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Sunday, November 30, 2025

Review: Semi Finals of Portrait Artist of the Year 2025

This rather late review is about the semi-finals of Portrait Artist of the Year 2025 (Series 12) which was broadcast on Wednesday night - except it wasn't uploaded to Now until a LOT later) Which is why this is late!

It covers various observations about the Semi-Final (the reality and the programme) including:
  • The Semi Finalists (Heat winners)
  • The Heat Portraits
  • The Sitter setup and setting
  • Themes of the semi-final
  • Judging and Finalists
  • Sitters for the Final
Dame Mary Berry sees the portraits after they've been turned around

The Semi Finalists

You can read all about the Semi Finalists in my post last week in my blog post last week about The PAOTY 2025 Semi Finalists + their Exhibition!

They are - in order of the episodes (i.e. not the heats) as follows:


The Heat Portrait Wall


The Wall of Heat Portraits
Left to right: Katie, Uthman, Vincent, Courtenay, Lauren, Paulina, Chloe and Edie

Imagine walking into a semi final. You have absolutely no idea about:
  • who your fellow semi-finalists are
  • what they can do in four hours!
......and then you see the Heat Portrait Wall (see above i.e. NOT the self portrait wall or both together)

What you don't know as a semi finalist is if any of the others spent time and effort producing an absolute stunner for their self portrait - and then went small for their heat.

Then the artists line up next to the side of the support they're working on - and you begin to get the picture of what you are up against!

The Setting and the Sitter


The Nightmare Set-up

The Artists in the Semi Final enter the room
This is what it looks like - with easels very close together

I've been to a couple of Semi-Finals at the Battersea Arts centre - and it's an absolute nightmare of a set-up.

  • Eight artists is just too many to be comfortable and have space to walk around, think etc. 
  • Plus the audience seems much closer than in the heats
  • Eights artists means ALL must be further away from the sitter than in the heats
  • Some are going to have very acute side profiles - if working from life
  • Notwithstanding some are going to be painting from devices rather than from the sitter.
Chloe Barnes summed it up rather well in her blog post about the Semi Finals (link further down - near the end of this post)

This is what it looks like once they are underway and the cameramen start getting involved - in between the easels!  i.e. this is the "top down view"

Yout have members of the public more or less breathing down your neck!

This is the view from the extreme right of the semi circle - where Vincent was located but he works from digital images on his phone and always has his head down!

Vincent was located at one end of the arc.
 The others you can see (LtoR) are:
Paulina, Lauren, Chloe, Uthman, Courtnay, Edie and Katie (I think)

TIP: This is not an art competition for those who love creating on their own with no surprise noises. I for one would not cope. I like full focus on what I'm doing and not being interrupted! I'm fine in a life drawing class - but there are few interruptions in that sort of class.

So how do people cope?

  • One of the reasons artists wear headphones is to prevent extraneous noises from interrupting their concentration. They can play music of their choice or use the ones which insulate you from noise
  • Having a digital image on a device means you can keep painting even when people start to get in your way - which they will do!
This is the view from the stage and the sitter's perspective

The view from the stage and the sitter's and the dog's perspective

The Sitter


Apparently every one of the artists guessed that the sitter was Dame Mary Berry before she appeared.

What they might not have guessed is just how many wrinkles she has now she is 90!

Dame Mary Berry and Freddie
You are so far away, to my mind it is extremely sensible for every artist to take a digital image of the features of the face up close as you simply won't see them with the same level of definition from 30+ feet away

Which is why lots of artists opt for reference photos

Katie and Edit getting a digital image

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Themes of the 2025 Semi Finals


