This is a review of the second episode of Portrait Artist of the Year (2025) - which included the youngest ever participant in the whole twelve series to date.
I've linked to yo the NOW TV version for those who have not yet seen it and not got Sky.
I'm told that Episode 2 was actually Heat 6.
Episode 2: The Sitters
- Si King - from Newcastle. A cook and the surviving half of the long running "The Hairy Bikers" BBC television series. He was one of a pair of British celebrity chefs known for their unique blend of cooking, travel, and humor, which included riding motorcycles.
- Joe Marler - an English former rugby union player who is currently appearing on Celebrity Traitors (smar agent!) and posting a podcast. In a past life, he played as
- a prop for Premiership Rugby club Harlequins
- for the England national team until his retirement in November 2024.
- Elif Shafak - a Turkish-British author known for her novels and essays. She is a public speaker, political scientist, and activist, and has written books like The Forty Rules of Love and The Island of Missing Trees.
Episode 2: The Artists
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The artists in Episode 2 on the steps of Battersea Arts
Centre where the knockout heats are held |
As always I've dug around online, and the profiles below typically provide more information than the programme does - but only if it was shared online by the artist.
The mini bio provided in the programme skips over some rather important information about some of the participating artists.
- Yaz Bon (Instagram) - a video editor for a club culture tv programme based in London. She produced what was described as a "tour de force of texture" for her self portrait
- Helen Cakewell - a British artist and illustrator, with a background in design, based in Buckinghamshire. Focuses on fun cartoons and story telling through quirky doodles. Currently working as a product/graphic designer in the action sports industry.
- Colin Fitzpatrick (Instagram) - a landscape designer from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland.
- Julianne Guinee (Instagram) - a an artist from Cork in Ireland.
- Paulina Kwietiewsska (Instagram | Linktr.ee) a Polish-born professional figurative artist working primarily in oil. Based between London and her hometown of Łódź, Poland, her practice is rooted in classical painting techniques. She is largley self-taught but also has studied at the London Atelier of Representational Art. She also teaches workshops
- William Lea - a freelance writer / researcher based in London
- Robbie Leitch (Instagram) - Produced his large self portrait age 16 of himself standing while painting in his bedroom. Student at the The Edinburgh Drawing School. He's planning on studying medicine at University.
- Ispahani Mukaj - brought up in Cameroon (BA in Art History, University of Bamenda, Cameroon) and now based in Birmingham, working as a Health Care Assistant. He produces evocative biro drawings of people. His work has been exhibited nationally at venues including the ING Discerning Eye, the Coventry Open, and the RBSA Drawing Prize. He was the global winner of the 2020 UNHCR Youth with Refugees Art Contest and won first prize at Birmingham Open 25.
- Lindy Wright (Instagram) - professional ceramacist and retired teacher living in Bath. She graduated with a master of arts degree from the Royal College of Art. She currently works as a portrait painter from her studio in Bath. Currently developing a series of portraits of Chefs in their whites. Invited to become a member of the Bath Society of Artists in 2018. She had a sad story to tell about her painting post the death of her son two years ago.
Episode 2: Self-Portrait Submissions
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The self portrait wall for Episode 2 |
One of these days, the photographer that works with the Storyvault team
which makes Portrait Artist of the Year is going to suggest that the artists
AND THE VIEWERS would be much better served by two or three photographs of
the portraits so that we can actually see them.
Otherwise the only place we
see them together is on a distant wall where they look tiny or on social media on their own and sometimes very fleetingly during the programme.
Given the importance of the self-portrait to the actual decision as to who
moves forward one would have thought they'd have come up with a better
solution that a very distant shot of the self portrait wall. It's not as if
they need to be so spaced out - because when the artists line up next to
them the angle of shot is such that they are very often completely obscured
by the artists head.
Moan over.....for another year.....
Below is my analysis of format, size and scope of each self-portrait.
Only a couple of artists produced what I would consider dry runs /
examples of what they can do for a commission - and both got
shortlisted!
FORMAT
- Portrait format x 9
- Landscape x 0
- Square x 0
- Tondo x 0 (round artwork)
SIZE: (this is size by my eye / "you know when you see it")
- Large x 0
- Large/Medium x 2
- Medium x 3
- Small x 2
- Tiny x 2
SCOPE
- full size or most of body (including at least one hand) x 2
- head, upper torso and hand(s) x 3
- head and upper torso (no hands) x 0
- head and shoulders x 1
- head x 3
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Episode 2 Themes
Some start quickly - some start slowly
Helen Cakewell was very fast off the mark in this heat and seemed to
have put a lot of acrylic paint on her support before others had
finished mixing their paint.
The important thing for me is not what is your preferred style in
terms of speed so much as whether it is effective in helping you
complete a portrait in four hours
How you start prompts some questions:
- do you think before you paint?
- or does painting help you think?
- do you make more mistakes if you start fast?
- Or does making mistakes what helps you decide the way forward?
- does starting slowly mean you rarely finish on time?
- does starting slowly mean it helps you "keep your cool" in a very unfamiliar context?
In other words, there is no right way - but it is VERY important to know what works for you.
People who do well tend to practice and keep a close eye on the time....
Finishing before the four hours is up
Being able to decide your portrait is finished and to sit on your
hands for the remaining time is a valuable skill. Often a skill honed through practice....
In this instance two of the shortlisted painters did just
that.
Being able to finish within the time period allowed is due to:
- having a clear plan at the beginning of how to tackle the sitter given you know what you can do in four hours (which you obviously do since all intelligent participants have been practising!!!)
