Portrait Artist of the Year starts tomorrow - and the Series 11 sitters are...

Tomorrow is the first episode of the eleventh series of Portrait Artist of the Year on Sky. I shall, of course be reviewing each episode as I have been doing for the past few years - since Series 4.

We've yet to find out who the artists are - although some are making themselves known on social media. It's allowed now - just so long as they nothing about the outcome of their heat!

PAOTY 2024: The Format

Artists enter with a self-portrait created within the last 5 years. They are selected on merit by our panel of expert judges. At the heats they are given four hours to paint a surprise celebrity sitter. The heat winners get to compete at the Semi-Final. Three of the Semi-Finalists go through to the Final but just one is the selected as the overall winner. PAOTY Website

I'm guessing the format will be the same as always - with:

• 72 artists were selected to participate in Series 11 of Portrait Artist of the Year (according to the rejection letter)
• all episodes were filmed at the Battersea Arts Centre
• there are eight heats followed by a semi-final and a final 
• each heat has three sitters
• each heat has three artists 
• each artist has four hours to draw or paint a portrait of each sitter.
• the three Judges (from the beginning) are Kate Bryan, Kathleen Soriano and Tai-Shan Schierenberg judge the competition, by assessing the artists’ progress and choosing who will advance to the semi-final and the final before selecting the overall winner who will the £10,000 Commission (see below for who they are painting this year)

Setting Up at Battersea for the Heats - in April 2024

Joan Bakewell dropped out of the programme after Series 9 - and had her portrait painted in Series 10. She's wasn't replaced and since there has been no hints or marketing I'm assuming the series will continue with Stephen Mangan as the presenter.  

I personally think this is a pity as Joan was one of the best bits of the programme - especially in relation to highlighting when she thought the Judges were being silly. 

PAOTY 2024: The Sitters

The sitters for Episode 1 are Hannah Waddingham, Richard Madeley, and Saskia Reeves.

Overall, the sitters for the series as a whole are, as always, a range of some well known and rather less well known people who have some sort of public profile.
I have to say that this year I have absolutely no idea who seven of them are - and that might be to do with my age! There again it might not it might be more to do with the age of those who were inviting people to be sitters.  I am. for example, not seeing a lot of older people which I think is a great pity. They have much more interesting faces and very often better stories....

There also seems to have been some sort of all out effort to tick all the diversity boxes (I think) - while forgetting that age is also a diversity dimension. Whether they've covered the scope of where people live across the UK might also be another matter! It feels somewhat "London Centric" to me (which I guess saves them an expensive hotel bed!)

The range of celebrity sitters for the various heats are - in alphabetical order of surname and occupation - just to mix it up!

Activist

• Heather Mills (Really???)

Actors

• Cush Jumbo 
• Saskia Reeves 
• Hannah Waddingham 

Comedian

• Rosie Jones 

Dancer

• Musa Motha

Designer/TV Presenter

• Kevin McCloud 

Food Critic

• Jimi Famurewa 

Historian

• Lucy Worsley (I'd have had her down as Presenter too!)

Magicians

• Steven Frayne/Dynamo 

Marchioness of Bath

• Emma Thynn

Musicians

• Baaba Maal
• Carly Paoli
• Rebecca Taylor/Self-Esteem 

Performer

• Layton Williams 

Poet

• Linton Kewsi Jonhson 

Presenters

• Martha Kearney
• Richard Madeley (I bet he will fidget!)
• Dan Snow

Public Health Advocate

• Dr Karan Rajan

Sports Personalities

• Andy Cole 
• Ricky Hatton 
• Jill Scott

The Commission

The winner of Portrait Artist of the Year gets a £10,000 commission from a British institution to paint a famous face, plus £500 worth of Cass Art materials. 

The commission this year was to paint Lorraine Kelly for the Portrait Gallery for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I'm saying "was" rather than "is" because the winner was selected in the summer and the commission will already have been painted!

Previous winning commissions include:

• Series 10: Dr Jane Goodall for the National Portrait Gallery
• Series 9: Lenny Henry for the National Gallery
• Series 8: Nicola Benedetti for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
• Series 7: Carlos Acosta for the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
• Series 6: Nile Rodgers for the Royal Albert Hall
• Series 5: Tom Jones for the National Museum of Wales
• Series 4: Kim Cattrall for the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool
• Series 3: Graham Norton for the National Gallery of Ireland
• Series 2: Alan Cumming for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
• Series 1: Hilary Mantel for the British Library

You can see rudimentary profiles of the artists featured in the series on the Profiles page of the PAOTY website.

How you can watch

I'm yet to be clear which channel is the lead channel for watching it. Tomorrow it's on at 8pm on:

• Sky Mix on Freeview Channel 11 - with Sky Mix being a composite channel / taster / lure to sign up for Sky Proper!
• AND Sky Arts on Freeview Channel 36

It's also - should you want to get ahead of the pack - being broadcast at 2am on the 9th on Sky Arts of the Year!!

At the same time the website still refers to "the brand" as "Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year". Very confusing!

The Making A Mark Review

As always, I shall be filling in the gaps and critiquing every episode. 

I try to write for all those who are aspiring to enter in future and include 

• a lot of my observations (which may or may not get a mention in the show) as well as 
• highlighting some of the things the Judges have to say. I also miss a few out when they are in my view being silly!

You can always look through past blog posts for Series 4-10 to find out some of the tips for artists hoping to participate in the future. 

Series 10 Winner: Wendy Barratt

Wendy's PAOTY Portrait Paintings

(left to right: self portrait submission; heat (Nicky Spence);

Final (Dame Joan Bakewell); Semi Final (Emma Bunton);

Commission for Final (her husband Fred)

Filming Series 12 of Portrait Artist of the Year | Spring 2025

Can You Watch Portrait Artist Of The Year In Person?

Yes, fans of Portrait Artist of the Year can join the artists’ friends and family in the studio to watch the heats being recorded. Filming usually takes place in March and April, and in 2024 the series’ production company Storyvault Films listed a limited number of tickets for each heat on Eventbrite so fans could come and watch the magic happen. 

Follow the page here to be notified when 2025/series 12 tickets are live.