What the Judges want

The Judges at half time

I think we’d have had a better contest if the Judges would 
  • STOP obsessing about “finding something different” and 
  • STARTED prioritising skills in creating a portrait that looks like the individual over the novelty factors.
This is what they said at the outset
This is an opportunity to navigate the space and bend it to their will Kate Bryan
In reality they KNOW, that almost everybody is going to ignore the set-up and just paint the person - and that's because they expect the impossible in 4 hours! The notion that the instruments of Mary Berry's baking life and the things which are important to her are immaterial to most of the artists. The set is just window-dressing because it's a tv show. They could have had a blank wall and the Judges would have got more or less the same result.
I'm looking for the Holy Grail. What I'd love is an artist who get a good likeness but at the same time has enough of the "the quirk" or something slightly unusual that makes me feel we are moving things on a little bit.
Kathleen Soriano
i.e. they want somebody skilled at painting people in a way that looks like them but also brings a new approach. Sounds to me like another way of saying what Kate Bryan usually says. Maybe a "bit scripted"?
"We want blood, sweat and tears. We want our semifinalists to show us their range of artistic skills. We want them to show us that they understand what makes great art, what makes great portraiture. It's a lot to ask but it is the semi-final!" Tai Shan Schierenberg 
Definitely "a bit scripted"! I'd like to see what he can do in 4 hours! 

This is somebody who commented on my Facebook Page. I think this comment is absolutely spot on!
I said that they've decided that they want the portraits to be good *and* groundbreaking. But, actually, this series and the last one, they seem to be going for groundbreaking without the quality....
Or what they think is groundbreaking though, in my opinion, it's quite often gimmicky rather than groundbreaking.
"Groundbreaking without the quality" is sadly the way a number of viewers will remember this series. More because of the really good artists they ignored - while on their search for the Holy Grail....

I do hope those artists will try again - or submit their artwork to other exhibitions at a national level.

[Note: I had three people come up to me at the ROI PV who had all participated in past PAOTY competitions - and they all said "thank you" for my PAOTY analysis and reviews! I do it for the benefit it gives people of another perspective and also so that people might have a better time on the day and do themselves justice - and go on to exhibit elsewhere. Thank you - I cannot remember any of your names - but thank you.]

How do you show the Judges you can do a commissioned portrait?


The Judges appeared to suggest that the set-up behind the sitter was important to their task. Very wisely, most of the artists ignored it and them and devoted their time to getting a good likeness of a sitter AND her dog - in 4 HOURS!

However you still have to "make your mark"!
  • If you did a small self portrait and small portrait in the heat, it's time to GO BIG. There's not too many people who pay £10,000 for a small portrait. It's not a persuasive way of winning rising to the top in a semi-final.
Interestingly there were a lot of BIG supports in the semi-final. Much bigger than in the heats and more than I was expecting. I was left wondering why they didn't go bigger in the heats.
  • the alternative shortcut of course is to GO BIG on the self portrait - and invest some time in it in terms of what might impress the judges.
I always wonder how many of the artists who leave the competition do so wishing they'd spent more time and effort on their self-portrait e.g. Paulina went bigger than she did for her self portrait and the heat - but not big enough.

The Distance and the Bigger Portrait Painting


One of the penalties of having eight artists in the semi finals is that each artist is even further away from the sitter. It's a big semi circle.

Some of them have been reading my blog posts and were prepared! (see the reference from Chloe above!)

I won't repeat what I said above.

Other than that I think I'd take binoculars with me to the semi-finals. I think I remember somebody did this one year and it seemed like a really good idea to me.

Older people have wrinkles


Mary Berry's wrinkles

While many people would like their wrinkles to subside, others are more realistic and know that a painting of them at a certain age ought to have some wrinkles.

Anybody painting a significant head within their portrait needs to know how to paint a 90 year old when faced with one as a sitter. You can only get away with not painting them if you paint the whole person instead!

TIP: Add "learn how paint wrinkles "to your "prepare for PAOTY list!
  • If you only paint young people, go find some older people to paint
  • Work out how to paint wrinkles so they are present - but not shouting at the viewer
The two artists who painted old age realistically but with respect and reality were Katie and Chloe.

