The ArtReview Power List 100 in the last 20 years (2005, 2015, 2025)

It's always worthwhile to keep an eye on what's changing in the upper echelons of the art genre/business - what's changing and what's not.  

The turn of the year is a good time to reflect on how things are changing....

ArtReview's Power 100 is an annual ranking of the most powerful people in Art and is always worth a look.  

• The core concept of the list revolves around the mechanisms and impact of influence in the art world.
• A lot of what changes tends to filter down over time - so it's a bit like looking into the future. 

Changes in the ArtReview Power 100:
who was at the top in the last 20 years 
(see FULL TABLE below)

This post looks at 

• who are the Power 100 in 2025 
• how the list has changed RADICALLY in the last 20 years. 

and gives me an opportunity to give my very analytical brain a work out - and to look at the trends over time.

The Power 100 is ArtReview’s annual portrait of power in the artworld. It is an attempt to describe the individuals and groups that have shaped what art has been seen and how it has been seen over the past 12 months (broadly speaking, the calendar year). And yes, that is an indication that ArtReview views the artworld as, essentially, a social structure: a network of relationships that are triggered by the actions of individuals. 

They define this further

The criteria for inclusion are:

• that each person of the Power 100 has had an active influence on the art being made and shown now;
• that influence has to be active

Of course, it really all depends on WHO you ask..... 

The Top 10 in the Power 100 2025

PAOTY - What are the winners doing now? (series 1-6)

This is about the first six artists who achieved the title of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year. (Series 1-6) The year at the end of each heading below relates to the year the series was broadcast and not the year it was filmed.

My previous post PAOTY - What are the winners doing now? (series 7- 11) covered the winners of Series 7-11. 

Portraits of Amir Khan and Sir Ian McKellen painted by Christian Hook

Today's post is about

• Series 1: Nick Lord
• Series 2: Christian Hook
• Series 3: Gareth Reid
• Series 4: Samira Addo
• Series 5: Duncan Shoosmith 
• Series 6: Christobel Blackburn

Links to their websites are embedded in their names.

Nick Lord - Series 1 (2013)

The very first series began with heats held in London, Cardiff, Glasgow and Dublin. 

Nick Lord (Instagram) won the very first series in 2013 by beating the 1,800 applicants to become the overall winner. 

He was born and raised in Cardiff. He studied for a BA in Fine Art at Kingston University and graduated in July 2011 with a BA in Fine Art First Class Honours from Kingston University  

Nick won with a portfolio of work done throughout the series

• He painted Gavin Henson in his Cardiff heat. 
• For the Final

• he was commissioned to paint Lance Sergeant Johnson Beharry VC
• and he painted Sophie Dahl in Paris - with the other artists

The unveiling of Nick Lord's commissioned portrait for the Final
of Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry VC

After winning the series, as his prize, he was then commissioned to paint a portrait of double-Booker author Hilary Mantel for The British Library

Nick Lord with Hilary Mantel at the unveiling at the British Library.

Oddly, I can identify an Instagram account but no website. He also did not participate in the Portrait Artist of the Decade programme to celebrate 10 series of Portrait Artist of the Year and there is no bio that I can find about his subsequent career.

Christian Hook - Series 2 (2014)

I find that Christian Hook is probably the artist who gets mentioned most by those thinking back to who was the artist that had the most impact on them or the one they liked the most.

He has an amazing ability to use contemporary texhnciques and yet get a good likeness every time. He combines accurate portraits which really look like the sitter with Gerhard Richter type swipes of paint.

For the final he painted

• Sir Ian McKellen in 4 hours
• a very large painting of Amir Khan for his commissioned portrait

Waiting to hear who has won Series 2 of PAOTY
Christian Hook in the middle has the two biggest portraits from
the 4 hour painting in the Final Session and the commission completed beforehand

Never ever underestimate the impact of very good portraits in the Final which are also very big!

His commission painting for the Scottish Portrait Gallery of Scottish Actor Alan Cuming.....

PAOTY - What are the winners doing now? (series 7- 11)

This started out as a review of what next for Portrait Artist of the Year. I pondered on what people had achieved from the various series. Which is how it turned into a review of what's happened to the artists who have won the various series.

This post is about the winners of Series 8 - 11 (Curtis Holder, Calum Stevenson, Morag Caister, Wendy Barratt and Brogen Bertie)

The next post is about the winners of Series 2 - 7 (Christian Hook, Gareth Reid, Samira Addo, Duncan Shoesmith, and Christobel Blackburn)

I'd say that what people achieve post PAOTY is a product of their:

• natural talent - and the artwork they produce
• application to the business side of art
• ability to communicate
• application of effort to getting things done and making things happen.

Curtis Holder Series 7 (Autumn 2020)

Curtis Holder has become a very regular feature of the art scene in the UK since he won in 2020 and gave up his teaching job.  He has an extremely extensive "things done since PAOTY" list of activities on his website.  

To my mind he has achieved the most through winning the PAOTY competition - by some margin.

