Review (Part 2): FINAL of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

In my last post - Review (Part 1): FINAL of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020) - I introduced the finalists and showed you their submission paintings - because of the absence of any commission paintings in the Canadian version of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020).

In this second part of my review, I'm going to comment on:

• what happened during the Final
• the individual artworks produced during the Final
• the winning artwork

The line-up for the final of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

What happened during the Final

The Judges

The Judges for deciding which artists wins this competition and receives the associated prizes ($10,000 cash prize - plus the opportunity to have their artwork on view at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, home to the art of Canada) were expanded by one - to include Ian Dejardin, who is an art historian and the Chief Executive of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Ontario.

The weather 

The weather was typically of the kind experienced by plein air painters at certain latitudes i.e. everything on one day. They had sun, then a thunderstorm and lots of rain followed by lots of wind. Truly a test for the artists in terms of knowing how their media would respond and in terms of dealing with lots of changes in light - over and above that associated with the movement of the sun.

For me it's the type of weather which sorts out experienced plein air painters from the rest.

The thing was almost all the painters were studio painters - who work from sketches and photos!

The Paintings in the Final

I always think there's an element of "pot luck" about the Final in terms of:

• the weather
• how you're feeling on the day
• the view from your pod

any one of which could either undermine you or enable you to do your best.

Consequently, comments are "relative" i.e to that experience by that artist on that day in that location. They can't be extrapolated to other contexts.

I'm going to order the artists in terms of the order they were in the pods - from left to right (or top to bottom of the slope) - see image at the top of the post

The Final Paintings

Below each image is the same size - but the paintings were not. This image gives you a much better sense of who painted big and who did not.

The Final Paintings lined up in the same order as the pods

Some preliminary observations

• big tends to be better than small in a Final BUT the painting has to be spot on!
• paintings which have a "look at me" quality are more likely to be noticed
• quiet artworks can be overlooked
• quality is important
• originality is important

In truth it's much the same as being selected for an art competition.

Review (Part 1): FINAL of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

I'm going to do my review of the Final of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020) in two parts - with the second part on Thursday. This is because this final is a bit different to the UK one.

First off there are seven artists in the Final. 

Cue jokes and knowing glances between Judges about "The New Group of Seven"! (Note what I said in my review yesterday of the third episode!!)

Secondly, I'd like to do a commentary on the paintings in the Final and why I think the Judges chose as they did i.e. my interpretation over and above what they actually said in the edit. - so that's what will be covered in the second part. Along with what happened on the day.....

Location

The Final was filmed at Lake Rosseau in Ontario - about 120 miles north of Toronto. This is a famous lake in Muskoka - which was painted by members of the Group of Seven (although interestingly Wikipedia neglects to mention this)

I'm assuming - based on the location of the lighthouse that they were based on a slope down to the lake - running through the middle of the photo above.

This was the location of the pods - close to and above the lake shoreline

The location of the pods

Herein lies the nub of the problem of why we have had three episodes of flat ground for the pods facing flat views with architecture / manmade objects.

There's a lot of trees in Canada.

Which is absolutely fine and tickety-boo if you are an individual plein air painter - painting on your own.

However if you're filming a television programme with seven GINORMOUSs pods for the artists (exactly why do they have to be that big??)......

...then you have to have them jacked up if they are on a slope - and as you can see they had a two way slope - going down in front and from left to right as per the pic below.

I'm not sure Health and Safety would have approved of the technique and extent of jacking up of that pod on the right below

This is another view of the jacking up of pods. They seem to be using wood disguised by fronds of fir tree!

Also - there was a bit of an issue with the view from the pods. Besides the slope and the jacking up -there were quite a few trees in full view for some.  In fact I think the view must have been quite variable depending on which pod you got to paint in.

The Artists

I'm going to show you pics of the artists with their submissions to gain entry into the Heats. 

That's because of another aspect of the programme which is different to the UK one. There is no commission painting done by those selected for the Final.

Those who follow my reviews for both LAOTY and PAOTY will know I always - repetitively and endlessly - indicate that the quality of the submission painting is critical to 

• decision-making about who wins a heat, goes through to the Final and 
• wins the competition as a whole. 