Dame Mary Berry and Freddie by Katie Jones
I thought this one was the only one which looked a lot like Mary in repose age 90.
(Oil on Ampersand Gessobord panel)

Doing a Double Portrait - Mary Berry and her dog Freddie


We've had double portraits featuring in the past. Last year it was in the Final. This year we've had dogs in the heats and the Semi Final.
  • I thought there were some wonderful dog portraits. Indeed some artists painted the dog better than they painted Dame Mary Berry!
  • There were also some not very good dog portraits. I'd be tempted to say leave the dog out unless you feel very confident you can do a decent rendition. 
After all, there's no dog in the commission!

I wondered if Freddie was an initiative of Mary Berry - or whether it was yet another of those well laid plans by the Judges to trap some of the less accomplished artists.

TIP: Train yourself to paint double portraits - you may find yourself needing to do this in the heat, semi-final or final!

PROPORTIONS: Gridding up your Support


The word which seems to me to be most relevant to this series is PROPORTIONS. So many people have got their proportions wrong which means:
  • they do not habitually draw from life. When I was doing weekly life classes I could draw by eye and get proportions right in 90% of my drawings - with no grid. Mainly because I used to identify one measurement in the body and then work everything else out from there. I often started in the middle!
  • they haven't used a grid system if they are working from a digital image
  • they spent too much time gridding up at the beginning and too little time really looking long and hard and drawing accurately.
I don't know what the rules are about gridding up your support. (I looked at the rules but couldn't find anything). However, if allowed to do so, the very first thing I'd be doing BEFORE I set foot in the hall, is
  • making sure my support has the surface I want to work on and 
  • then get it gridded up - to help with the drawing in.
Just think of the time you'd save in the heat!

Even if you like to draw using a paint brush, something which in broad terms allows you to measure is a very helpful way of getting proportions correct. Such as drawing in the thirds lines.

Why they needed female finalists


I'm not pretending you don't know the outcome of the semi-finals.

It was always VERY obvious to me that there were going to be a lot of women in the semi-final - because 
  • the £10,000 Commission Portrait is for The Royal Society to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the election of women to the Royal Society - and, 
  • in my book, that means it has to be painted by a woman i.e. they needed three finalists who were women
Which is what they got!

Interestingly there are six women and two men in the semi-finals - like last year.  
  • The two men had a different sort of approach and, to my mind, were never ever going to present serious competition for "the better women" in the semi-final. 
  • Was this a "managed outcome"? Who knows - but it looks seriously like one to me - and you simply cannot do that in competitions....
The more interesting issue is whether really good male painters were overlooked in the heats because they might provide some serious competition to the better women.

I think some undersold themselves - mainly through their self portrait (not enough substance) or lack of preparedness for the heat or they just found it all a bit too much.

Judging and the Finalists


Eight portraits from the semi-final which included two very good ones and a couple of.....
(I shall think of the word for the artistic equivalent of a car crash)

Which painting did Mary Berry choose?


Mary Berry chose the painting on aluminium by Chloe Barnes - and Chloe was very pleased! 

I thought it an excellent choice.  You might be told to dress brightly for your sitting - but do you then want to stare at a pink jacket on the walls of your home for years. I think not! 

What Mary got was a painting which could be hung in a number of different places without shouting at the decor.

I also thought it was good because it was a good likeness of Mary Berry in repose when she's not being her TV smiley self. Remember when people are not performing they don't always look the way we think they look (Remember Lenny Henry looking solemn - and his two sisters both saying that it was exactly the way he looked at home!)

Mary Berry chose the painting of her and Freddie on aluminium by Chloe Barnes

Some of the Judges comments - and some things they didn't comment on


The issue of expectations is one not often addressed well by the Judges. It's as if they never ever address the extent to which their previous judgements might have been wrong.

For example: when commenting on whether or not what they loved in the heats did not turn up in the semi-final, they ALWAYS fail to consider whether their initial judgement was realistic. 

The issue from my perspective is that the fault might well be in their specific judgements and/or expectations of what an individual artist will deliver in future. I have to say I think, while they often make good assessments, some of their judgements can at times be utter twaddle.