Curtis Holder won the second series in 2020 (in the autumn slot on Sky Arts)

• Curtis Holder wins Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 7 Autumn 2020)
• PAOTY Commission: Curtis Holder draws Carlos Acosta

Sinec then:

• He's joined various national art societies 
• He has been a selector or Judge for 11 exhibitions since 2020.
• He's participated in a very large number of group exhibitions
• 14 in 2025
• 8 in 2024
• 16 in 2023
• 17 in 2022
• 6 in 2021
• He's also become an artist Ambassador for Derwent Pencils.

Educated at Kingston University and Central Saint Martins, Holder is a member of Contemporary British Portrait Painters, The Society of Graphic Fine Art, and The Pastel Society. He has served as a selector for major national and international art competitions and collaborates with institutions to engage diverse audiences, fostering creativity and discussions on identity and representation. 

I'm getting very used to seeing his large coloured pencil portraits in various annual exhibitions. I'm also seeing a lot of media coverage - check out his CV, it's very impressive

 

Curtis Holder - with two of his portraits
at The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2024 at the Mall Galleries

The exhibition of artwork selected by Curtis Holder
at the ING Discerning Eye Annual Exhibition 2025.

He's also had a number of solo exhibitions since 2020

2025

• Curtis Holder: Portraits of Brotherhood, RBSA Gallery (Royal Birmingham Society of Artists), Birmingham, UK 

2024 - 2025

• Silent Echoes, Spoken Truths: Curtis Holder, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds, UK 
• Curtis Holder: Drawing Carlos Acosta, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK 

2024

• Curtis Holder: Portraits of Brotherhood, Guildford House Gallery, Guildford, UK

2023

• The Makers: Portraits from Backstage, National Theatre, London, UK

2021 - 2022

• Something Unspoken, 45 Park Lane, Dorchester Collection, London, UK 

These are his awards going all the way back to winning PAOTY in 2020.

• Winner, ArtEvol Award, London Art Collective | 2025
• Winner, Audience Choice Award, London Art Collective | 2025
• Shortlist, Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | 2025
• Winner, President’s Award, Society of Graphic Fine Art | 2024
• Winner (First Prize), The John Ruskin Prize | 2024
• Longlist, The Aesthetica Art Prize | 2024
• Winner, The Tom Coates Memorial Prize, The Pastel Society | 2024
• Winner, Drawing with a Dry-Based Medium Award, The Gallery at Green & Stone and St Cuthberts Mill | 2024
• Winner, Guildford House Open | 2023
• Highly Commended, RBSA Drawing Prize | 2023
• Shortlist, Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize | 2022
• Winner, St Cuthberts Mill Award, Wells Art Contemporary | 202
• Shortlist, The Derwent Art Prize | 2022
• Winner, The Anthony J Lester Art Critic Award, The Pastel Society | 2022
• Winner, The Frank Herring & Sons Award, The Pastel Society | 2022
• Highly Commended, UK Coloured Pencil Society | 2021
• Highly Commended Award, Society of Graphic Fine Art | 2021
• Longlist, The Self-Portrait Prize, Ruth Borchard Collection | 2021
• Highly Commended, The British Art Prize | 2021
• Longlist, Jackson’s Painting Prize | 2021
• Winner, Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year | 2020

Calum Stevenson Series 8 (2021)

Calum Stevenson won in 2021. 

• See Calum Stevenson wins Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 8 Autumn 2021). He was commissioned to paint the violinist Nicola Benedetti.

Art on the BBC (Series 2)

I've just spotted that Art on the BBC is back for a Second Series of the television history of art tonight at 9pm on BBC4

Series 2 kicks off with 

• 3rd Jan: Episode 1 - The Great Salvador Dali - with David Dibbosa
• 10th Jan: Episode 2 - Van Gogh - Life and Art - with Kate Bryan
• but I can't work out what happens after these two. It looks like it might be just two episodes! 

Material is drawn from the BBC Archives

I wonder when it's going to occur to the BBC that to have archives you also have to keep making new programmes?

Some of you may recall my blog post last year What happens to art after the demise of BBC Four?

An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021)

I have long admired and loved Wayne Thiebaud's paintings, prints and drawings. So it was especially sad to wake this morning to the news that he had died, age 101, on Christmas Day, at his home in Sacramento. 

I've written about him before in 

• More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at" 

For me this is a bit of a click and salivate post! In all honesty written entirely for me - for looking at from time to time - rather than sharing with any of you - but you can look too! ;)

• Wayne Thiebaud working on etchings (video) 

This post is going to be an appreciation of the man and his artwork - with links to where online you can see and hear him and view his art. (Note: I'll probably add in more links to his artwork as I find them)

Installation view of Wayne Thiebaud: A Paintings Retrospective
(Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, June 28–September 23, 2001).
Photography by Jerry L. Thompson 

But first click the arrow to the right of the pic in this link to see a slideshow of his work created by his gallery.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Acquavella Galleries (@acquavellagalleries)

About Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud. Photo: Gregory Urquiaga

For me he's an artist who is a luscious realist of the everyday - until you get up close and realise his artwork is also abstracted from reality and the artist relishes the media he used. 

His art started from observation and might more accurately termed be realist when it was a drawing. However artwork developed from his memories and those drawings could become a very different sort of realism.

He's perhaps best known as the painter of cakes, pies, ice cream, boiled sweets and Americana - but he was a lot more than that. He was also a very accomplished figurative and portrait painter. 

