Sky Arts have come up with a brand new idea - Artist of the Year: Masterclass for all those aspiring artists out there. This post provides you with ALL THE DETAILS of what's on offer:
- which artists are involved
- what they are teaching
I've got a few problems with the words they use which are clear evidence of marketing over accuracy. That said, it's probably going to be a very popular series. Just a pity they gave it the wrong name....
The NEW Concept: Artist of the Year: Masterclass
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| Tai Shan Shierenberg will be giving masterclasses along with other artists |
Each masterclass will focus on a different subject or technique to help audiences understand the basics of painting and drawing, with classes covering everything from exploring tone and Alla Prima painting to composing a landscape, botanical flowers and even animal portraiture.
- Target audience: budding artists at home
- Methodology:
- live tutorials from a variety of talented artists who have previously participated in either PAOTY or LAOTY
- demonstrations of "easy-to-learn techniques to budding artists at home"
The odd thing is I wouldn't ever describe this as a "Masterclass"
A Masterclass in my eyes is something
- established artists may take to raise their game - the artist who has got beyond beginner but wants to progress to Intermediate or Advanced Levels.
- by learning about the things that acknowledged experts do which makes their artwork that much better.
- very ambitious
- absolutely impossible!
Next time they maybe need to be properly innovative and get away from marketing people who haven't got a clue and conventional ideas about marketing and pandering to the novice and actually do something useful - such as directing their attention to creating people who will do well in PAOTY or LAOTY e.g. teach them about the pitfalls - and how to overcome them!
Jury is out for me at the moment. I am easily impressed by solid and good quality instruction - and I know that many of those who are delivering tutorials are very experienced teachers. Equally - and sadly - I know that not all are....
So below I'm going to highlight those who are delivering classes on a face to face basis.
The Artists delivering Masterclasses
The artists are mostly those who did well in PAOTY or LAOTY or are otherwise wellknown and well liked!Links embedded in their name are to their website. Plus I've included links to Instagram where possible.
I'm commenting on what they have achieved as an artist and also whether or not they appear to be a regular teacher/instructor via classes or books.
- Gareth Reid (Instagram) won in 2017 and who was crowned Portrait Artist of the Decade last year. Gareth is a bit shy of website and the like - but is a delightful man who I had the good fortune to accompany when we were invited to the Imperial War Museum earlier this year. See NEW Blavatnik Art, Film and Photography Galleries at the Imperial War Museum
- Wendy Barratt (Instagram) has risen to prominence in the last 18 months. Her self portrait got her into Series 10 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist iof the Year. Her preliminary drawing was straight to canvas. She uses a rigger brush to emphasise certain colours and tones. She has also been an Art Tutor for over 25 years and set up the Drawing Room in Worthing to host weekly life drawing classes - which she kept going via Zoom during Covid! This is a story about how she got Back to Life. Her commission for PAOTY of Dr Jane Goodall now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
- Wendy Barratt is Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 (Series 10)
- PAOTY 2023: Commission Painting of Dr Jane Goodall
- Morag Caister (Instagram) Morag graduated with a degree in painting from the University of Brighton in 2019 and then won PAOTY in 2022 since when she has been exhibiting widely and internationally. Her commission for PAOTY of Sir Lenny Henry now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery! Susbequently she's been listed for Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe: Art & Culture and inclusion in the Evening Standard’s Art Power List 2023.
- Morag Caister wins Portrait Artist of the Year 2022 (Series 9)
PAOTY Commission - Painting Sir Lenny Henry (aka Len) - Christian Hook (Instagram) - I didn't get to know about Christian Hook's paintings until after he won PAOTY in 2014. In the last ten years he's had a number of notable celebrity commissions including painting Prince Edward and Sarah Ferguson.
Past Winners of Landscape Artist of the Year
- Finn Campbell-Notman (Instagram) He won LAOTY in 2023 having been an illustrator for most of his careet. I didn't find him the most inspiring of landscape painters but her certainly rose to the challenge when it came to delivering the commission for the National Maritime Museum to commemorate the Van der Veldes whose 350th anniversary was also being celebrarted by an exhibition at the same time.
- Finn Campbell-Notman wins Landscape Artist of the Year 2023
- Review: £10,000 Commission for Landscape Artist of the Year 2023
- Fujiko Rose - She won Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year in 2019 and is very good at architecture. see Battersea Final and Venice Commission for Landscape Artist of the Year
Other notable artists
- Adebanji Alade (Instagram) - current President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and features regularly on The One Show on BBC1. He's been doing instruction for a long time - including introducing raw novices to how to sketch. His latest book is Painting People and Places.
- Phoebe Hicks (Instagram) participated in PAOTY 2016 and got to the semi-finals. She painted Sue Perkins and Imelda Staunto, both of whom chose her portrait to take home. She graduated from the The Florence Academy of Art in 2012. She mostly works on commissions so it will be interesting to see how good she is at teaching.