The commission painting done for the Final is often the point when we know who will win.

The submission/commission is also a proper reflection of the calibre of the artist - as it's 

• a subject they have chosen (if a submission)
• composed in whatever way they thought created the best painting
• painted / created in whatever amount of time the artist required to produce a painting worthy of 
• an entry to the competition 
• winning the final

But no commissions in the Canadian Final - so I'm going to revert to their submissions.

So listed below - with their paintings are the group of seven artists in the Final - as covered in my first three posts about this competition

Review: Episode 3 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

This is my VERY late review of of the final (third) heat of Landscape Artist of the Year 2020 (Canada). Not quite sure what happened last week. Suffice to say, my planned posts went out of whack! See also

• Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)
• Review: Episode 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

Artists in Episode 3 waiting to hear who's going to the Final

Episode 3 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020) 

This originally aired in Canada on March 1 2020. 

Location of the pods: HEAT 3 - Midland Town Dock

This was an industrial landscape. A grain elevator and silos at Midland Town Dock - albeit the silos were decorated with a mural.

Known to the Huron/Ouendat people as “Ouendaronk”, to the French as “La Mer Douce,” and to the British as Georgian Bay, the waters of the so -called “Sixth Great Lake” have had a profound effect upon those who inhabited its shores. Welcome to the Midland Town Docks

Georgian Bay on Lake Huron is significant within the context of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven - Thomson was brought up on its shore and a number of the Group of Seven painted its landscapes - and lakescapes. 

The pods at Midland Town Dock.

Interestingly the pods are set up differently to the UK. The roof is slanted and normally runs side to side, whereas in Canada it runs front to back - making getting in an out rather more difficult for some!

I'm afraid I can't look at grain silos now without remembering that utterly dreadful explosion in Beirut - which happened in August 2020 - before this was broadcast in October 2020.

Mural about the heritage of the location - with a Huron man and a Jesuit priest

This mural measures 80 ft high and 250 ft wide and is the largest outdoor historical mural in North America. It displays Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons as it would look like in the 1640's

However grain silos painted in a mural (painted by Fred Lenz) which explain the history of the location make them much more interesting. So much so that virtually all the artists avoided painting the silos and mural! Only one had a go.  

Tip for the programme makers - just because it makes the visuals very interesting doesn't mean artists will paint it - IF YOU ONLY GIVE THEN 4 HOURS!! It's quite difficult enough painting places without painting paintings of places done by somebody else!

The weather

Predictably enough - the weather changed during the course of the programme. Starting off dull with lots of cloud and then better weather came later - and generated skies which started changing a LOT!

The artists in Episode 3

There was a bit more variation in the places that the artists lived in Canada in this heat. Only two lived in Ontario (both in Toronto) - whereas there were four other artists from two from British Columbia, one from Alberta and one from Nova Scotia.

There's no question, in my opinion, that this episode had more competent artists participating than the previous two episodes.

Links to their websites are embedded in their names. Links to their social media come after the name.

Professional Artists

Five professional artists took part - listed below

• Kylee Turunen (Facebook | Instagram) - an emerging Canadian artist, born in London Ontario to a landscape painter father. Now lives in Port Alberni, British Columbia. She completed the Fine Art program at Toronto's Centennial College in 2009 and is currently represented by a number of galleries around Vancouver Island. This is an interview with her. She has one of those "difficult to read" websites because everything is in capitals - which means you give up reading pretty quickly - which is a shame as she creates nice paintings. I'm not entirely clear about what differentiates her landscapes from her abstract landscapes as some look pretty similar to me. She normally works just from photos which means painting to a time limit plein air was a very new experience for her.
• Nadine Prada (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter) Lives in Toronto, ON after spending her childhood in the Caribbean. Educated at Ontario College of Art and Toronto School of Art. Used to have a career in advertising until she experienced a 8.8 earthquake. Now works as a professional contemporary artist and facilitator.