By the early 1960s, Thiebaud had begun painting the works for which he is best known, depicting quintessentially American, everyday objects in bright colors—such as cakes and pies, hot dogs and hamburgers, gumballs and lollipops, and jackpot machines. Rather than painting from life, Thiebaud represented these objects from memory, drawing from nostalgic recollections of bakeries and diners from his youth and contemporary commercial imagery. Working with thickly applied paint, Thiebaud often spotlights his objects against pale backgrounds with the well-defined shadows characteristic of advertisements. In order to heighten their chromatic intensity, he outlines his forms in radiant colors to achieve a halo-like effect. In addition to his still lifes, Thiebaud also painted portraits in the same style, depicting solemn figures set against light, empty backgrounds.

His urban and Californian landscapes often took on a new perspective are very striking - and make you look at landscapes with a fresh eye. To me they often seemed to involve tilting or looking up and the optical mixing of colours in both application and positioning on the support which just makes you LOOK at the artwork!

VIDEO: Melissa Scott-Miller painting backs of houses, back gardens and urban landscapes in London

 

This is a wonderful video of Melissa Scott-Miller painting her wonderful detailed urban London landscapes in lush oil paint.

"I like to feel I'm portraying the essence of an area"

LEARN:

• what the inside of an artist's home really looks like (oil paintings occupy every wall while they dry and wait for exhibitions, canvases for painting stack against walls)
• how to paint with an easel on the stairs
• why shopping trollies are a wonderful way to transport kit for plein air painting
• how to respond to really irritating people who want to talk about your painting while you're working (keep responses brief and don't encourage more questions and be nice to those who nice to you)
  
• how to respond to "how much" questions
• how painting plein air facilitates marketing - so don't forget to take your business card!

"If I really had my own way, I'd just be painting backs of houses

The video was created for the recent Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2021

We follow Melissa Scott-Miller RP NEAC RBA as she paints in her studio, on the stairs, and out in the streets of London.

Growing up among the tall red-brick mansion blocks of Kensington, Melissa Scott-Miller was an enthusiast for London's streetscapes from an early age. She has made the urban landscape her specialty, choosing metre-square canvases to record the rich detail of the city.

The video was made by Jack Elliott Hobbs, digital content creator and documentary filmmaker.

About English artist: Norman Neasom

I don't recollect seeing the artwork of Norman Neasom RWS, RBSA (1915-2010) before - but having seen it I very much recommend you take a look too.

He was an English painter and art teacher - based in the Midlands - who produced intense observational drawings and paintings of people in landscapes and interiors. His paintings were very often involved with recording everyday activities and normal life and life events and sometimes the very odd thing that happens. (see below for more detail)

Norman Neasom’s paintings and drawings – like those of a number of other British artists over the past century or so, record both that old, quieter, simpler England, as well as its slow, gradual passing. In Neasom’s work, we can still discover men gathering hay by hand, two old gentlemen in tweeds out for a ride, or a farmer bringing in sheep with his dog. As his obituary in The Independent in 2010 observed, ‘Neasom’s was a benign, pastoral vision in a deeply English tradition.’

This is precisely the type of artwork which I have been known to lament NOT seeing very often at national open exhibitions by art societies.

I'm guessing he probably stopped being active in RWS and RBSA exhibitions before I started reviewing them as I plugged his name into my Google Search box (in the right column) and his name did not generate a reference to

Norman Neasom - cover of Messums catalogue of his work
The Snowdon Horseshoe from Capel Curig by Norman Neasom
gouache on a.b.

Norman Neason obviously developed a very good reputation as his estate is being exhibited by Messums (a notable art gallery in London) - but it closes today!

• This is the link to the catalogue (which can be downloaded) 
• You can view the artwork in the Messums exhibition online on their website
• This is the video about the artwork in the exhibition
  

What I like particularly is you can see he recorded events in his own life and he regularly pops up in his drawings and paintings.

His work is described as belonging to the genre of British realist painting from the inter-war period. Messums suggest that this is a "somewhat underappreciated genre" whose leading light was Stanley Spencer.

Messum comments further about the genre

With more than a hint of nostalgia, it is a period of British art that is gaining increasing attention: in 2017 the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art even devoted a whole exhibition to the ‘movement’ (if one can call it such), showcasing over fifty British realists from the 1920s and ‘30s, including Gerald Leslie Brockhurst, Meredith Frampton, Winifred Knights and Edward Wadsworth – as well as Spencer, Fleetwood-Walker and Tucker. One might also draw Eric Ravilious into this group, with his closely-observed watercolours devoted to the English countryside of the inter-war years.

I must confess when I first saw his work they made me think of Stanley Spencer (minus religious connotations) at one end of the spectrum and Beryl Cook at the other (particularly in relation to a lot of interior scenes.

Perhaps the artist these works most closely resemble is Beryl Cook, and her comical paintings of hen nights and tea parties. It is interesting to note then, that when the mayor of Redditch met Neasom towards the end of the artist’s life and remarked that some of his work reminded him of Cook’s, Neasom replied, ‘She copied me.’

More about Norman Neasom

Is "Artist" a non-essential job?

