Friday, November 29, 2024

Review: Episode 8 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024

This is my review of the final heat of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 - or as Neil Watson (see end) calls it my forensic review of the show".

The artists in Episode 8 with Stephen Mangan

Next week is the semi-final and on Wednesday I'll be posting a review of all the semi-finalists as a memory jogger because I'm struggling right now to remember who got in....


Episode 8: The Sitters

As usual we have a mix of backgrounds when it comes to sitters.
  • Rebecca Taylor/Self-Esteem (Musician) - Rebecca Lucy Taylor is also known by her stage name Self Esteem. She is a British musician, songwriter and actress.
  • Dr Karan Rajan (Public Health Advocate) - an NHS surgeon and one of the biggest health and science creators on social media
  • Emma Thynn (Marchioness of Bath) - her claim to fame is she is the first black Marchioness in British History. Regularly seen on various reality shows.
I rather liked Rebecca's special object - which was the charatcer she came dressed as - with a sideswipe on her lipsticked mouth.

Episode 8: The Artists

Episode 8 artists sat on the steps at Battersea Arts Centre

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.

  • Katie Gall (Instagram) - an IT specialist from Berkshire. This is her self portrait
  • Neil Hamilton - Neil-Jack Alphonsus Hamilton is an Irish artist based in Donegal. He was born in County Down and comes from a family of artists. He graduated in Fine Art from the University of Ulster, Belfast in 2014 and has exhibited his work in numerous local and international shows. He previously competed in Portrait Artist of the Year in 2022. He works on commissions and as a life drawing tutor.
  • Kirstin Mackinnon - an optometrist from Glasgow. She's previously been longlisted for portrait awards.
  • Asa Medhurst (Instagram)- a creative agency owner and a contemporary figurative artist from South London working in oils and charcoal. He likes to blur the boundary between the real and the imaginary. He graduated from the Kent Institute of Art & Design in 1995 and has since gone on to study at The Royal Drawing School, Art academy and London Fine Arts. He's previously exhibited in the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. His portrait below is based on the photo he took in the heat and is rather better than the one he produced at the time - see explanation in text.

  • Gaby Moxy (Instagram) - a professional artist from East Chinnock in Somerset who paints portraits and also has a decorative arts business.
  • Brianna Lois Parker (Instagram) - a Caribbean-British professional oil painter  from South East London who graduated with a first class degree in Fine Art in 2021. Her work encapsulates everyday experiences and is strongly Black and British and she has a personal relationship with the subjects of her artwork. I liked her portraits on Instagram. I'm somewhat surprised not to hear that she was the first winner of the Margate Art Prize, selected by Tracy Emin
  • Ed Simkins - a graphic designer This is his selfportrait. He studied at Chelsea School of Art at Foundation level but the need for a career took him into Graphic Design and Publishing. 30 years later he now makes art his priority and works across various media.
  • Bran Sivakumar (Instagram) - He has two careers. He's a Children's Hand, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital and is also a contemporary British artist who works mostly in oils focusing on studies of still life, portraiture and the human figure. He has a painting in the current annual exhibition by the ROI at the Mall Galleries so I may well have seen him at the Private View yesterday without realising it!

  • Cristina Vercesi (Instagram) - Originally from Pavia in Italy and now based in London. In her late 30s, in 2017,  she enroled to study at the London Fine Art Studios.where she is now a tutor

The Self Portraits


Judges reviewing the self portraits by artists participating in Episode 8

As you can see this is how the analysis of self portraits worked. Rather fewer smaller self portraits than in some heats and rather more medium/large submissions. Many fewer "just a head".

FORMAT -  two thirds plumped for the portrait format and three went with another way of looking at portraits
  • Portrait format x 6
  • Landscape x 2
  • Square x 0
  • Tondo x 1
SIZE - no extremes of size and most avoided smaller sizes 
  • Very Large x 0
  • Large x 0
  • Large/Medium x 4
  • Medium x 3
  • Small x 2
  • Tiny x 0
SCOPE 
  • full size or most of body (including hand) x 0
  • head, shoulder and hand(s) x 4
  • head and upper torso (no hands) x 2
  • head and shoulders x 2
  • head x 1
Note my comments about content of self portraits below.


Themes

Do you now NEED to demonstrate you can do a full length portrait?


I'm very inclined to say that showing you can paint a head is no longer enough for this art competition.

It was interesting to note that in this heat we had four artists who had produced self-portraits which were head and shoulders / upper torso / plus hand(s). That's moving a long way from just a head alone towards a fully body self portrait.

Only one person submitted 'just a head'.

Of those shortlisted at the end, only one had included a full figure portrait in the heat - and that was the winner.

The real test of this is to see how people progress at the semi-finals - so let's see what happens next week

The importance of hands

Every time an artist applies to Portrait Artist of the Year and submits a self-portrait which is just a head, they miss out on the opportunity to demonstrate that you can paint hands - unless they then paint hands in the heat!