This is a story about “careful what you wish for”. I used to watch the original British show, Landscape Artist of the Year, and think to myself, “I’d really love to do that one day.” So when the call came out to audition for the Canadian premiere, I didn’t think too hard and just sent in my submission. (No time to talk myself out of it.) Cut to the day we actually had to show up and produce a painting in 4 hours (WAAAAAAAYYYYY outside my comfort zone since I work in lots of layers - and in front of an entire film crew, complete with judges, no less). It’s seriously one of the most exhilarating, rewarding experiences I’ve had in my art career and now I get to share it with all of you. I hope you get a chance to watch, and then tell me what you thought of the show. Nadina Prada | The Prada Gallery, Facebook 23 October 2020

• Jeff Wilson (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter) - a very different background story. Grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland & trained as a structural geologist. He then worked in mineral exploration around the world before settling in Vancouver in 2004. He took took art classes at Emily Carr University, and his a hobby transitioned into a full-time art practice in 2013. His paintings have been exhibited widely in public galleries in BC, Alberta and WA State. He's represented by a number of galleries, has work in various public and private collections and has won awards for his art.

Kylee, Nadine and Jeff

• Ron Kuwahara (LinkedIn) Halifax, NS Had a 40 year professional career as a physicist - working for Defence Research and Development Canada Atlantic. Turned to painting in retirement. In 2011, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art, with a Major in Painting after studying at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. For me, he's doing better than a lot of younger paintings who've never done anything else. I like the fact he's not afraid of going big and abstracting his landscapes.
• Elzbieta Krawecka (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter) - born and raised in Krakow, Poland. -Now lives in Toronto, ON (via Kuwait).  Moved to Canada to attend the Ontario College of Art and Design - and developed a love for the Canadian landscape. Her landscape paintings depict large areas of open spaces such as skies or water, defined by pattern formations. She's exhibited her art in numerous group and solo exhibitions. I appreciate a lot of artists who appear on television (not all by a long shot) but only rarely want to own one of their paintings. Take a look at the gallery on her website - and work your way back to 2001. You'll find you jaw dropping as I mine did at her amazing paintings of skies. I'd like one of her paintings.

Mackenzie, Ron and Elzbieta

Amateur Artist

There was just one amateur artist.

• Mackenzie Brown (Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn ) A very interesting individual. She is First Nations Cree from the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, though she currently lives in Edmonton, Alberta. She has a degree in Child and Youth Care and creates contemporary Indigenous art, teaches Cree cultural lessons throughout Alberta, works as a Project Manager at Indigenous Tourism Alberta and facilitates discussions throughout all levels of government and academia.  She paints in acrylic and includes beadwork in her paintings and focuses on the land and uses materials from the natural world to honour her ancestry. 

My name is Kamamak, or Mackenzie in English. As a young girl I was taught about balance. The balance between traditional and contemporary. This is how I live my life – with a moccasin in both worlds.

Wildcard Artists

Yet again, a lot of the wildcards were impressive. I keep wondering if they are all people who create fabulous paintings but are unable to talk to camera....

The Wildcard Artists were painting from a jetty nearby 
(Pods are in the top left background)

The wildcards had a more interesting, less architectural view

What I liked about This Episode

It was good to see a member of one of the indigenous nations of Canada taking part - particularly as the relationship between artist and land is rather different to other artists of European heritage. I hope it wasn't only prompted by the mural on the grain silos.

Review: Episode 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

Episode 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada was marginally better than Episode 1. That's not saying a lot. (see Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

Episode 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

This was filmed in Autumn 2019 and originally aired in 2020 in Canada. It's now being broadcast via Sky Arts (Freeview) in the UK.

Location of the pods: HEAT 2 - Cobourg Marina

I was tut-tutting again about the location of the pods. All I can say is that the location manager for this programme must have a very suburban outlook when it comes to landscapes

The pods in front of Cobourg Marina

The primary criteria for locations seems to be "flat ground" - with more "flat ground" nearby for the wildcards and then even more "flat ground" for the rest of the set-up re the production team. 

Not quite sure where the quality of the landscape and the view gets a look in!

The secondary criteria seems to be somewhere where they don't have to carry the pods too far! 

The pods were located next to Cobourg Marina. 

