Just a quick reminder (I know I need one!) of who got through to the semi finals and what they've painted so far.
YOUR CHALLENGE - should you accept it - is to predict the three chosen to progress to the Final after reviewing their self portrait and heat portrait only.....
The images are of the portrait paintings by the artist to date.
The Semi Finalists
I've just noticed, all the semi-finalists are women but for two! So there's going to be at least one woman in the Final and there's a chance it might be all three!
He is a visual effects animator who lives in Tunbridge Wells. He graduated with honours from Birmingham where he studied fine art (1989-91), specialising in painting, at between the years 1989-1991. Since 1994, he has worked as a character and VFX animator in the feature film industry. He returned to oil painting in 2022 and his instagram account clearly demonstrates that he is very capable of capturing both a likeness and expressions and loves to use colour - which he does very well. He has also exhibited at the annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries (NEAC 2023, Royal Society of Portrait Painters 2024)
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| self portrait and heat portrait by Paul Lee |
A full time professional artist based in Oxfordshire. She is a member of the
Oxford Art Society and was a shortlisted artist selected to exhibit at the
British Art Prize 2023. She made a point of practising in advance. She was very surprised when she won - but shouldn't have been.
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| Self Portrait and Heat Portrait by Polly Pincott |
He was born in 1995 in South London and is now a painter and leatherworker based in Margate. In 2019, he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Illustration and Visual Media from London College of Communication. He worked in freelance illustration and animation until moving to Margate and training in leatherwork with Cope Studio.His self portrait took him 5 hours - but he's practiced painting a portrait within 4 hours before the heat
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| Self portrait and heat portrait by Brogan Bertie |
I'd be very surprised if Jennifer is not in the Final.
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| Self Portrait and Heat Portrait by Jennifer Anderson |
A figurative and portrait artist based in North London. She was awarded a First Class, BA (Hons) Painting by The University of Edinburgh / Edinburgh College of Art, (2017- 2021). In 2024 she was a
Winner of the BTA Rising Star Award. In 2023 she was longlisted for the Scottish Portrait Award, 2023. She already has a very impressive listing of group exhibitions on her website dating back to 2018. She painted a very good likeness of Lucy Worsley
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| self portrait and heat portrait by Jenna Waldren |
A creative professional based in London who shares her work via Instagram. She's from New Haven, Connecticut with a degree in art history and she has worked as an art handler, art writer, and art podcaster. She's written a book called
Crosshatching in Pen & Ink (2022). This is her self portrait. She avoids screens and prefers to paint from photos.
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| self portrait and heat portrait by August Lamm |
An art technician from North Norfolk. She participated in the 2022 series when she painted Big Zuu and was shortlisted. She completed her A Levels in 2019 and started her professional career as an artist. She likes expressionistic figurative paintings, and has an interest in storytelling and depicting moments and experiences from my life. In 2023, she participated in Royal Society of British Artists’ Bicentennial Exhibition (March), Affordable Art Fair Hampstead and The Jackson’s Painting Prize exhibition at Bankside Gallery. She painted Kevin McCloud with a very large boot
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| Self portrait and heat portrait by Rosie Phillips |
An optometrist from Glasgow. She's previously been longlisted for portrait awards.
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| self portrait and heat portrait by Kirstin Mackinnon |
Who did I say this about?
I thought he was a finalist as soon as I saw his self portrait - which was much the most ambitious and interesting of all the self portraits.
I was pretty sure from seeing her self portrait that she would be shortlisted. I then thought she stood a pretty good chance of winning when I saw how the heat painting was portraited - within the four hours!
He wasn't my winner - because he's lost the likeness on the face and (I think) the head is also too small. However I can't deny he's exciting.
I thought she was a very worthy winner in relation to her heat portrait. I was less convinced by her very small self portrait - although I liked the composition.
What's interesting about these two portraits is that BOTH have eyes on the viewer. They command your attention. They also both have a strong sense of the sitter but at the same time neither are overly realistic or overworked. The light grey background is interesting. It's a good neutral colour to stop a white board glaring.
So - who do you think is going to win? Answers please on
my Making A Mark Facebook Page or my
Bluesky account
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