5 artists lined up to hear who has been shortlisted
Left to right: Edwina, Luke Alison, Peter, Michael, Steve, Dawn and Tushar

I have to say 
  • I thought most of the artwork produced on the day was pretty underwhelming - for which I blame the programme makers and not the artists
  • I think also it's very possible that the shortlist might well have been different if we'd been in a different location. One with some proper landscape.....
There were a number of comments online about this being "a weak episode" - but I don't think the artists really had a chance to shine, although I confess I do think there have been much better artists in other episodes.  

The shortlisted artists were:
  • Alison Boshoff
  • Steve Nice 
  • Tushar Sabale
I personally would have included Luke Adam Hawker, although I'm not sure who'd I'd have pulled to make way for him. 

But maybe the Judges were now wary of selecting another imaginative response to a dreadful location?

These are their submissions and heat paintings lined up next to one another - ready for the final judging - and you can see, for the first time, their relative size.
 
Paintings by shortlisted artists
Left to right: Alison, Steve and Tushar


The main issue for me with all of them is how the depth of the painting - from front to back was handled. They all come across to me as rather flat and curiously two dimensional.


Alison Boshoff: Submission painting and heat painting

I liked Alison's two very colourful paintings a lot. I also liked her idea of getting "Dame Joan" as she called her into her painting - while using her phone!

The compositions were generally good and the colour mixing and the brushwork were lush!

I do wonder whether the final result might have been different if Alison got some bigger boards and bigger brushes and painted BIGGER!

Steve Nice: submission and heat paintings 

Steve has a very sharp edged graphical way of painting volumes and shapes. The monochromatic submission with strong cropping of the scene and "dabs" of colour works really well. Tai referred to it having a "flat pop sensibility".

In his heat painting, he certainly got the most people in and as a record of the day it's curiously effective without speaking at all of the colour, light and heat.

For me, it looked very flat mainly because there was no recognition whatsoever of atmospheric perspective which should have meant that the contrast between tonal value in the foreground was more marked than that of the background - whereas the contrast worked at the same level through the different zones of the painting.

About which nobody said a thing! Which I found odd. 

                                                                     
Tushar Sabale: submission painting and heat painting

Tushar kept both us and the Judges guessing as to whether he was going to submit just one of the two panoramic paintings he painted in the heat or whether he was going to submit a diptych. In the end it was the latter - and I think he actually achieved the best portrayal of where they were and what they had to look at of the day - although he left out all the people - both wildcards and racegoers.

He has a very curious way of painting where all is suggestion underpinned by a pretty decent sense of shape and proportion. He suggests what's there rather than trying to nail every detail. I have no problem with that - and I think his ambition re size of the diptych is admirable! He looks to me like a man who could handle a commission.

Given the earlier comments about there's not much to look at except for the huge hordes of people, I wonder whether he might have had a different outcome if he'd included some suggestive marks for people.....


The Winner


Waiting to hear who has won
left to right: Alison, Steve and Tushar

The winner was Steve Nice. 


The winner is....

I liked his commission painting - which was well considered both in terms of composition and colour. His heat painting was effective in terms of representation - but I'm not sure it reflected the colours and heat of the day. Plus he only did it in blue because of a throwaway comment by Kate Bryan which got laughs from the other Judges!

However, is he a finalist? I rather think not. Mainly because he's an amateur with a GCSE in art and I think it very likely that he lacks experience in commissions.

Next week: Episode 6 at Strangford Lough


We're back in Northern Ireland and they finally moved the Pods down to the shoreline of Strangford Lough - the largest sea lough in the British Isles.

AT LAST!!!  Some proper nature and landscape!!

View of the Pods - minus cameras - on the shore of Strangford Lough

Postscript


I've gone back to watching the early series of Landscape Artist of the Year - which I initially missed (not having access to Sky Arts at the time) which you can now find at both non-Terrestrial Sky Arts and Now TV. In part to:
  • compare the calibre of the artists
  • compare the nature and variation in locations
 These were very much oriented around National Trust properties - although apparently they never worked out that the National Trust also owns vast tracts of countryside - with facilities!

REFERENCE:

The programme is broadcast by Sky Arts ( available on Sky, Now TV and Channel 11 on Freeview) and the films are made by Storyvault Films.

Landscape Artist of the Year 2024

For all those interested in entering the series which will be filmed this summer - see my blog post about Call for Entries: Landscape Artist of the Year 2024 (Series 9). The closing date for submissions is NOON on Friday 28th April 2023.

NOTE: You now do NOT get to see the Terms and Conditions until you have registered to enter - which seems absolutely crackers to me! How can you know if you want to register at all unless given all relevant information. It's looking very much akin to email harvesting to me - and needs to be changed back to the way it has been in previous years.

2023 series

All the reviews in Series 8 include themes for reference by future participants - or plein air painters working to a time frame - in terms of problems experienced and challenges overcome.

I'll be archiving the reviews of each episode in the reference section at the end of each episode.
on

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