Hands are NOT the easiest thing to paint. Suffice to say it's very unlikely that you can paint hands well unless you've made a major effort to practice them. I personally think believable hands are more difficult than heads.

Neil Hamilton with his self-portrait plus hands in tondo format

Neil Hamilton decided to demonstrate that he can not only paint just one hand - the classic approach taken by those who want to demonstrate they can do more than head and shoulders. Rather that he can paint hands from either side doing different things. It's more than a bit OTT but he makes a point forcefully!

Of course, there are hands and there are hands! Brianna Lois Porter found a way of making the hand dominant but covered. I thgought it was ingenious!

Brianna Lois Porter with her self portrait

Of those shortlisted at the end, only one had included a hand in the self-portrait - and that was the winner.

TIP: Try and get at least one hand, preferably two plus torso into your self portrait. This is particularly relevant, if you feel that you're probably best focusing on painting "just a head" in the heat. What you then give the Judges is two perspectives on what you can do.

Getting lost in the tablet image


Judges do notice what you are painting from. Sitters also notice whether or not you ever look at them. Staring at your tablet / iPad the whole time is not the most brilliant idea.

Reality is not the tablet image. Reality is the person who's sat right in front of you. If you're puzzled by any aspect, there's nothing to stop you taking a short stroll to gaze at closer quarters - although I notice nobody ever does this.

Use a digital image for reference- but do remember the real colour of the skin is right in front of you and not on a tablet! Once you've got the structure drawn in - everything else is colour and tone and brushwork.

Not painting everything aka "absence" or "unfinished"


Judges comment from time to time, as they did in this heat, about artists who suggest rather than painting everything faithfully.  

Words like "absence" or "unfinished" may be used when they talk about the art. (Not that they are always correct of course!)

Artists need to be clear that Judges are not at all averse to "less than totally realistic". Indeed I'd go so far as to say they lean more towards the impressionistic and away from the hyperrealistic.

However there's a difference between:
  • "unfinished" - as in you have made a deliberate artistic / stylistic choice to leave out some of the information in front of you
  • "unfinished" - as in you ran out of time! Remember Judges are looking all the time at how you prepare, how fast you paint and can assess for themselves what the chances are of you finishing within the time allowed.  So you can't make up a notion of this was a deliberate choice when it was actually just lack of practice at painting in four hours coupled with poor time management

Coming with a plan


The Judges commented on the fact in this heat there were.....
A lot of confident artists who have come with a plan

Coming with a plan is a really really good idea. The situation in the big hall at Battersea Arts Centre is quite unreal 
  • a huge place with lots of very bright lights 
  • plus you've got people filming you 
  • plus Judges and the presenter interrupting to from time to time 
So what you need is some extra help to 
  • keep the idea of a good process at the forefront of your brain
  • have an idea about how best to spend four hours for drawing and/or painting
  • which in turn helps you understand whether you're keeping up with the plan or falling behind and it'll all end up being a rush at the end
  • have practiced beforehand - and hence know what works for them.
BTW, if the morning was a disaster, you can always paint through lunch! It's never counted as part of the four hours because most people take the break for lunch. But if you want to get back on track - or just have some uninterrupted time with no cameras, presenter or judges then the time to paint is through lunch. You can always munch as you paint! Bring some protein bars!!

Your presence online


I'm going to say again something I've said before. I am amazed at how many reach a stage of public exposure - whether it's being long/short listed for a prestigious national art prize or just being hung in a "NOT the local art society exhibition".

I find my attitude to an artist changes as I consider how they present themselves to the world. When I have nothing to consider, I naturally think they're not interested in getting out there and making something of themselves.

That's because if you want to make it as an artist, you also need to apply effort to business end of things which means getting involved with websites and social media and marketing in general. 

Some may think that the Judges never ever look at websites or social media. Whereas the reality is that quite a few of the PAOTY (and LAOTY) participants are people who get noticed BECAUSE they are on social media (notably Instagram) and they are then invited by the organisers to participate by submitting an application. There's quite a few people who have progressed quite a long way who started off with an invite.

Speaking personally, there's no way I could judge artwork created in a heat without taking some time out at some point during the day to take a look at how an artist presents themself online.

Just saying....


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The Portraits and the Judging


Below is:
  • which artist's portrait was chosen by which sitter
  • who the Judges shortlisted
  • the artist who won this heat

Who the Sitter Chose


Each of the sitters has the option of choosing one work to take home with them for free.

Three Portraits of Emma Thynne

I don't think any of the artists got a good likeness of Emma. Reference was predictably made to "the curse of the pretty woman" - which always makes me think if they know this why do they invite pretty women? However I know what they mean - and pretty women are very difficult to paint.

Emma Thynne went with the image bottom right by Brianna Lois Parker who was ecstatic to have her painting chosen by the sitter.