A Chart has been circulating on Facebook suggesting that an "Artist" ranks #1 in the list of Top 5 Non-Essential Jobs.

Cue apoplexy amongst many artists on Facebook!  

Much hurt all round Facebook who now feel people do not appreciate artists!

screendump from Facebook

Some of the more popular comments on my FB Page

Some of the more popular comments on my FB Page when I posted another version of the chart - (which had chopped an essential word from the top text

Considering everything we've been amusing ourselves with that's been keeping us all sane over the last while, I'd say artists should definitely be on the essential list

Considering everything you touch, sit on use has been designed by someone who started out at art school

I’m not trying to be greedy but I have two cleaning jobs and I’m an artist!! I’m an underpaid essential and an underpaid non-essential!! LOL And shouldn’t that read “delivery person”!!

Artists not important...Ha...then just take away all entertainment, go back to using DOS on computers, Burn all museums...all museums, burn most libaries, tear down many historical buildings, and so on...oh and all clothes on style sack and all colours gray. No patterns. The problem with being an artist is that we are so ingrained into part of society we are actually invisible. We are on par with the air you breathe.

Seriously though, like many have already pointed out, what sort of grey world do people want to live in with no film, tv, music, graphics, museums, galleries, clothes, shoes, ....oh I could go on! Who the hell even designed that page of the newspaper? A graphic designer....an artist! I despair!

Let them be for a week without books, radio, streaming music & video, games, telly... They'll kill each other

HOWEVER This is a bit more complicated than that - as I shall explain.

Why you should not get apoplectic too quickly

Stop and read the text at the top of the graphic - as I did when I saw the same poll on another FB account with a long textual explanation - rather than a quick quip

The author - Yan Neng - was one of the people who responded to the poll. 
It generated 179 comments and 788 shares!!

Now for the PUNCHLINE!

1. This survey was of a group of 1,000 (only) people in SINGAPORE and was intended only to relate to Singapore.
2. "The Sunday Times" in the headline is NOT THE Sunday Times (published in London) - rather it is the Sunday edition of The Straits Times - in SINGAPORE.
3. It can only ever have been intended to relate to the current Covid context of SINGAPORE.

This is the text that many people did not see

The Sunday Times asks 1,000 respondents which are the jobs which are most crucial in keeping Singapore going, and also how much people will pay for essential services so that workers in the sector may get a wage boost

The purpose of the poll was all about identifying those who people would be willing to pay more to RIGHT NOW - to make sure they got their essential service.  

By including the non-essential jobs, they muddied the water and the reception it got online - as artists became more and more incensed.....

In addition, the author of the FB post I saw provided an explanation of the survey 

I'm not gonna lie. I’ve friends who are artists who are hurt by this survey and I do feel guilty, but I don’t think my answers will change.
We weren’t told the purpose of the survey is a frivolous article; it came off like it was a government survey trying to suss out if they should implement some sort of minimum wage. And come on, when you place people who handles the garbage disposal next to an artist, how could I rank both as equally essential? The former, I need everyday; the latter, I love art and can enjoy the art they’ve already made everyday.
In my mind, there were also a distinction between a pure artist and a designer when I was doing the survey. I thought about performance artists who sat in an exhibit holding people’s hands, or people who painted on an easel. While their work can be amazing (I’ve been touched by such art), I don’t know how essential it is right now in today’s Cov19 context.
With regards to the minimum wage impression, I also didn’t feel inclined to pick workers who were already more appreciated in their day to day as “essential” (HR managers probably earn more than a cleaner).
Keep in mind, these professions were given to us as choices — it wasn’t as if the surveyees spontaneously suggested artists as inessential.
EDIT: after some discussions below, I just wanted to add I also think there's also a difference between "essential" and "valuable". I'm a writer and I'll gladly admit I'm not essential in today's context and climate. However, I do find my work *valuable*. Whether or not my work is essential has no bearing on the value my work brings. The survey asked for "essential" and I did the survey keeping "essential" in mind. This term was defined in the survey: "we mean someone who is engaged in work deemed necessary to meet basic needs of human survival and well-being, such as food, health, safety and cleaning".

 Here are some of the comments he got.

if you are willing to brave the storm of angry people possibly coming at you, post it as a shareable status.
At the end of the day, this is just data. Data of public perception of artists and not the inherent worth of artists. It's feedback lor.
And this feedback means that we/Artists still have a lot of work to do to bridge public perception and sentiments.

There's a difference between essential and important.
For example. Sex is arguably not an essential part for a person's existence. But I don't think people are going to deny it's importance.

I think there's nothing wrong with what you did. Artists are always going to be necassary and important but like many others, not essential. The point of the article was to focus on the underpaid but i feel by adding in the top 5 non essentials, it has really diluted the point of the article.

It's an interesting phenomenon and perspective. 

Artists may be valuable - but in the context of the Pandemic the population at large (in Singapore) did not regard them as "essential" to daily life.

Diana Armfield Timeline on her 100th Birthday

Diana Armfield RA, HRWS, HRCamA, RWA(Emeritus), HNEAC, HPS, MSIA celebrates her 100th Birthday today. She was born on 11th June 1920.