"This is technically a seascape" (Mark Meyer)

...except it wasn't since it was a lake not a sea!  Its water is derived from several rivers which all drain into the lake - and there are no tidal flows.

This location offered:

• very little land in view
• just pontoons and boats, Lake Ontario and the sky. 
• the trees were either side of them and in the far distance. So all those who like to paint trees were out of luck!

.....and yet just around the corner was a nice little bay with a sandy beach and some rather nice looking trees - and even better - reflections and shadows!! (see top left in the above photo)

Maybe this is a case of commercial television programme-making as an advert for recreational facilities?  Permission to film dependent on those providing permission telling you where they'd like you to go?

The weather

We had the first heat with interesting weather causing complications for the artists. The morning was clearly a typical maritime low key monochrome morning with a grey sky and low cloud. To be followed around lunchtime by sweltering hot weather and a brilliant blue sky and some very interesting high clouds.

I felt for all those who were not kitted out suitably for painting plein air in changing weather.....
Especially that wild card painting in the sun with a bald head and no hat.

The Artists in Episode 2

(Left to right) Colin, Ian, Beckett, Andrew, Deborah and Anna 

Professional Artists

Four of the five artists came from Ontario - continuing the trend started last week. Maybe those who made this programme didn't provide a very big production budget for reimbursing the travel expenses of artists living in other parts of Canada. 

The standard seems to be one artist NOT from Ontario per heat! 

If I was an artist living in Canada - somewhere other than Ontario - and I had applied for this art competition on television, I think I'd be studying the law and regulations around competitions and entries and how they are treated - and maybe writing a letter to those who regulate such things.....  After all if it says "artists from all over Canada", surely there ought to be a better mix than we've seen so far!

Five professional artists took part - a listed below. There were four painters and a book artist and I'll list them in that order

Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

This is a review of Heat 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2020 - which is currently being broadcast on Sky Arts in the UK. The second heat is tonight at 8pm.

I'm going to broadly follow the format I used to review the Landscape Artist of the Year series in the UK - but I'll be briefer.

In summary

• it's not the UK series in either depth or treatment
• it has some seriously overblown narrative and marketing. That might be the way people do things in Canada - but it's triggering a somewhat negative reception amongst more than a few LAOTY fans in the UK
• as usual I will call it how I see it!

Landscape Artist of the Year Canada (2020)

Location of the Pods

One major difference from the UK series is the travel involved in relation to locations. Unlike the recent UK series which was limited in scope due to the pandemic, this series was filmed in Canada in Autumn of 2019 for broadcast in late Winter 2020.

The locations for each episode are ALL in Ontario. So why not call it Landscape Artist of the Year Ontario?

Given the spectacular landscapes in Canada this is extremely disappointing.  It's not even as if they've travelled to where some of the best landscapes can be found - and then filmed in that location......

There's very little by way of wild locations. The locations are as follows

• HEAT 1: Ontario - Somerled Farm - a rural agricultural context. 
• HEAT 2: Ontario - Cobourg Marina - an opportunity to paint boats not a landscape.....
• HEAT 3: Ontario - Midland Town Dock - an industrial landscape
• FINAL: Ontario - Lake Rosseau - a recreational area some 200km north of Toronto.

It appears that landscapes in this series can be anywhere - so long as they're near easy motoring distance from Toronto.

PS Guess what? Five of the six artists in the first episode are also from Ontario.....  I rest my LAOTYO case.

Location in Heat one - Somerled Farm

View of the pods with a very funnelled view on the manicured farm. 
The wildcards were set up next to the house - in the garden - middle right

I found the location to be absolutely awful. That is I'm sure the farm is lovely and the owners too - but this is not a suitable challenge for a landscape painting competition!

View from the pods

Bottom line:

• It was boring verging on caricature
• The pods were lined up with a very funnelled view of a very well kept barn and some close cropped grass 
• Although agricultural it might well be described as extremely manicured. 
• There were horses in a fenced paddock - but a large tree and the fence meant the artists could not see them properly - and of course horses are not really keen on posing for artists!
• The wildcard artists painted in a garden! 

Two artists - Denise and Marissa - had the good sense to look the other way and paint something other than the barn.

