This is my review of Heat 4 in Series 11 of Portrait Artist of the Year which was filmed last Spring at the Battersea Arts Centre.
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| Judges discussing the shortlisted artists and their artwork - which was much smaller than usual |
The series is televised on Sky Arts (Freeview) every Wednesday at 8pm - and can also be watched on Catchup if you have access to Sky or Now.
Episode 4: The Sitters
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| top right: Rosie Jones; Bottom left: Linton Kwesi Johnson |
- Rosie Jones - age 34 who is a Comedian, Presenter, Author and Disability Rights Activist;
- Linton Kwesi Johnson - age 72 who is a Jamaica-born, British-based Poet and reggae artist. His performance poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican patois over dub-reggae
- Andy Cole - age 53 who is retired footballer and Sports Personality who achieved records for scoring goals or as Steven Mangan said he's a "football legend"
Episode 4: The Artists
All the artists are listed below alphabetically by surname - but are not differentiated between professional and amateur.
Given Sky Arts has given up on providing links to their website and social media sites, this blog is now the ONLY site where you can find them! The link to their main 'contact' site is embedded in their name and social media sites follow - if available.
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| The artists after completing their heat paintings on the steps of Battersea Arts Centre |
The artists are :
- Sophia Ambrose (Instagram) - a painter, writer DJ, and Spiritual Awakening Coach
who lives in London. She returned to painting age 45 and gradually changed careers. These are her portraits. She uses a ginormous palette which you can see here (on the table). - Jennifer Anderson (Instagram) - a portrait painter who paints on metal. She grew up just outside Glasgow and now lives and works in the city’s West End. She attended Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, graduating in 1997 with a 1st class honors degree in Fine Art (painting). She has exhibited widely throughout the UK and internationally in New York, Singapore, Florida, Zurich, and Toronto and received a number of awards. She's very experienced at working on commission and has produced a number of portraits for Oxford Colleges and other universities. Her website has an interesting explanation about why and how she makes artistic choices. I first mentioned her on this blog back in 2008 when she was selected to exhibit in the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize exhibition and I've first got her on record as an exhibitor in the BP Portrait Prize back in 2009 (This blog is wonderful for tracking artist's careers if you enter art competitions! The April 2024 edition of Artists and Illustrators included an interview with her - In the Studio with Jennifer Anderson (Do read it!)
- Vincent Michael Brown ( Website | Facebook | Instagram ) - from Bristol. He's been a professional artist since 2002 and participated in 2020 (in Episode 7 of Series 7). began first selling my art and taking commissions at the age of eleven. He's co-founder of Artime (a gallery, studio, art school and shop) with a good track record in art competitions. He's been Shortlisted for the 2021 Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize and exhibited at 2022 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - with the painting he entered as his self portrait - which took 150 hours to paint. This is a link to his post about his experience this year
- Steven Mackus (Instagram) - An artist, wood carver and (at the time) a speciality barista working across the highlands. This is his link to very tiny his self portrait. Unusually, he went bigger than his self-portrait for his heat portrait! He refers to himself as producing imperfect oil paintings.
- Nadia Padayachy - a marketing manager in Cambridgeshire. Her self-portrait featured in an article titled ‘The Art of PR’ Showcases The Work of Artists Working in UK Public Relations (You can see it in The Art of PR Exhibition, which is open to the public between 18th and 23rd November 2024 at The Coningsby Gallery, 30 Tottenham Street, London)
- Michelle Pang - an art graduate from Gloucester. In 2022, she graduated from De Montfort University with an Fine Art BA (Hons). You can watch her painting on TikTok
Filming took place at the vibrant @batterseaartscentre in London earlier this year, and what an unforgettable moment it was! From the intense pressure to the unexpected surprises, the whole experience felt like a dream. I faced challenges I never imagined, but it was beyond rewarding and truly an amazing experience. Michelle Pang
- Giulia Quaresima (Facebook, Instagram) - an Italian portrait and figurative artist living and working in Cambridgeshire. She has had an extensive art education: in 2006, she graduated with a BA in Painting (Hons) from the Academy of Fine Arts, Carrara, in 2009, she gained BA (Hons) in Cultural Heritage Studies at the University of Pisa, Italy in 2012 she completed her MA in History of Contemporary Art (Hons) at the University of Pisa, Italy. She's exhibited at Women in Art Fair, Society of Women Artists, Society of Graphic Fine Art in London and across the UK.
- Conor Quinn - a painter, sculptor and animator living in London. He's studied at the Royal Drawing School (2018), then studied Animation Production at Arts University Bournemouth (2022) and is currently studying at the Royal College of Art (graduating 2025). He won a British animation award (2022). Check out this self portrait (not the one in PAOTY)
- Jemima Spence - a figurative painter and mural painter living and working in Armley in Leeds. Her murals are very impressive! She studied Graphic design and Illustration in Liverpool. She's an early career artists but has exhibited her work locally in Leeds and Bradford, as well as in London at the Mall Galleries.
The Self Portrait Submissions
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| Judges viewing the Self Portrait Wall before the heat begins |
The range of sizes were extreme.