By way of contrast I certainly knew which artists were not going to perform well (and said so in my reviews) - and they delivered exactly what I expected in the semi final. Nobody surprised me. I think there were a fair few members of the viewing public who had made the exact same assessment as me, judging by subsequent comments by them.

They also commented on:
  • the difficulty of having a very well known face "some have gone head long into cliche"
  • positioning and lighting
Here's a list - not attributed to any artist - of things that the Judges did NOT comment on. 
  • how well their "well laid traps"  actually worked in practice. (eg what was that set dressing all about?)
  • proportions - really bad sizing of the sitter on their support
  • helmet hair - which is is always very difficult to portray - some did it well and others less well.
Mary herself made one or two spot-on comments - such as....
"I think you enjoyed painting the dog more than me!" 

 

The Finalists


This time there was no announcement of who won - just which three had made it through to the Final. I got two out of the three right - Katie and Chloe. I'd have put Edie through also. 

Waiting to hear whether they have made it to the Final of PAOTY 2025

The Finalists are - in the order they were announced:
  • Katie Jones winner of episode 3. Below are my comments from my review of Episode 3. I've always thought that she stood a very good chance of being a finalist. I liked the way she got to grips with aging in the semi final after her rather young looking James May.
Katie Jones is a hyperrealist artist who is exceptionally good at painting eyes and the colour tones in skin - and rather less good at painting wrinkles and signs of aging.

However her portraits have impact. Her approach of painting just a head and the suggestion of shoulders and clothing on a white background is every effective - particularly when the background colour he was sat against was so "in your face" and one that jars with flesh colours. They also look like they would fit in well in most contemporary rooms.

Kate Bryan kept referring to the suggestion of psychological heft behind her portraits - and while I get that with her self-portrait, where it's a very reasonable comment to make, I simply don't get it in relation to James May.

She was also very surprised about how much she accomplished in the four hours. I wasn't. What she did IMO was a reflection of her experience and time spent painting.

 I will reiterate - if I was Hannah Fry, I think I'd be hoping Katie was the winner! 

  • Lauren Ross - winner of episode 3. This is her profile in my review of Episode 5
  • Chloe Barnes - winner of episode 4. This is her profile as highlighted in my review of Episode 4. I thought her painting in the semi-final was very impressive - and I think painting all the support helped enormously with impressing the Judges.
For me the Final is going to be between:
  • the traditionalist who looks contemporary - Katie
  • the contemporary printmaker - trying new painting supports and techniques - Chloe
Both of them can achieve a likeness and render an individual extremely well. 

However as we all well know - at the end of the day - the title of "Portrait Artist of the Year" is very often decided by the commissions for the Final!

The Insider Perspective!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: 

Chloe Barnes has written a blog about her participation in PAOTY 2025 and you can read her blog posts

WHAT NEXT? The Final (and "The Sitter") and the Winner's Film


Brian Cox
at Edinburgh international book festival
The sitter for the final of Portrait Artist of the Year 2025 is the acclaimed Scottish actor Brian Cox.  

Yet more wrinkles!

He is a very well established actor, best known of late for his role as the commanding patriarch Logan Roy in the television series Succession. (Some say, modelled on Rupert Murdoch!) Like Logan Roy, he's not averse to saying what he thinks

The Final

The Final of Portrait Artist of the Year 2025 airs Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at 8:00 PM on Sky Arts.

The Winner's Film


It's followed at 9PM on the same night and channel by "The Winner's Film" about the painting of the portrait of Hannah Fry.

I know a lot of people miss this thinking it will be the following week - but the winner's film has followed the final in recent years.

Hannah Fry 

  • The lecture is being given at the Royal Society on 9th December 2025 - and you can register to attend - and see the commissioned portrait!


Reviews & Learning Points (PAOTY Series 5-12)


Series 12 of PORTRAIT ARTIST OF THE YEAR (Autumn 2025)


    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)

    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)

    Not quite sure why the post about the final is missing.... must have been something to do with Covid....

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

    PLUS if you want to find out more.....


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