I'm beginning to think that all location managers for this series need a serious education in composition in art - as some obviously have no idea whatsoever of what makes for a good location. (Bearing in mind this comes on the back of at least one absolutely awful location in the recent UK series).

The Artists in the Series

Apparently hundreds applied but only c. 60 artists were chosen for the heats - although that figure obviously includes the wildcard artists. This is because:

• there are only four episodes - of which just three are heats AND
• there are only six artists in the pods
• which means only 18 artists in the three heats - and the rest must be wildcards!

Six of the country’s top artists have just four hours to complete a landscape masterpiece. Each week, it’s a new group of artists in a new location, all vying to make it to the final.

One has to take issue with the description of the series. Absolutely no way are these Canada's "top artists". I say that knowing quite a few Canadian artists who paint landscapes who are considerably better than these artists.

If that sort of marketing was used in the UK I'd be reporting the series to the regulator of advertising for false claims! Surely people don't let tv companies do this in Canada?

Essentially these are people who wanted to appear on a television show - probably to increase their own exposure and to market their art. That's a perfectly legitimate reason - but there is no need to over-egg the pudding by calling them all "top artists" when what you mean is 

• they are in your view the top artists of those who applied 
• based on their submissions 
• plus video interviews (i.e. can they talk to a camera / do they seem interesting?)

They instructed us to “be ourselves” but also suggested that we be our most dramatic and interestingly temperamental selves, if possible.

Yet again, it's patently obvious that the selectors forgot to ask whether they'd ever painted plein air to a time limit before......  All I ask is that we see artists who understand how to paint a view in a limited amount of time when the weather might change and the light definitely will. 

In a variation from the UK series, two artists from each heat go through to the final.

You can find details of all the artists in the series on this page

The Artists in Heat 1

The artists in Heat 1 included five professional and one amateur artist as listed below. Links in the name of the artists are to their websites.

left to right: Laura, Tosh, Marissa, Phil, Denise and Megan
(it appears coloured hair helps your chances of getting selected!)

For the most part these are artists who exhibit in open studios, local art shows and art walks rather than in galleries. As usual there is some discrepancy in the use of the terms 'professional' and 'amateur'.

Five Professional Artists

Denise Antaya (Instagram) From Kingsville, Onatario.  Had a 31 year career in Advertising before deciding to pursue her life long passion for painting landscapes on a full time basis. My favourite. Her submission was a knockout. Quiet, understated but well composed and well painted. She understands composition very well and creates nice 'feel good' paintings of real landscapes. I'm sure she sells a lot. In fact I know she sells a lot - for respectable sums - because she's got lots of red dots on her website.

Denise Antaya with her submission

Tosh Jeffrey (Instagram | Twitter) Lives in Toronto. B.A. in Visual Arts from the University of Western Ontario in 2006.  He teaches high school (presumably art). Seems to be an artist who is trying very hard to make his career work but hasn't had a lot of exhibitions to date. Likes to paint urban landscapes - in black and fluorescent paints but it's not the sort of art which impresses me. 

Phil Irish (Instagram | Twitter) - Lives in Olora, Ontario. Masters of Fine Art from York University, Toronto (2012) and his Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art and English Literature from the University of Guelph, Canada (1995). He's keen on climate change and environmental concerns and creates constructions and collages - which is what he did in the programme. I was unclear about the longevity of his artworks given the materials he was working with. He made it very clear he wanted to win for the money to fix his roof!  He also made a very accurate summary of the location of the pods

It's a bit cute, honestly

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Phil Irish (@phil.irish_artist)

Marissa Sweet (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter) From the Philippines and now based in Oshawa, Ontario. She's essentially self-taught and focuses on painting nature and the environment. She starts with a brush and moves on to use a palette knife. Elected Member Society of Canadian Artists' & Ontario Society of Artists. She does online workshops and interviews via Instagram. I like people who work hard at marketing their art.

