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| PAOTY Series 12: Episode 4 - the Artists with their self portraits waiting to hear who has been shortlisted |
Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year brought a surprise and
something totally unique.
- ALL THE SITTERS
- are female;
- they all work in “the arts” in one way or another; and
- all are of afro caribbean heritage.
- Plus we have one more bod from the current series of Celebrity Traitors!
Episode 4: The Sitters
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(top right) Clara Amfo
(bottom left) Cat Burns (bottom right) Adjoa Andoh
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I have a theory about the choice of sitters.
- First, that this was a deliberate choice.
- Second it's an outcome of comments made in the past. I think that at some point or another, one or more of the artists in past heats might have politely highlighted that they didn't think they had done themselves justice as they weren't used to painting people who were not (for want of a better expression) anglo saxon in appearance. Bottom line they had never painted anybody with black skin before. The view may have been expressed that this affected the outcome of the heat. Plus there's the issue of whether a competition is fair if not everybody is treated in the same way....
I can understand their point. However you can hardly complain if all the
artists in a heat are in exactly the same position - and so we have Heat 4
of Series 12.
Anybody got any other ideas. My feeling is this was not accidental and was a very deliberate decision by the programme makers.
The three sitters in the fourth episode are as follows:
- Actor Adjoa Andoh - a British actress b.1963, best known to millions around the world for her role as Lady Danbury in the Netflix Regency romance series Bridgerton, since 2020. However she has also played lead roles in plays at she has played lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, and the Almeida Theatre. In June 2025 (after the heat) she was awarded an MBE.
- broadcaster Clara Amfo - a British radio broadcaster b.1984. She is a television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1
- singer-songwriter Cat Burns - a British singer-songwriter b. 2000. She gained prominence with her 2020 single "Go" (on YouTube). The song's popularity increased in 2022 through TikTok, eventually reaching number two on the UK singles chart. She has also been nominated three times for the Brit Awards. Finally, she is also a current Celebrity Traitor on BBC1!
Episode 4: The Artists
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| The artists sitting on the steps of Battersea Arts Centre after the painting has stopped |
As always I've dug around online, and these profiles provide more information than the programme does.
The mini bio provided in the programme skips over some rather important information about some of the participating artists.
- Chloe Barnes (Instagram) - a Gallery Production and Studio Manager who lives in London. She has a first class honours degree in Illustration and an MA (Distinction) in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking from the University of the West of England. She is a mono-printer and creates figurative monotypes that explore identity, sexuality, the psyche, and the experiences of women. She has exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists Bicentennial Exhibition, and Gurr Johns, London and has also won a number of awards
- Jules Manson (Instagram) - She is a bookseller based in Penzance in Cornwall and a member of Penzance Studios. In the past she has been a Artist/painter tattooist and a member of Leicester Society of Artists.
- Madeleine Payne - a full-time professional artist who lives between Florence and London. She has a BFA in Art History (2020). In 2024, she was a Advanced Painting student at the Florence Academy of Art. Her self portrait was painted in oils from life as a graduation piece to demonstrate her technical ability.
- Jonathan Small (Instagram) - an art teacher from London. He is a Tutor and Creative Producer at @artboxlondon an organisation which supports people with learning disabilities and autism.
- Jamie Steward (Instagram) - b.1983 in Bradford, he is now a full-time artist from Leeds. He is also known as a graffiti artist called Cortisol Kid. He now paints murals and enjoys his studio practice painting portraits.
- Suzanne Smith (Instagram) - a printmaker who lives and works in Brighton and has a studio in the Phoenix Art Space. She is obviously also a very experienced user of pastels.
- Tameka Waller (Instagram) - an events coordinator living in Nottingham. She is a self taught oil painter and completed her first portrait in January 2025 (which I suspect is her self portrait submitted as part of her entry).
- Curtis Valentine (Instagram) - a visual artist from London. Graduated with a degree in Illustration from the University of Brighton (2014-2017). He has a passion for character design, concept art and storyboarding and also works as an artist assistant. His real name is Curtis Valentine O'Malley.
- David Wayman - Loughborough based commercials director.
You can see them all in this Instagram post with their self portraits
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Episode 4: Self-Portrait Submissions
This heat was different for a second reason. Most of the self-portraits are quite small and they were all head only or head and shoulders.
To be honest, I very often find these "small" and seriously cropped portraits rather boring.
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| The Self Portrait Wall. Spot the winner of the heat? |
FORMAT
- Portrait format x 8
- Square x 0
- Landscape x 1
SIZE: (this is size by my eye / "you know when you see it")
- Large x 0
- Large/Medium x 1 (based on size of artwork rather than size of print)
- Medium x 3
- Small x 5
- Tiny x 0
SCOPE
Nobody painted hands - big mistake in my book!
