Review: Episode 4 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026

PAOTY Episode 4

As usual, this review of Episode 4 follows my standard format, which covers:

• the three sitters
• the nine artists
• self-portrait submissions
• themes arising in the episode
• who the sitters chose
• the shortlist for a place in the semi-finals of PAOTY 2026
• the winner
• the sitters for the next episode.

The Arti Shah "Cheese" (what they call one of the segments)
- before she chooses which finished artwork to take home.

This post is a bit later again this week due to four days this week spent connecting my neck with the NHS. Those who follow on Facebook will know what I'm talking about!

Yesterday I was supposed to have two more "flexion" X-rays (to be absolutely 100% sure I've not broken my neck in two places!) but that didn't happen due to a paperwork cockup. Then this morning phone calls with neurosurgery sorting it out - and they phoned me! The end is in sight - hopefully tomorrow.....

Episode 4: The Sitters

To me they all seemed to be very good sitters, staying remarkably still.

The sitters were:

• Danny Beard - a British drag performer and singer who won the fourth series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. He has also appeared on other popular television reality tv competitions and tends to do reasonably well. 

Danny Beard - in drag

• Arti Shah -  a person of reduced stature (she's just four feet tall) who is an actress and motivational speaker with over a decade of experience in the entertainment industry. Her most recent roles has involved starring as Paddington in Paddington: The Musical in London’s West End - which won Best New Musical at the Laurence Olivier Awards in April 2026. She's also very active in the world of Creature FX where she with prosthetics, movement reference, and motion capture.to bring creatures to life.

Manny Woodard meeting Arti Shah for the first time

• Yalda Hakim - an Afghan-born Australian broadcast journalist who grew up in Sydney and worked for Australian TV before moving to the BBC and subsequently Sky News as Lead World News presenter. She is also a documentary maker. She is a specialist in Middle Asia and is a fluent speaker in 5 languages: English, Persian, Urdu, Hindi, and Pashto - and she's learning Mandarin. She's the daughter of Afghan refugees and her special object was a bowl made of lapis lazuli - which comes from Afghanistan, which was wonderful to see.

Episode 4: The Artists

three of the artists - Sammy, Suzanne and Luke
talking with their sitter - Danny Beard

There is a profile of the artists on the PAOTY website. Below you get a mini profile of each artist which is missing from that page.

THE ARTISTS, in alphabetical order, are:

• Sammy Alam (Instagram) - a fashion student from Montreal, Quebec, Canada now based in London. He completed his Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Central St Martins in 1925.
• Suzanne Barton (Instagram) - A former author and illustrator of children's books based in Oxford. She has done classes with the Art Students League (New York),  Sunningwell School of Art, and Heatherleys. She became interested in oil painting in 2021. Her submission for this competition was her first ever self portrait.
• Oliver Bedeman (Instagram) - a contemporary figurative painter who specialises in portraiture and reverse oil painting on glass. He is based in Oxfordshire and works primarily from life and also as an art teacher. He graduated from the University of Brighton in 2007 with a B.A (Hons) Fine Art Painting. Followed by the Postgraduate Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School. He has been successful in being selected for leading awards eg Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (See my two posts about "Artists with their Paintings" in 2018 and 2024). Prior to this he was selected for The Threadneedle Prize in 2016 and 2018. His track record to date suggests to me he will, in due course, be approved for membership of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

Oliver Bedeman - with his self portrait (reverse oil painting on glass)
outside Battersea Arts Centre where PAOTY heats are filmed

• Harry Garner (Instagram) - Now based in Liverpool, he was Born in rural Leicestershire into a multi-generational farming family, he left the family farm to study Fine Art & Art History at the Liverpool School of Creative and Performing Arts, graduating with First Class Honours in 2019. He is now 
• Svetlana Kornilova (Instagram) A Russian artist who now lives in London. She studied art in Russia.  
• Luke McKenzie (Instagram) - an artist and writer based in Newcastle - with a BA (Hons) Fine Art (2024) from Newcastle University. His artwork is inspired by the high renaissance and explores themes of queer martyrdom. He is very used to painting drag queens. He very definitely got paired with the right sitter!
• Sebastien Shead (Instagram) - a retail associate and an art student from a village in North Yorkshire - now based in London. He has a BA in Fine Art (Bath Spa University 2024) which allowed him to spend time on his studies of the methods and materials of the Old Masters. Followed by two years spent studying observational drawing and painting at the Heatherley School of Art. Which means I attended his graduation show this summer.
• Minnie Themba (Instagram) - a fine art student, currently studying for a BA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins. 
• Manny Woodard (Instagram) - Based in Arundel. She is a sculptor who has developed her drawing activities of late. She began making portraits in 2023 after being accepted into the Worthing Portrait Artist of the Year competition (based on PAOTY). In 2025, she won the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Purchase Prize for Drawing. She now draws from life every week at local art groups, finding the study of faces and character endlessly fascinating