She is a British artist who is well known for her drawings and paintings of landscapes - particular rural landscapes in Wales and urban landscapes and interiors in Venice. She's also drawn and painted a lot of floral still life as well as portraits.

I know I've made a point of photographing her artwork every time I've seen it and have looked back through my archives to see what I'd got to celebrate her birthday.

Diana Armfield at the RA Summer Exhibition 2019
- I didn't even have to look up the catalogue numbers to check!

Back in 2012 I wrote a very detailed appreciation of her - see Diana Armfield RA, RWS - an appreciation.

• First off, she draws wonderfully well - with a very sensitive line.
• Next she's a big user of pastels but uses them with very few strokes and a light touch...
• ...she produces stunning pastel drawings in a sketchy sort of way - which of course is another reason I like her work
• She's the inspiration behind my sketches of interiors with people - often in the middle of a nice meal!
• She's not wedded to one media. I love her painting as well in oils, watercolour and gouache. I like her dabs and dashes and beautiful modulations of colour.
• She draws and paints the bits of Venice that nobody else seems to paint
• I always find her people very believable and love her drawings of women talking. They speak of quiet observation of real people.

Today NEAC published their 'birthday card' to her see Happy 100th Birthday, Diana Armfield!

BELOW you can read a summary about her timeline of 100 years - brought up to date from the one published in 2012.

Timeline: Diana Maxwell Armfield, RA, HRWS, HRCamA, RWA(Emeritus), HNEAC, HPS, MSIA

Her photo portrait on the RA website

Personal

• 11 June 1920: born in Hightown, Ringwood, Hampshire. She was younger of two daughters of Joseph Harold Armfield, a Quaker who was the director of the Vale of Avon Iron Works, and his wife, Gertrude (née Uttley).
• 1949 - married Bernard Dunstan who she met at the Slade School of Art and lived in a studio at the bottom of the garden of her sister's house at 7 Lambolle Road, Belsize Park
• 1950 - birth of their first son - and they moved to the upstairs flat!
• 1952 - birth of their second son - and they moved to Kew (where she has lived ever since)
• her close association with Wales (and her Welsh landscapes) began when her parents gave her the house, Llwyn Hir, in Parc, near Bala, in Gwynedd,
• 20 August 2017 - Widowed when Bernard Dunstan died as the longest serving RA Member (see Bernard Dunstan RA PPRWA NEAC (1920 - 2017) | Making A Mark)

Drawings and Paintings by Bernard Dunstan and Diana Armfield 
hung at the RA Summer Exhibition 2017 two months before Bernard died.
Diane features as Bernard's muse in some of the paintings and drawings

Education

• Bedales School

She attended Bedales, a co-educational independent school in the village of Steep, Hampshire, and there she studied art with the inspiring teacher, Innes Meo.

• Bournemouth School of Art (one year)
• Slade School of Fine Art (during its evacuation from London to Oxford)

In 1942, she left the Slade without taking her diploma in order to undertake war work as a Cultural Activities Organiser for the Ministry of Supply.

• 1947 - took up place at the Central School of Arts and Crafts

Studying under Bernard Adeney and Dora Batty in the textile department, she soon founded her own textile company with fellow student, Roy Passano. They involved themselves in all stages of the process from design to sales, and showcased the results at galleries in South Molton Street (1947 and 1948) and at the Artists’ International Association.

Artistic Activities

She started her career in textile and wallpaper design in partnership with Roy Passano; they contributed to the 1951 Festival of Britain and examples of their work are in the permanent collection at the V&A.

• 1958 - designed wallpaper patterns for Cole & Son, Lightbown Aspinall and Shand Kydd, as well as John Line & Sons.
• 1959 - began teaching at the Byam Shaw School of Art - initially drawing and then painting as well.

Bernard quickly made me an easel box and we went to Arezzo in Tuscany together for two weeks, painting every day. I’ve never looked back!’(quoted in Fairweather 2013).

• 1959 - 1965 - combined designing and teaching
• 1965 - began painting full time and exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
• 1970 - elected a member of the New English Art Club
• 1973 - becoming an Associate Member of the Royal Cambrian Academy 
• 1975 - became a member of the Royal West of England Academy
• 1979 - she became a gallery artist with Browse & Darby in Cork Street - which was at the time the equivalent of mecca for all London Galleries 

Paintings by Diana Armfield at Browse & Darby

• 1985 - Artist in Residence at Perth, Australia
• 1989 - Artist in Residence at Jackson, Wyoming, USA in 1989.
• 1 June 1989 - Elected ARA
• 1989 - she was commissioned by HRH the Prince of Wales to paint the interiors and gardens of Highgrove, his home in Gloucestershire.
• 26 June 1991 - Elected a full member of the Royal Academy of Art 
• 1996 - became a full member of the Royal Cambrian Academy
• 1997 - joined the list of Retired Members of the Royal Cambrian Academy
• 2002 - she was interviewed for posterity and these records now form part of the aural archive at the British Library. (TIP: If you go to https://sounds.bl.uk
  you can go to the Search box directly or after selecting Arts, literature and performance. Entering the keyword Armfield (or Dunstan) takes you at once to her (or his) recordings. She has 54 half-hour recordings)

Pastel sketch of lambs by Diana Armfield

Exhibitions

Since 1965 Diana Armfield began to exhibit regularly at the Royal Academy and subsequently at the Mall Galleries, Bankside Gallery and Albany Gallery (Cardiff), amongst other venues at home and abroad.