Laura Zerebeski (Facebook | Instagram) - the only artist not from Ontario. She lives out on the west coast in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mostly self-taught. Became a full time painter in 2008. Describes herself as a full-time expressionist painter with a surrealist edge. She likes to paint urban landscapes (which made me wonder why she was in this heat) and was painting plein air for the first time. I found her caricatured drawing and very bright unrealistic colours in her work to be a bit Disneyfied - which I'm sure will appeal to some.  She wrote two blog posts. She writes well and I found both very interesting and extremely informative. I'm sure both will also be very helpful to others hoping to participate in the future. PS I like her writing more than her art and IMO Laura should also pursue a writing career!

• Landscape Artist of the Year, Part 1
• Landscape Artist of the Year, Part 2

landscape painting involves decidedly less adrenaline so they have to put a time limit on it and amp up the drama...... 
Eventually, I was short-short listed to the finals. I’m in! My silent response when they phoned to congratulate me was a sort of dawning horror. I told them I was speechless with indescribable YAY; inside, that YAY was more like a Stephen King monologue.
They told me to make sure I kept my purple hair (summer experiment/self-colouring mistake) because the network loved it. I suspect I am the Menopausal Rebel archetype, a token Western Canada white female representative.

One Amateur Artist

Megan Hazen (Instagram ) Based in Burlington, Ontario. A 2017 graduate of OCAD University in Toronto with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction. She works in acrylic and has a love of colour. Has developed a somewhat odd technique of creating cutouts within her paintings where there is no content. Although I understood her concept behind why she does this when she described it - and her paintings catch my eye to start with - I'm less convinced this will have long term appeal. She obviously likes plants and animals and I wonder why she doesn't focus on these.

What I liked

Some of the submissions were good.  Others were interesting. 

Thank goodness for at least two artists who looked for something to paint other than the awful barn.

Plus another who blew up the barn with his collage. Not a fan of his work - but totally get the reason for doing it like that!

I felt a bit perverse watching the interesting dialogue between the two Judges.  

• The woman - Joanne Tod (age 68), award-winning artist and educator - paints portraits(!) and betrayed her ignorance of landscape painting very early in the programme when she confessed she'd never heard of sky holes. What she is doing judging a landscape painting competition is beyond me!
• The man - Marc Mayer (age 65) Former Director of the National Gallery of Canada - was obviously used to being asked to speak first - and I rather suspect he is not above saying the startlingly obvious should anybody say something really silly. Loved the way he switched into French when speaking to a Canadian wildcard who spoke French as his first language (but where were the subtitles for the rest of us?)

At one point I made a note "Mayer does not like woman judge".

Not a natural pairing - but the tension makes for interesting viewing!

I also liked watching Denise paint and her approach using a brown grisaille for her underpainting before getting going with her oils. Interesting also to watch somebody who paints back to front in terms of zones.

One of the best bits was when Ian Dejardin (who I met and talked with when he was Director of the Dulwich Picture Gallery - nice man) did an overview of Canadian landscape painting - highlighting different styles and approaches across a wide range.  See my review of his Painting Canada exhibition at DPG Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven - Review (2012). 

The artists he featured were

• Franklin Carmichael - member of the Group of Seven
• Clarence Gagnon - painted rural Quebec
• Maud Lewis - painted Nova Scotia
• AY Jackson - member of the Group of Seven
• Homer Watson - painted Doon, Ontario

What I didn't like

I really do NOT like television companies who 

• try to make artists into exaggerated versions of themselves in order to create "interesting television".  

"I came to play and I play to win". Really? The people who watch programmes like these are much more interested in listening to their thoughts about how to develop and progress their artwork than how stressful they are finding the situation - or how pumped up they are in terms of meeting the challenge!!

• put artists into stressful situations when they have absolutely no experience of painting plein air - and haven't got the right kit with them
• take two artists who like painting urban landscapes and put them on a farm.

I'm also not a fan of production companies which can't find a flat piece of land on which to put the pods with a view which is not flat!

What surprised me

The artists with no formal art training produced the best submissions.

Or should I be surprised? Given what passes for art education these days......