Episode 4: Self Portrait Submissions

Episode 4: Self Portrait Submissions

From left to right, these submissions are by:  Oliver Bedeman, Harry Garner, Minnie Themba, Svetlana Kornilova, Sammy Alam,  Sebastien Shead, Manny Woodard, Suzanne Barton and Luke McKenzie.

Format:

• 0 x landscape
• 8 x portrait
• 1 x tondo

Size: 

• 1 x extra large
• 2 x large
• 0 x large medium  
• 3 x medium
• 3 x small
• 1 x very small

The very large pink tondo self portrait by Sammy Alam is the most "look at me", particularly as his face is adorned by motifs representing various famous fashion designers.

I was very impressed with the charcoal drawing by Manny Woodard which looked extremely competent.

I knew I'd seen Oliver Bedeman's self portrait before - except I had and I hadn't. His brother wore the same sweater in the portrait Oliver painted which was selected for the BP Portrait Award in 2018 and hung in the National Portrait Gallery over the summer.

I have to say I found some of the self portraits to be very average / not very good. The question is does that mean that maybe the programme is losing its appeal? This is the first year where people were sending entries knowing there would be a new set of Judges - and knowing who these would be. I'd be very interested to know whether entries were up or down on the previous year.

I continue to be puzzled as to why some of the portraits are so small or at the very least not bigger than they could be. Portraits are not sent in any more. No need to bear the cost of packaging and posting. Everything is judged on the basis of the digital image.  From which two points arise

• why don't artists paint bigger since they can carry their portrait to the heat?
• I wonder if the Judges are given any sense of scale when judging the images. You'd be surprised the number of Judges who never look at dimensions and have no clue as to the size of a piece they select from an online image!

Yet another reminder

YOUR SUBMISSION IS YOUR REAL AUDITION FOR A COMMISSION.

Think long and hard about whether the medium you are using is one which would be used for a commission.

There is no way you can demonstrate how good a commission artist you are in four hours. So the Heat Artwork / 4 hours is basically about

• establishing that you are who you say you are and
• did you really paint the submission i.e. there is a link between the two paintings
• seeing how you behave on camera
• testing whether you can talk to camera - which I'm guessing is maybe more important than many people may think.

Episode 4: Themes in this episode

NOT delivering on expectations

I've always suspected this was a consideration close to the thinking - and judgements - of ALL the Judges - past and present. In other words, they wanted to see more of something an artist's submission promised.

Unfortunately, not all artists think like this, and some often turn up and....

• do something completely different
• work in different media

and then you may well limit the scope to deliver on your "promise". 

Of course another aspect is that this might also create a question in a Judge's head as to whether you really painted your submission. So there's an awful lot to be said for creating a connection between the submission and the heat painting.

Otherwise the result may be that you lose your place in the shortlist 

It's perfectly reasonable to assume that a self portrait will be picked and hence the artist turn up - because a Judge has seen something they like and want to see more of. 

• so take a good look at your portrait
• what might be the "hooks" which get a Judge interested
• what techniques are you using - and can these be replicated in four hours?

If your self portrait is something you cannot replicate in a heat - maybe because of time issues, then you maybe need to think about how you can show more of the same but in a faster format (ie under 4 hours)

Or show the same - on a smaller scale.  

I think the mistake Oliver made was to try and do a reverse glass painting on a support which was the same size as his submission. Whereas:

• if he had reduced the glass and limited the subject matter to a life size head and shoulders, 
• then he may well have produced a more refined artwork in the time and 
• been even more in the running for the win. (As it is, I think he might well have won in other heats)

Reverse Painting on Glass

Reverse Painting on Glass is a very old technique. I wrote a couple of posts about it back in 2012 - followed up by a more detailed note (which is no longer accessible) for anybody who is interested in finding out more about it. 