She has also had solo shows at Browse and Darby in Cork Street, London since 1979 - and has many faithful collectors.

Recent Solo Exhibitions

Diana Armfield at the Royal Watercolour Society in 2011

• 2015-16 Royal Academy of Art - A joint show was held with Bernard Dunstan 
• 2013 Mall Galleries, London
• 2011 - she was the featured artist in the RWS Spring Show 2011 at the Bankside Gallery
• 2010 Browse & Darby, London - held an exhibition to mark her 90th birthday
• 2006 Albany Gallery, Cardiff
• Browse & Darby, London
• 2005 New Academy Gallery, London
• 2004 Sheen Gallery, London
• 2001 Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy
• Albany Gallery, Cardiff
• 2000 Browse & Darby, London
• 1999 Bedales Centenary Exhibition, London

Hellebores at Christmas - at the NEAC Annual Exhibition 2019

Selected Collections

• Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Textiles)
• Government Art Collection
• Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
• Yale Centre for British Art
• Contemporary Art Society for Wales
• British Museum (RWS permanent collection)
• Lancaster City Art Gallery
• Faringdon Collection
• Commissions
• Reuters
• National Trust
• HRH Prince of Wales: Paintings of Highgrove
• Contemporary Art Society for Wales

Her paintings can also be found online at Art UK

Selected Publications

My copy of "The Art of Diana Armfield"

I highly recommend the book "The Art of Diana Armfield" to anybody who likes sketchy drawings and paintings which display really good draughtsmanship, life and some beautiful use of colour and tonalities.

• The Art of Diana Armfield, Julian Halsby, David & Charles, 1995
• The Simon and Schuster Pocket Guide to Painting in Oils, Diana Armfield, 1982
• The Simon and Schuster Pocket Guide to Drawing, Diana Armfield, 1982
• Drawing (A Mitchell Beazley handbook), Diana Armfield, 1983
• Painting in Oils: A practical step by step guide (A Mitchell Beazley handbook), Diana Armfield, 1983

What is a semi-professional artist?

There are two ways of looking at what a semi-professional is.

• Either they are somebody who is receiving payment for an activity but NOT as a full-time occupation NOR relying entirely on it for a living
• Or they are somebody who is spending a lot of time on an activity and aspiring to reach the standards normally associated with a professional - and money doesn't come into it

Or maybe both in varying degrees?

I've often commented in my reviews of art challenge programmes on the television about the blurring of the lines between "professionals" and "amateurs". Examples include:

• people who have worked as trained and professional illustrators or designers or architects in the past now declaring themselves as amateur artists
• art students who have just graduated declaring themselves to be professional artists - because that's what they are trying to be
• people who have an art degree and a full time working role in relation to art - but only paint in what they consider to be an amateur capacity(i.e. not trying to make it their full-time job)

So I thought it might be interesting to discuss.....

What is a semi professional artist?

Crop of a Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash

The best way of coming at a definition is probably by trying to define the boundary either side.

The professional artist

Back in 2011 I wrote How do you define a "professional artist"? It generated a lot of interesting comments

This is how I defined a professional artist

My definition of a professional artist is purely pragmatic - it's an artist who makes their living mainly or entirely through their art.

So for example, that might mean a professional artist was somebody who was a practising artist who sold their art in galleries, also taught art in a school or college or workshops and maybe did some illustration work as a sideline.

In every other occupation, professional is defined entirely by occupational standards e.g.

• I was at one time a professional accountant - because I had qualified by passing the professional examinations of my institute and been admitted to membership of professional institute recognised as such by the government (Charter status etc). Doctors, dentists, lawyers and many other occupations which have a "duty of care" implicit or explicit within their professional role have very similar preconditions to being termed a "professional". 

For some professional standards are defined somewhat differently e.g.

• a professional golfer or tennis player or football player is somebody who does it full time and plays in what are recognised as the leagues or competitions for professional players

Sometimes people define it according to whether or not you get paid, not what standard you have reached

• in some contexts, professional means you get paid for doing what you are doing - and hence can no longer rank as an amateur or enter competitions for amateurs.  (Remember the disputes for a long time about who could/could not compete at the Olympics?)

Sometimes people define it according to how much you get paid for the value of work you produce.

Which leads us on to......

What is an amateur artist?

In the UK, there is a very simple definition of an amateur artist - in the "hobby" sense.

Work-Life-Artist #2: Linda Blondheim

This is the second in my series of posts about working artists - looking at what they get up to when NOT making art. 

I'm very pleased to have Linda Blondheim talk about the actual reality of being a working artist and coping with the challenges which life throws at you from time to time.

Through her paintings, Linda aims to create a visual record of the rural landscapes and trees of Florida.  See the post I wrote Linda Blondheim paints the Florida landscape and trees when she was hunkering down last September from the hurricane which hit both Florida - and her country studio.  It also contains links to some of the practical tips for artists which she also writes for her Art Notes blog which covers the reality of being a working artist.