- full size or most of body (including hand) x 0
- head, upper torso and hand(s) x 0
- head and upper torso (no hands) x 1
- head and shoulders x 6
- head x 2
Episode 4: Themes
- recurrent golden oldies - ones you really need to get to grips with if you want to participate in a future programme
- ones unique to this particular episode
- matters relevant to portraiture or being an artist
Practice speeding up before the heat
I'm always surprised when artists tell the presenter or judge that they are trying to speed up. Why now?The people who win Portrait Artist of the Year are the sort of people who invest time in "training" for the heat in a quite rigorous way:
- giving themselves 4 hours to paint - managed in the same way that it works At Battersea. (None of these "in four hours over several days" - because that allows for thinking time for how to make changes
- producing lots of paintings in advance within 4 hours. One gets the sense family and friends are very much part of the effort to get selected and do well!
Choosing the size of the canvas/support
This is a heat where most of the artists have produces quite small self-portraits - and yet as I say endlessly the intelligent approach is to use the self portrait submission as the proxy for demonstrating what you can do if awarded the commission.
What artists who want to do well need to demonstrate:
- what you can do when you have the time
- how you can be both contemporary and achieve a good likeness
- that you have a good eye, imagination and don't produce "same old, same old"
I have to say rather a lot of the self portraits for me fell into the "same old, same old" category - with a couple of exceptions. I thought the Judges were quite kind to them
If you have NOT painted large re your self-portrait, why does producing another smallish painting seem like a good thing to do in the heat. You are not Vermeer!
Those who have an intelligent approach change the size of their support and try to accomplish in just four hours a larger painting which impresses. If they know how to paint fast!
When it's a painting not a portrait
Somebody said at some point (or maybe a I read it?) that if a portrait doesn't have a good likeness of a sitter then it is just a painting. It's not a portrait painting.That seemed to me to be a mantra which all judges ought to mutter before they start every show
The only way to get good at creating good likenesses is to draw and/or paint lots (and lots) of people. This is why those who are more experienced artists can typically do well in this competition. They are used to working out and sizing up heads and faces - and can even paint hands!
It's exciting to see artists using "new surfaces" - as Chloe Barnes did with her choice of an aluminium support (i.e. what she would use if creating a mono print). Her self portrait was an etching ink monotype, pressed into paper with charcoal additions. What she chose to do for the heat - since she couldn't lug her very heavy etching press with her - was to do the first half of the process and paint in oils on an aluminium panel.
Unusual surfaces
It's exciting to see artists using "new surfaces" - as Chloe Barnes did with her choice of an aluminium support (i.e. what she would use if creating a mono print). Her self portrait was an etching ink monotype, pressed into paper with charcoal additions. What she chose to do for the heat - since she couldn't lug her very heavy etching press with her - was to do the first half of the process and paint in oils on an aluminium panel.  |
| The start of creating the painting of Clara Amfoi by Chloe Barnes oil on aluminium panel |
Interestingly aluminium is a support used by international artists wanting to exhibit in other countries. Its weight means it's a much lighter weight when paying for the international shipping! I first came across it some years ago when meeting an American prizewinner in the BP Portrait Award (and then again when meeting an Italian artist in the same competition subsequently)
What's interesting is that oil sits on top and does not sink in.
Where do you get aluminium panels? I took a look online and if you want to have a go, I suggest you read my blog post tomorrow where I will highlight suppliers.
[ UPDATE: see the first of posts on this topic: The Fire Risk of Aluminium Painting Panels for Art ]
[ UPDATE: see the first of posts on this topic: The Fire Risk of Aluminium Painting Panels for Art ]
Knowing when to stop
This is "the biggy". You've developed your own style - and know what it is. You've also mastered painting a portrait in four hours. You next major task is to learn to know when to stop.Constant titivating when you know you only have time to make a few adjustments can transport a well considered portrait into something which has one type of brushmarks in one part and some overly detailed brushmarks in other areas of the portrait. It can take a promising portrait and turn it into one that will not get considered for shortlisting.
If you've got time to make an adjustment, you've got time to walk away for two minutes and come back and work out whether you still need to do that adjustment. It's the very compressed version of turning an artwork to the wall overnight so that when you turn it round in the morning you look at it with fresh eyes.
TIP: Never ever forget, it is possible to paint too much! Find your own way of giving yourself fresh eyes so you make sound judgements.
Clara Amfo chose the portrait on aluminium by Chloe Barnes.
For her heat artwork, she chose to paint on aluminium using a very warm orange brown oil paint - in part because the sitter had said she liked warm colours. Guess what - smart strategy - as Clara Amfo chose it.
Episode 4: The Portraits and the Judging
PAOTY Series 12: Episode 4 - the Artists with their self portraits
Who the sitters chose
The portraits below are all grouped according to the sitter.
I think they are the most useful photos provided by Sky Arts (via Instagram). Put them together and those who need to be shortlisted shout
out!
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Heat Portraits of Adjoa Andoh by: (left top) Jamie Seward (top right) Jonathan Small (bottom) Suzanne Smith |
Adjoa Andoh chose the straight-on portrait by Jonathan Small. He's posted the timelapse video on his Instagram account
I thought she might go for the drawing by Suzanne Smith (bottom above) as it contained a drawing of her Dad's present of a set of Oware beads. She was also the only person in the Heat to move outside the "head and shoulders" perspective - and I thought she made a jolly good go of it.