Heat Winners

Judging the paintings

In a nutshell - from left to right

• Marissa had difficulties finding her subject - and then painted too small for her style. I'd thought on the basis of her submission that she was more likely to be 'a winner'.
• Phil created something interesting - which bore little relation to the view and raised questions about its longevity in terms of how it was made
• Megan's painting underwhelmed and included a non-existent sunflower. She seemed to me to be out of her comfort zone and was painting what she knew rather than what she saw
• Laura's painting - if less whacky - could have been interesting. She certainly knows how to lay paint down. 
• Tosh invented a landscape by moving aspects of what was in front of him around - and went big. I really don't like his style or colours but I do think he tried hard and made something out of a difficult/boring subject.
• Denise turned around and focused on the far horizon and created a nice calm painting. She knows how to paint and she received the best compliments of the day from Mark Meyer.

The Heat winners - going forward to the Final were 

• Denise Antaya 
• Todd Jeffrey

I'm looking forward to seeing what Episode 2 is like. More of the same - or something different?

and now for Landscape Artist of the Year CANADA!

For all those who are suffering withdrawal symptoms from the end of Landscape Artist of the Year in the UK, I have news of another series - this time in Canada.

I don't watch adverts so wasn't aware this was happening until today. Campbell Morrison from Scotland very kindly told me about Landscape Artist of the Year Canada. (which I THINK is actually Landscape Artists of the Year 2020 - Canada - and this is because I do lots of searching online and I picked up a few clues!)

How to watch Landscape Artist of the Year in the UK

The good news is I can start from the beginning - so long as I watch Episode 1 which is being broadcast in the afternoon next Tuesday on Sky Arts on Freeview.

Otherwise it's 8pm every Wednesday night for four weeks. (I've just finished setting up the "record" buttons)

This is because the programme is being broadcast as follows:

• Sky TV Entertainment - Wednesday 8pm - for the next four weeks (also available on demand)
• Sky Arts on Freeview
• Wednesday 8pm starting 17th March - for four weeks (but NOT on demand)
• Tuesday 3pm starting 23rd March - for four weeks (but NOT on demand)
• NOW TV Entertainment - NOT AVAILABLE - BOOOOOOOOOO!!!  I pay my subscription - where's my SKY TV Entertainment content?

Landscape Artist of the Year Canada

This is how it works. It's exactly the same - same format, same music, same pods - with a few differences (see below)

The programme brings together the country’s top professional and amateur artists, in a battle of the brushes to see who can best capture the country’s most iconic landscapes. Working in their own mediums,using their own supplies, the artists must create a spectacular rendition of the landscape in front of them...in only four hours! 

The programme is licenced by Sky Arts to the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CBC) and is made by Makeful.

As per usual, the Judges decide 

• which artist deserves the $10,000 grand prize and 
• who will have the honour of being put on display at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. 

The landscape this time incorporates views of Canada - and celebrates the diversity of Canadian landscapes. Watch the video below to see the sort of landscapes in the series.

It will also feature famous Canadian landscape artists. If you want to get ahead on this topic why not read my past blog posts about Canadian landscape artists?

• Painting Canada 2 - Emily Carr at the Dulwich Picture Gallery (2014)
• Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven - Review (2012)
• 'Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven' at Dulwich Picture Gallery (2011)

What's different about LAOTY Canada?

The variations are:

• it's only four weeks long
• just ONE host: Sook-Yin Lee - who is apparently a famed arts broadcaster in Canada. 

Sook-Yin Lee 

• just TWO expert judges:
• Marc Mayer (age 65) Former Director of the National Gallery of Canada. (I'm already impressed - that's heavyweight kudos!) He's currently, strategic adviser at the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto

Marc Meyer with Marissa Sweet

• Joanne Tod (age 68), award-winning artist and educator. She is a Canadian contemporary artist and lecturer whose paintings are included in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. She seems to specialise in portraits so I'm guessing was selected for what I assume is a companion series.

Joanne Tod with Laura Zerebeski.

There's a nice video on YouTube called Landscape Artist of the Year Canada: Tips and Tricks - see below. 

Note how I worked out it was the programme for 2020? :) 

What about my reviews?

I'm still under lockdown so television programmes provide a great opportunity to review art and I'll be continuing my reviews - in the same way as for Landscape Artist of the Year in the UK.

The first will be published before Episode 2 airs next Wednesday - after I've watched Episode 1 on Tuesday!

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