If you an active and practising professional artist (i.e. earn most or all of your income through making and selling art and related artistic activities) and would like to participate in the series please read the note the end of this post.

Linda Blondheim - Landscape painter, Florida

Orange Lake by Linda Blondheim 
acrylic on canvas, 18×24 inches

What does the "real life" of being an artist actually involve?

• Wearing multiple hats, including good marketing skill, business knowledge, including forecasting and understanding current economic trends both local, national and international global issues. 
• Flexibility in art and business trends are key to success. 
• Nurturing collectors is key. 
• Painting

Is it like what you expected?

Art school did not prepare me for the realities of being a full time artist. I made many mistakes along the way. It is many more times difficult than I expected.

Where/who did you get your ideas of what "real life as an artist" was going to be like from? Were they right?

I have painted since childhood. In the early years, I had a romanticized notion, which was reinforced by my college professors, who did not have to sell art to pay the bills.

Making a living

How do you actually "make a living" (e.g. keep a roof over your head / pay the bills / have a studio / plan for retirement)?

I have two studios, one in the city which is my retail studio and one behind my home in rural north Florida. I sell paintings from both, as well as Daily Paint Works, Etsy, and my own web site.

What percentage of your income (roughly) do you generate from making art?

100%. I have no other income streams.

What percentage of your income (roughly) derives from being involved with art?

100%

How do you aim to be making a living in future?

I will paint as long as I can hold a brush. One of my dealers gave me some good advice years ago. He said to work at painting and build a huge body of work when you are at the height of your skill. You will have these paintings to live on when you can no longer produce good work. I will have good paintings to sell if I can no longer paint, though I pray that never happens.

Time allocation

What percentage of time do you have each week for actually making art? (Is this more or less than you expected?)

I work seven days a week. Most of my painting is done for about 3 hours a day. I am a very fast painter and produce paintings every week.

How do you typically spend your time each day or week or month?

I am very much a person of routine.

•  I work from 8 to 11 AM each day on marketing, social media marketing, updating my web site, post on my blog, and answering emails each day. 
• At 11AM I go out to my studio to paint until 2 PM. 
• I take a rest from 2 to 3:30. 
• I walk on my nature trails at 3:30 and then paint until 6 PM. 

Upland Florida Palms by Linda Blondheim 
oil on canvas, 20×24 inches, wide gold frame

Challenges and surprises

How difficult is the real life of "being an artist"?

Mostly it is difficult to sell in Florida from June-August. It is brutally hot and I live in a college town, which empties out for the summer.

I have to save for 9 months and live off the savings for three months.

In terms of the reality of working as a professional artist.....

What do you find your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is competing with retired painters and beginners. There are droves of retirees going into the art field now and they do not have to make a living from art. They like the idea of making extra money and charge low ball prices.
Many people have no idea that professional artists have to charge for the art education they paid for and the many years of training and name brand they have earned.

What has been your biggest surprise?

I think my biggest surprise has been that I can make a living, doing the job I love and what I was trained for. There were many long years of desperation to achieve this.

What are you much better at doing that you expected to be?

Marketing. I taught myself all of the skill I have.

Improving and succeeding

Do you work on yourself to improve or do you work at your job to improve?

Constantly. I research technique and I force myself to study subjects I am not skilled at.

Beyond the art, what do you think makes an artist successful today?

• A serious work ethic,
• consistency in skill development both in front of the easel and in business.
• Good social skills,
• real care for collectors and friends.
• Honorable behavior toward other artists.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of becoming a professional artist that nobody told you about?

I would have studied business and marketing as well as art.

What was the best bit of advice that anybody ever gave you about "real life" as a working artist?

Never think about defeat or giving up. I am successful because I know I will survive as a painter, and I'm willing to do the hard work to make it.

and finally......

What do you think of the idea of trying to create a free resource online? 

A marvellous idea. Helpful to all. 

REFERENCE:

• Web Site www.lindablondheim.com 
• You can read her Art Notes Blog, for collectors and artists. 
• Blog www.lindablondheim.com/blog 
• Facebook Page www.facebook.com/BlondheimStudio 
• Pinterest Page www.pinterest.com/blondheimart/
• Etsy Shop (miniature paintings)  https://www.etsy.com/shop/LindaBlondheimArt

Her 'town' studio is located at 1510 NW 13th Street, Gainesville, FL, inside Padddiwhack.

More about the Work Life Balance for Artists

About the reality of working lives of professional artists

If you'd like to participate in a series of interviews with professional artists - to be published on this blog and linked to in a resource page on Art Business Info. for Artists looking at what they're doing when NOT making art, this is what you need to do

1. check out my blog post About the reality of working lives of professional artists.
2. contact me and let me know if you're interested
3. I'll let you know what the waiting list is like and answer any of your queries.

Posts and Pages

• Work-Life-Artist #1: Catherine Ingleby | Making A Mark 
•  COMING SOON: two new pages on Art Business Info. for artists
• Being a Professional Artist: TIPS
• Artists Talking About Being Artists

Selected Artists and statistics - BP Portrait Award 2018

48 artists have had portraits selected for the BP Portrait Award 2018 - and this post is about them - and the statistics for this art competition.