- Clare Lord (Instagram) - a Landscape Artist of the Year finalist in 2021.
- Sara Reeve (Instagram) - Brighton-based painter who predominantly focuses on portraiture and also works as a wedding officiant. She is also a Tutor at Draw Brighton as a life drawing session leader and runs evening classes in Painting Portraits in Oils. She won Heat 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 10) and if you click the link you can read my review (She was the one with the whole body scrunched up self portrait!)
- Tai Shan Shierenberg (Instagram) One of the Judges of PAOTY and LAOTY since the very beginning. He studied at St. Martin's School of Art and at The Slade and his paintings are now included in the National Portrait Gallery, Tate Gallery, Cambridge University, Oxford University, BBC etc etc etc
What they'll be teaching in the Masterclasses
Artist of the Year: Masterclass will air from 2 December 2024 on
- Sky Arts,
- Freeview Channel 36 and
- streaming service NOW
These are the details of the first 20 Masterclasses which continue into next year.
- I understand there are 40 planned in total.
- Each programme lasts 30 minues.
I understand the running order has still to be confirmed, but these are the classes which will be provided. I can't resist ordering them into categories so you can see what the overall offer is very easily!
OILS - TECHNIQUES
- Tai-Shan Schierenberg
- Exploring Tone
- Christian Hook
- Colour Mixing
- Sara Reeve
- Alla Prima
- Loosening Up
OILS - PORTRAITS
- Tai-Shan Schierenberg
- How to Approach a Portrait - THIS IS THE ONE TO WATCH - all those aspiring to appearing on PAOTY definitely need to watch this programme. I have a feeling he might be kicking off the series.
Series judge, Tai-Shan Schierenberg, will also take to his easel to teach masterclasses of his own, showing the nation how he approaches an all-important portrait.
- Wendy Barratt
- Painting with a Limited Palette -
- Drawing with Paint
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| These were all Wendy's Portraits up to and including the Final |
- Morag Caister
- Painting with Lines - Morag draws with her paintbrush. I'd be very interested to hear how she approaches usig a brush rather than a pencil to draw her portraits.
- Miniature Portraits - I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to be about as most miniature portraits are hyper realistic and painted with brushes with a couple of hairs. Again, I think this might be marketing enthusiasm getting in the way of the use of correct terminology. I suspect it's about creating small portraits.
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| The unveiling of the Sir Lenny Henry commission by Morag Caistor - with Lenny trying not to blub.... |
OILS - LANDSCAPE
- Finn Campbell-Notman
- Composition in Landscape - As a very experienced illustrator, he should be very good at composition. I invariably find that those who have trained in illustration are also very good at composition.
- Painting Skies and Clouds - his commission painting certainly indicates a liking for heroic clouds and sky. Just wondering about the rest of the weather....
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| The Commission Painting by Finna Campbell-Notman |
OILS - STILL LIFE
- Clare Lord
- Introduction to Still Life - I'm extremely puzzled about the choice of artist for this subject - see her Instagram to work out why
ACRYLIC
- Adebanji Alade
- How to Paint Trees - He's a skilled plein air painter and also paints landscapes in his studio
- Figures in Landscape - see his Crowded Scenes portfolio for views of people in urban landscapes
DRAWING - CHARCOAL
- Gareth Reid - he used charcoal all the way through the heats, but switched to oils when painting Graham Norton.
- Building a Portrait - I've always felt he carves his way into a portrait by focusing first and foremost on the structure.
- Observing Facial Features - He's excellent at capturing a likeness
I first encountered Gareth Reid on a wall not on my television. He was exhibiting his small paintings of Finnish Winter Bathers for the BP Travel Award 2007 - at the National Portrait Gallery (see below)
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| Finnish Winter Bathers by Gareth Reid |
- Phoebe Hicks
- Animal Portraiture - this is going to have all the animal artists revving up their critiques. This is a very competitive market with lots of really good specialists! She's very much biased towards drawing dogs.
- Child Portraiture - If you go to her website, you'll see a lot of great drawings of children using charcoal
DRAWING - INK
- Fujiko Rose
- Botanical Flowers - this is an odd title as I'd describe Fujiko extremely effective at portraying plants / leaves in a landscape - but I'm not sure I've ever seen flowers. Plus the programme makers need to be careful to distinguish between artists who portray plants and botanical art -which has a very specific definition (despite the way it has been hijacked by marketeers of late) see What's the difference between botanical art, botanical illustration, botanical painting and flower painting? I certainly wouldn't describe what she does as "botanical flowers".
- Introduction to Inks - this is a very welcome innovation as very few people teach about drawing and painting using ink.
- You can also book face to face workshops with Fujiko
The programme is commissioned by Sky Arts and is delivered by Storyvault Films.
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