One of them was Verre Églomisé - an introduction (this is the old name for the technique) which includes a video of an artist I knew using the technique who explains 

• the process of producing artwork as Verre Églomisé - in a very clear step by step process
• the history and background to the art of Verre Églomisé

Oliver used a marker pen he could wipe off to get an outline on the front of the glass. He then painted on the back - from front to back - to achieve a portrait. He then rubbed off the marker pen outline and you can then see clearly the result of the reverse painting.

Why charcoal is a serious art medium

Let us not forget that Gareth Reid (Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2017 and Sky Portrait Artists of the Decade 2024) did every single stage of PAOTY in charcoal - up until the commission. 

• He painted broadcaster and comedian Graham Norton for the National Gallery of Ireland in oils - because National Galleries of Art are none too fond of charcoal. 
• Oil does not drop off the support in the same way pastel and charcoal can - hence such artworks always need special handling by experts.

Charcoal in the hands of somebody who uses it all the time is an excellent medium to use for a four hour heat because you can get so much done and produce a refined portrait on a large scale.

However a charcoal artist may well need to be able to switch to a more robust medium for a commission. (Note: Curtis Holder got away with coloured pencils because they do not fall off the paper and can be lightfast.)

Manny Woodard - self portrait in charcoal

However, let us also not forget that charcoal in the hands of somebody who only uses it every now and again stands a very good chance of looking like a complete hot mess!

Charcoal in regular use by a charcoal artist
- Manny had all her charcoal in plastic tubs which make transport easy.
(Many pastel artists do the same thing when travelling with their media)

A very different sort of eraser

I've known for a very long time, that a traditional eraser used with charcoal is white bread - removed from the crust and rolled into a ball.

This heat was the first time I'd actually seen somebody using it as Manny Woodard did for her charcoal drawing of Arti Shah

A keen sense of observation of skin (etc.)

It was very nice to hear a Judge commenting on how much they liked how an artist had treated the painting of skin. I'd love to see more artists who have a refined approach to the painting of skin. 

I often think that artists would do well to think long and hard about how they paint skin - in terms of texture, tonality, colour variations etc. Too often I see artists painting portraits where it is abysmally clear they haven't thought about the skin at all. Too often skin gets painted as "skin colour".

TIP Demonstrating a keen observation of ANYTHING to do with a portrait will get you a long way.

Aspects which I suggest artists might may more attention to incluse:

• eyes - structure, location, size, colour
• skin colour and tonality (they are different)
• basic proportions of the face
• size of the face relative to the head
• size of the head relative to the size of the individual 

So often I see portraits produced in the heats where the absolute basics of size and relative proportion have been dumped. 

• Artists who rush to get paint on support and fail to spend any time mapping out basics tend to generate amateurish artwork.
• In my eyes, you have completely blown a portrait if you can't get the size of the head relative to the body right (I wanted to scream at the artists of some of the portraits in this week's heat.)

Those who deliver keen observation pull the viewer in and the sitter - and the people watching at home!

I'm afraid to say in this heat we had artists who did not deliver on proportion.

Changing scale

This is a portrait competition. It's not a fine art competition per se. It's actually about whether you can produce an artwork which represents an individual well.

I don't know how I can say it more plainly. Painting a small person on a small scale - with a small head - means you are not going to be shortlisted.

Creating an "emotional connection"

Imagine what it must be like being a small person who is forever getting bad neck ache because they always have to look up at other people.

Imagine if somebody created a portrait which effectively represented you as being somebody others needed to look up to. If you too were small, imagine how that make you feel.

The exchange of words between sitter and artist was magical - and demonstrated very clearly how much empathy plays a huge part in somebody becoming a very good portrait artist.

The portrait of Art Shah created by Manny Woodard was a masterclass in creating an emotional connection with the sitter.

I went looking for references relating to creating an emotional connection and came across this Royal Academy of Arts Emotions Teaching Resource which covers how how visual elements communicate feelings

Portraits and the Judging

Who the sitters chose

• Arti Shah chose Manny Woodard - which was absolutely no surprise aside from the fact it was obviously the best in her set. Arti was obviously very touched emotionally by the enormous charcoal drawing of her face and teared up - as did Manny.
• Danny Beard chose Suzanne Barton - I was not surprised. I liked the head she painted. So did a lot of the viewers

Suzanne Barton's painting of Danny Beard
including the remarkable colours in the makeup
(I really liked this - I thought she was unlucky
I'd recommend going bigger on the self portrait next time!)

• Yalda chose Minnie Themba - which surprised me. When choices surprise me I often think was that sitter trying to give a good start to somebody at the beginning of their career.