See the names of the selected artists - organised by the country where they live at present - BELOW - plus:

• links to their websites and social media sites (Facebook PAGES only)
• a short profile / summary of their CV 
• some photos of the artists and/or their portraits

Alastair Adams got his portrait of Bruce Robinson to me first!
painted to mark the 30th anniversary of "Withnail and I" which he wrote and directed
copyright Alastair Adams PPRP

But first some statistics - to see what an achievement it is to get selected for this exhibition!

BP Portrait Award 2018 - the statistics

In 2018:

• 2,667 artists submitted a portrait as a digital image to the BP Portrait Award 2018. 
• Of these 215 (8%) made it through the first stage assessment and got to hand deliver or courier their actual portrait for viewing by the Judging Panel- just up the road from where I live!
• Of these just 48 (1.8%) have been selected for this prestigious annual exhibition - which will be seen by more than 250,000 people

In terms of geography, out of the 48 selected artists from all over the world

• 25 portraits came from the UK - England, Scotland and Wales (52%) 
• 23 portraits came from 84 other countries(48%)

BP Portrait Award 2018 - Selected Artists

Many congratulations to all those artists who have been selected for the exhibition.

Below are profiles of each artist from public information available online - organised according by the country where they live

If anything I've identified by way of websites, social media or bio information is WRONG 

please do get in touch and I will fix immediately.

• Links to their websites are embedded in their names in the list below (where available). 
• Previous selected artists are highlighted in red
• Exhibits by previous shortlisted and award winners are identified in bold. Plus Those previously selected for the BP have a link to previous portraits (unless they were in those years of the very irritating exhibitor listings where you have to go through all portraits one by one from the beginning and/or there were a lot!)
• For those without a website see my blog post listed on my Major Art Competitions in the UK page

The Websites of Contemporary Painters in the UK - Get your website sorted BEFORE you enter a juried art competition or miss out on the traffic when the names of selected artists are announced!

The photos below are a mix of

• portraits sent to me of work selected for this year's exhibition and 
• images of artists with their portraits due to being selected for previous exhibits 
• Tweets 

SELECTED ARTISTS ARE INVITED to send me a copy of the image of their portrait - to feature in this blog post - along with a copy of their confirmation email. See the side column for how to contact me or contact me via my Facebook Page

Here are the Selected Artists

Artists are listed alphabetically by country - in alphabetical of the country.

AUSTRALIA (1)

• Megan Roodenrys - Born in Canberra in 1968, currently resides in Adelaide, South Australia. Megan trained at the University of South Australia receiving her Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1997. Megan works with a wide range of mediums. 2009 Archibald Prize Finalist with "Waiting for the Day" - Portrait of Ben Cousins. Her paintings - I'm wondering if it's this one 

CHINA (1)

• Zhu Tongyao - shortlisted - see BP Portrait Award 2018 - The Shortlist

ENGLAND (22)

• Alastair Adams PPRP - (see portrait at top of this post) Previously selected 1995 - Past President of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - and the youngest in the history of the RP. Holds a research based lecturing position at Loughborough University and has published papers on commissioned portraiture. Works to commission rather than exhibitions e.g. Commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to paint a portrait of Tony Blair. His portrait (see top of post) is of Bruce Robinson, an English director and screenwriter. He wrote and directed the loosely autobiographical cult classic Withnail and I and wrote the screenplay for The Killing Fields. 2017 marked the 30th anniversary of Withnail and I
• Facebook Page | Instagram | YouTube Channel
• Oliver Bedeman -  a figurative painter living and working in London; Educated at a degree in Painting at Brighton University, then studied at the The Royal Drawing School where he subsequently taught drawing. His painting of his brother Tom, was selected for the 2016 Columbia Threadneedle Prize exhibition. He was also selected for the Threadneedle in 2018.  
• Simon Thomas Braiden -  self taught artist born in Manchester in 1971. Early Flemish painting and 20th Century Modern Realist painting have been his main influences. He has exhibited extensively throughout the UK in both private and public galleries.
• Shona Chew - selected BPPA 2011 - a self-taught artist based in south-east England.
• Jamie Coreth - previously selected / won the BP Young Artist Award 2016 | brought up in Dorset and Wiltshire, prior to studying for a BA (Hons) degree in archaeology and anthropology at Keble College, Oxford. He then changed tracks and next studied at the London Atelier of Representational Art(LARA) and the Florence Academy of Art. His work has been seen in group exhibitions in London. This is an interesting article about him and his Dad who was his model for his 2016 portrait.  Represented by Fine Art Commissions.
• Instagram
• JJ Delvine - previously selected / exhibited BPPA  2011 AND exhibited BPPA 2006 | studied at the University of East Anglia and London Guildhall University. He has curated projects and events in London and Mexico City. Delvine’s work has been published and seen in numerous group and solo exhibitions in London, Berlin and Rotterdam
• Phoebe Dickinson - Trained at: Charles H Cecil Studios, Florence Italy, Lavender Hill Studios, London, The Prince’s Drawing School and The Heatherley School of Fine Art. Studios in London and Gloucestershire. Appeared on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the year in 2013. Painting commissions documenting the making of Downton Abbey. Extensive press coverage.
• Instagram