Dr Karan Rajan

Three versions of Dr Karan Rajan

I thought all the artists had a good go at Karan - except a couple of heat portraits ended up looking rather morose. I thought there was a bit more life and sparkle to him then comes over in some of the heat portraits.  In part, this is the problem of working from a photo which was taken at the time when you've only just met the sitter and you have absolutely no idea whatsoever what they look like when relaxed (i.e. more like themselves)

Dr Rajan chose the painting by Gaby Moxy (bottom right above)  - and said it was like looking in the mirror. She was certainly the only one who got the 'twinkle in his eyes'.

RebeccaTaylor/Self-Esteem

Two of the three paintings of Rebecca Taylor made it into the Final. It's a pity one of them is cut off above.

There was a bit of an issue with the mouth - because of the smear that the sitter created before she sat down - as her special object was the persona of Sally Bowles.

Rebecca Taylor chose the painting by Katie 

The Shortlist

This is about who the Judges chose for their shortlist.

Lined up for the shortlisting

The shortlist for the place in the Semi Final was all female and comprised:
  • Kirstin Mackinnon
  • Katie Gall
  • Gaby Moxy
Below are the pics of the self portrait next to the heat portrait for all three artists

Before you read on, just looking at this picture of the self portraits and heat portraits, which artist do you think won/should have won?

Self Portraits and Heat Portraits by the shortlisted artists
(left to right: Kirstin Mackinnon; Gaby Moxy and Katie Gall)

None of the paintings are large. Indeed, two thirds would be classified by me as 'Small"

Both Gaby and Katies adopted views of the face which were quite similar in their self portrait and heat portrait. Only Kirstin created two very different portraits.

Kirstin Mackinnon

Self portrait and heat portrait by Kirstin Mackinnon

Both portraits are well designed and attract attention through the inclusion of aspects which are unusual
  • her self portrait includes a painted on moustache
  • the background of the heat portrait is very dynamic and helps to focus attention on the sitter
Plus she was the ONLY artist to do a portrait of the full figure - and within the context of the heat.

There is also a much profound sense of body language saying the unsaid.  The Judges thought the body language is spot on.

One of the Judges considered it had a fantastic sense of life and also that the painting had a sense of movement.

Katie Gall

self portrait and heat portrait by Katie Gall

They both are also really good likenesses of the artist and her sitter.  I really like the self portrait. I'm less keen on the heat portrait as I think there's a tad of Katie in the portrait of Rebecca.

She's used a landscape format for both paintings which adds interest because the substance of the sitter is conveyed by the edge of the shoulders which are evident in both.

Gaby Moxy


Self portrait and portrait of Gaby Moxy

Both portraits are straight on and very direct.

I was very struck when I viewed this pic of how much the shapes of the heads of Gaby Moxy and Dr Karan Rajan are similar - as is the composition and the style of the portrait.

I had Gaby down as a strong contender. There's the issue of only doing the head for the self portrait and then only doing a head in the heat - which means the Judges don't know how good you are at anything else. 

I think if she'd created a more marked difference between her self-portrait and the portrait on the day, she may well have done better.



PAOTY 2024 Episode 8 Winner


The very last wait to hear who has won the heat 
and will progress to the semi-finals


Kirstin Mackinnon with her self-portrait
"the painting of marks on a painting of marks"

The winner of Episode 8 was Kirsten Mackinnon.

She wasn't my winner and I gather from numerous comments online that I wasn't alone in thinking that.

I certainly hadn't picked up on the likelihood of her being the winner from the comments by the Judges. Personally, I'd have wanted to see rather more on her website to give me confidence too.

Which leaves me inclined to think that her "bravery" in going for a proper full figure portrait involving an odd way of sitting and an oversized suit and a smeared lipstick was the right thing to do.

I think there may also be a message in there for quite a few artists applying for next year.

Consider whether it's the case that all artists need to be very sure that he or she  can do full figures if they want to be considered "a serious contender" and progress to the semi-finals...

and finally....

One final thing. I've come across a new site called the Sky Arts Artist Of The Year Companion created by Neil Watson. 

More pics and fewer words than my post!


Next episode: The Semi Finals


No new artists next week because of course it's eight artists we've seen before - the winners of each heat will be faced with
the thrilling challenge of painting acclaimed actress Joely Richardson.
I'll be doing a post on Wednesday which recaps what we know about the artists and the paintings they've produced so far.

Then we can all start guessing who's going to make it to the Final before we watch the programme!


Reviews & Learning Points (PAOTY Series 5-11)

Series 11 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2024)


Series 10 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2023)


Series 9 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2022)

Plus

Series 8 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2021)


Series 7 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2020)


Series 6 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Spring 2020)


Series 5 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Winter/Spring 2019)


Series 4 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Winter / Spring 2018)

PLUS if you want to find out more.....
Posted by Making A Mark on Friday, November 29, 2024
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