The Shortlist

Episode 4: Waiting to hear the shortlist decisions made by the Judges

Still a total absence of commentary by the Judges on the six portraits which did not get shortlisted. Absolutely nothing as to why they didn't make the grade.  This is what viewers want to know - but they are being ignored!

I'm beginning to wonder if we have got some new Judges who don't want anybody to hate them.... In which case they'd do better to employ proper educators who know better than most how to deliver a message which is not always positive but can be helpful.

As said before what we really need is

• less time spent on chatting to celebrities
• much more time spent on assessing every artwork - pros and cons. 

Many more people would tune in to watch if they did!

The Shortlist was:

• Manny Woodard
• Luke McKenzie
• Oliver Bedeman

This is an impressive lineup on a really impressive day Jonathan Yeo

Note the size of the shortlisted artists' artwork
L to R: Luke, Manny and Oliver

It was really nice to see some decent sized portraits shortlisted. 

It was also lightly odd to see two sets of portraits with white backgrounds.

Note also this comment by Jonathan Yeo

We want to see them stretch themselves (in the next rounds) and be as sure as we can that they can do the final commission.

For me the big question is "can you go big?" - and two of the artists in this lineup have already answered that question.

Luke McKenzie

Self portrait and portrait of Danny Beard by Luke McKenzie

Luke apparently exceeded the expectations of at least one of the Judges. He'd got enough down - but not overworked the portrait.

They liked his subversion of art history in his self portrait.

I thought the proportions were wrong but that he'd managed to capture the look of his sitter. He was a little lucky as he did manage to get all the hair in - but could have sketched it out and checked the proportions at an earlier stage. I also thought the messy background detracted from the sitter in the final four hour portrait.

Manny Woodard

Self portrait and portrait of Artie Shaw by Manny Woodard

The Judges were impressed by the construction of her self portrait and liked her ability to work effectively in monochrome to portray her softer side as well as some "sass".

Jonathan Yeo liked the combination of modelling and rubbing away. Interestingly, although rubbing off comes in the last hour, Manny told us she always knows what she will be removing as she draws.

Her portrait of Arti Shaw made Arti cry. You can't ask for a better recommendation than that.

What I liked about it was that she looked as if she was the exact same size as everybody else, possibly taller. So that one focused on the person in the portrait and not the four foot stature of the individual.

Manny's experience as a sculptor also meant that she by far the most superior draughtsman in the room, in terms of capturing correct proportions and the ability to suggest form and shapes.

Oliver Bedeman

Self portrait and portrait of Yalda Hakim

The Judges noted and appreciated his attention to detail and care and sensitivity when painting Yalda. However they also thought time was against him in terms of using his reverse painting process. 

His self portrait took over 3 months to paint on glass. The Judges found the process very interesting. He first marks out an outline of features using marker pen on the surface of the glass. He then turns the glass around and works in reverse starting with what would be the final features of the sitter and working backwards through layers until he gets to the major areas that need to be filled in.

I think I'd have avoided cutting off the top of Yalda's head given that he knew he would not be creating any paint for the top half of what she is wearing. In those circumstances, in my opinion, her head could do with more weight.

PAOTY 2026 Episode 4 Winner

The winner of this heat was Manny Woodard. I have to confess I had her down as my winner right from the beginning, through a combination of a very impressive self portrait and when I saw how she was working. 

A lot of viewers are very, very pleased that Manny won.

If she's not in the Final, I'll be very, very surprised.

Manny Woodward with her self portrait

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Next Episode

The sitters for the next episode are:

• Rylan Clark - broadcaster
• Alison Balsom - musician
• Jamie Lloyd - theatre director

So that's two more people I don't know!

REFERENCE: PAOTY SERIES 13 (2026)

• Goodbye - ALL THREE Artist of the Year Judges (Jan 2026)
• The NEW Portrait Artist of the Year Judges (Feb 2026)
• Call for Entries: Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 (Feb 2026)
• Series 13 of Portrait Artist of the Year starts 7th October 2026 (Sept. 2026)
• Review: Episode 1 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 (9th Oct.)
• Review: Episode 2 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 (15th Oct.)
• Review: Episode 3 Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 (25th Oct.)

YOU CAN READ MY BLOG POSTS ABOUT PREVIOUS SERIES

BY LOOKING AT THE REFERENCE SECTION

AT THE END OF THE CALL FOR ENTRIES POST