I personally really liked the portrait by Jamie Seward. The "what if" question is what would have happpened if he had achieved a better likeness re the face and head.
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| Heat Portraits of Clara Amfo by: (top) David Wayman (bottom left) Chloe Barnes (bottom right) Jules Manson |
The tinted charcoal drawing by David Wayman was large - but heavily cropped and I didn't actually think it was a good likeness. Jules Manson painted a tad larger than her self portrait but not by much.
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| Heat Paintings of Cat Burns by (top right) Madelaine Payne (bottom left) Tameka Waller (bottom right) Curtis Valentine |
Cat Burns indicated sduring the heat that she's always had the idea that she is really difficult to paint to draw and paint. Whenever she's seen people who've drawn her before, she's always thought there was something (the proportions) that were slightly off.
She chose the rondo painting by Madelaine Payne i.e. by somebody who has trained in Florence to draw and paint sight size accurately. I can see why she would appeal. It was a reasonable likeness and I applaud Madelaine for incorporating her hands - which in turn meant she could paint the special item brought by the sitter - which was a Tigers Eye ring.
I thought Tameka Waller did reasonably well given her inexperience.
However Curtis Valentine seemed to be determined in turning her into a mythical Egyptian Mummy. That's what it reminded me of. Unfortunately once you've thought it you can't unthink it. I think the illustrator won out over the portrait artist.
The Shortlist
This episode had a NEW departure - of which I thoroughly approve. It showed the Judges midway through their decision making - with the number of portraits reduced down from
nine to five - before being reduced further to just three.
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| The Judges are clearly down from nine to five portraits - having already cut four. The artists remaining are (left to right) Jonathan Small, Chloe Barnes, Jamie Steward, Madelaine Payne and (I think) Suzanne Smith |
I'm wondering if they're choosing from their favourite three and two others chosen by the sitters.
Madelaine Payne definitely got through to this stage (i.e. note the classical tondo format) - maybe as technically accomplished and because she was chose by Cat Burns?
The fifth is one of two people given the size and shape - and I think it's Suzanne Smith - which would please me.
Here are the self portraits and the Heat portraits of the shortlisted artists
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| The shortlisted portraits |
The shortlisted artists were
- Chloe Barnes
- Jonathan Small
- Jamie Steward
These are their paintings - the self portrait and heat
painting - shown all together. Youcan see how much bigger the artworks by Chloe Barns are. They are also the only ones which look more like commission size.
REMEMBER when viewing them that the easel provides scale - just so long as the easel is in the picture!
Kate described them as three artists who had gone beyond "skin deep". She also suggested that they all went beyond their submissions on the day.
I don't often agree with Kate - but I do concur with both those comments.
Jonathan Small
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| Self Portrait and Heat Portrait by Jonathan Small |
Kathleen Soriano described these portraits as hard won - of hard people.
I'm not a fan of this type of full on raw painting - so I was hoping he wouldn't win. Also for me there was an incongruity between the head and the clothing. For me, I expect if you paint in a particular style, it should be every part of the painting.
Jamie Steward
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| Self Portrait and Heat Portrait by Jamie Steward |
I thought the mark-making process and colour palette were fascinating and the proportions were generally very good. I also applaud him for having the nerve to take on a "more than 50" portrait of head and torso with hands - and for that alone he deserved to get through to the shortlist. However there was something not quite right about the face of Adjoa Anjoh.
Possibly a case of style over substance?
Tai described Jamie's style as having great gentleness and Adjua's pose as being quite regal - but dreamy.
Kathleen noted how he seemed to use the diagonal as a device within the painting - and considered that it holds the whole heat painting together.
Chloe Barnes
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| Self Portrait and Heat Portrait by Chloe Barnes |
The self portrait is produced using etching ink as a monotype with charcoal additions. The artist regards it as an emotional piece produced in the days that followed a breakup. In terms of working with monotypes she commented
There's a big layer of unpredictability Chloe Barnes
I agree with one of the Judges (Kate?) who said that the likeness was not quite there. I also think the neck is a tad elongated. However her skill in painting in tonality through monochrome won out for me. Her self portrait clearly demonstrates what she can do.
Her's is the only portrait in the heat which you could read clearly from across a room without it being a caricature or cropped right down.
PAOTY 2025: Episode 4 Winner
The winner was Chloe Barnes.the artist created a soulful portrait with inventive mark-making.
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| Chloe Barnes wins Heat 3/Episode 4 |
Her's is the only portrait in the heat which you could read clearly from across a room without it being a caricature or cropped right down.
I hope she gets an etching press to the semi-finals! That would be quite something!
This was the beginning of her portrait painted in aluminium. You will - eventually - be able to see the speeded up film of it being painted on this link (as well as all those by other artists in this heat - after the films are posted)
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