- using your normal approach and NOT trying anything new
- using the time during lunch where you can continue to paint rather than eat (if you want to or need to)
- knowing what you need to do to finish and tackling it all in a sensible order
Asking questions of the sitter
Which is why Lindy asked Si King about the pocket square he had in his
top pocket - and it turned out it was very important as this was a
habit he'd developed from his father. So she included it!
Use of a digital device at head height to see the photo of the sitter
This allows it to be placed next to the support and directly in front of your eyes. It's the digital equivalent of staring at the sitter and having your support in line with your line of sight.
Having a young artist in the show
The Portraits and the Judging
Below you can see all the portraits grouped according to the
sitter - which I think are the most useful photos provided by
Sky Arts.
- Put them together and those who need to be shortlisted shout out!
- Clue - the winner is always in the group of photos which start the Instagram post!
Who the sitters chose
Joe Marler
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Portraits of Joe Marler
(top left) Robbie Leitch, (bottom left) William Lea (right) Julianne Guinee |
The sitter described the portraits of him as
"three cracking portraits!"
The sitter would insist on engaging with the artists! At least two
must have found this stimulating as they were both shortlisted - top
left by Robbie Leitch and right by Julianne Guinee
However,
Joe Marler chose Robbie Leitch for the portrait he wanted to take
home.
@robbieleitch_art - your incredible ability and giant smile won me over in the end. Thank you x
Si King
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Portraits of Si King
(Left) Lindy Wright (top right) Ispahani Mukaj (bottom right) Helen Cakewell |
None of these made the shortlisting.
Si King chose Lindy's portrait - maybe because the almost monochromatic
painting included the red pocket square (which you can't see here - but
it did!) associated with his father.
Elif Shafak
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Portraits of Elif Shafak
(left) Colin Fitzpatrick (Top right) Paulina Kwietiewsska (bottom right) Yaz Bon |
If you ever have any doubt who won, it's always one of the three on the
opening image of the post about the heat paintings where they are all
grouped by sitter.
Elif Shafak chose the work (top right)
by Paulina Kwietiewsska.
The shortlisted artists were
The Shortlist
- Julianne Guinee
- Robbie Leitch
- Paulina Kwietiewsska.
These are their paintings - the self portrait and heat painting - shown all
together.
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Self Portrait and Heat Painting by each of the shortlisted
artists (L to R) Robbie Leach, Paulina Kwietiewsska, Julianne Guinee |
I'm struck by how small Paulina's paintings (in the middle) are relative to the other two shortlisted artists, both of whom produced a pretty good indication of how they would approach any commission with their self-portrait painting.
Robbie Leitch
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| Self portrait and heat painting by Robbie Leitch |
His self portrait was described by the Judges as being "very disarming, very honest"
Tai commented on his heat painting as follows
Robbie was a masterclass in restraint
I thought this was an incredibly strong pair of portraits and I'm genuinely really surprised he didn't win. The self portrait in particular is outstanding and is better than most that get submitted. He also did a great job of combining the head and shoulders with the mask and keeping the composition and design tight and restrained which kept the mask from dominating the painting.
He even stopped before the end as he didn't want to ruin it - and that takes both insight and discipline and an acute artist's eye for when to leave well alone!
However, if I'd have been a Judge, I think for a boy thinking of studying medicine, winning might be a bit of a distraction.
On the other hand I'd be encouraging him to enter The Portrait Award just as soon as he is old enough! (We had two art school students in this year's exhibition so......)Paulina Kwietiewsska
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| Self portrait and heat painting by Paulina Kwietiewsska |
It was described very positively by the Judges as
an enigmatic little painting
almost nothing there - but very believable
Her painting is fluent and beautiful (Tai on Paulina)
so well thought through, it's almost too good (Tai on Paulina)
Her heat painting was influenced by her love of Pre-Raphaelite paintings and
the Turkish plate was deliberately placed behind her head.
While very much appreciating her ability to capture likeness and use paint
in a very effective way, the only issues for me are:
- both are small. We've seen nothing like the size of artwork which a commission needs to be
- we've not seen open eyes in either portrait.
None of the Judges commented on the size or the lack of eyes.
I'm guessing she will need to address both issues in the semi-final.
Julianne Guinee
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| Self portrait and heat painting by Julianne Guinee |
While not completely to my taste, I certainly appreciated the painting
skills of Julianne Guinee. However I think she needs to
- stay away from paintings which are too sweet (self portrait) and shaving years off a big hulking bloke who has just retired.
- finish her paintings to the edge. For me it makes a difference between sketchy and finished.
Also I could swear that head was too small for the size of the body and
the hands.
PAOTY 2025 Episode 2 Winner
The winner was Paulina Kwietiewsska.
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| Paulina Kwietiewsska pictured earlier in the competition with her heat painting |
showing a powerful connection with their sitter to produce a powerful portraitsHowever, they did also comment that they'd like to see her being a little bit braver going forward.
I took that to be code meaning " paint bigger and show us the eyes next
time!"
Next Week
The sitters for Episode 3 are as follows
- James May: An English television presenter, known for his work on car shows like Top Gear and The Grand Tour.
- Billy Porter: An American actor, singer, and fashion icon, known for his roles in Pose and his distinctive red carpet appearances.
- Emma Barnett: A British broadcaster and journalist, known for hosting shows on BBC Radio 4 and BBC News.
The episode is broadcast on Sky Arts next Wednesday.
Reference: Previous posts about Portrait Artist of the Year
Series 12:
- Start date for Portrait Artist of the Year Series 12
- Review: Episode 1 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2025 (Series 12)
READ MORE of my past reviews of the
various series of Portrait Artist of the Year that I've covered on the
Art on Television
page of this blog.
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