PAOTY 2025: Commission Painting of Hannah Fry

This is about "The Winner's Story - Painting Hannah Fry" and the very last episode of Series 12 of Portrait Artist of the Year (2025)

I include this here, because of course this is not painting so much as printmaking. I guess that the good people at Storyvault Films forget that artists and painters are not interchangeable words - and one is a subset of the other.

Either that or they made up this graphic in advance of the series on the basis you might as well get all the titles done at the same time.....

Title frame for the Winner's Story - Episode 11 of Series 12 of PAOTY (2025)

That illustrates how much a PAINTER is expected to be the winner. 

Yet this year Chloe Barnes, who is a mono printmaker, won and hence this winner's story is about the process of moving from winning to getting the commission to create a portrait of Professor Hannah Fry for the Royal Society started, worked on, done and then unveiled - as a MONOPRINT.

The portrait was commissioned by the Royal Society as part of a year-long celebration of the 80th anniversary of the first women elected to its Fellowship, Kathleen Lonsdale FRS and Marjory Stephenson FRS.

The Sitter and the Unveiling

We'll start at the very beginning and then the end - with the Sitter and the Unveiling

Every year the last episode in each series of the "Portrait Artist of the Year" programmes, made by Storyvault Films and broadcast on Sky Arts, is about the £10,000 Commission awarded to the winning artist.

The Commission

Every year, the winner of the Portrait Artist of the Year Award receives a £10,000 commission to 

• create a portrait of a specific individual - who is typically well known and has contributed in a significant way to public life.
• for a particular organisation - who would like to have a portrait of that individual. 

The Client

So this year the organisation was The Royal Society 

• formally founded in 28 November 1660 and  formally known as The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, 
• It is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. It is also known as

the oldest scientific organisation in continuous existence in the world

In 2025, the Royal Society is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the admission of the first women to the Royal Society Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson in 1945.

The Sitter

The Sitter, Professor Hannah Fry, is the 

• first ever Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Previously she was the Professor of the Mathematics of Cities at University College London (UCL)
• President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
• a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• has received various awards, including latterly the Royal Society's David Attenborough Award and Lecture 2024 in recognition of her significant work in public engagement with science and for her prolific role in popularising mathematics. The medal is bronze, is awarded annually and is accompanied by a gift of £2,500.
• plus she has 1.7 million followers on Instagram @frysquared

Interestingly she is NOT a Fellow of the Royal Society - although I'm assuming that this will probably follow.

In November 2025, she also joined Goalhanger to deliver a brand new podcast The Rest is Science with educator Michael Stevens (Vsauce). This is what's currently all over her Instagram account @frysquared - NOT the portrait!

The Unveiling

First we all wait, 

Left: Royal Society people and programme presenter
Right: Chloe Barnes and Prof. Hannah Fry with her two daughters

Then we all take a jolly good look

Keith Moore, Head of Library at the Royal Society comments on the fact
this is the first print portrait of a living female scientist at the Royal Society

and then, like at all good parties, we get a pic taken with the most important person in the room i.e. the monoprint

Posing for photographs - Hannah Fry and her daughters
with the monoprint by Chloe Barnes

....and then the Royal Society publish a news statement / press release about the new portrait of Professor Hannah Fry. 

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..and then we get to see the portrait

More new ways to paint a live model

I'd like to say this was my idea - but it's not! Alix Baker felt that people might like a little light relief after the rather intense post PAOTY Final / Commissions and my recent three posts commenting on what happened.

Here's some really original art - relating to drawing/painting a sitter - and it's very definitely novel! Eclectic even.... I'm very taken with the very first drawing we see.

Duck Drawing by Shaun the Sheep

Here's the video

For those of you not familiar with Shaun the Sheep, you can read more about this Aardman character and his films and tv series and various other creative outlets!

This short episode was taken from the Mossy Bottom Farm shorts Series

Drawing people in very long queues to vote

Fancy improving your skills in drawing people in a natural stance? 

Back in 2008, I stayed up to watch the results of the American Election - which Obama won. One of those moments in history. Next day I published Another kind of surge which started....

The following comment was reported on a New York Times blog.

Overheard in a North Carolina polling place line:
“How long have you been waiting?”
“About 200 years…”

It also noted that I drew people waiting in queues to vote while waiting for the results to land - and it also included this image (BELOW - which I've made bigger for this post). 

I highlighted the image again in 2016, while waiting up for the predicted winner in Sketching the Vote in 2008

The thing I remember that was so remarkable then were the huge long queues of people waiting to vote.

There were so many images of them in the press and online that I decided to start my very own queue and sat adding sketches images of individuals from the various images online until I'd created my very own queue led by an elderly African American lady with a flag.

Another kind of surge
(or what I did while waiting for the results)
11.5" x 8.5", pencil
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Drawing queues to vote in 2024

In 2024, what has struck me very forcibly is the length of the queues to get into rallies and the length of queues for early voting opportunities.

This time I'm thinking of drawing all women in the queues.

If you are watching the results too and want to draw your own queues too I'd love to see the results! Comment on my FB post today to watch out for you. Or message me on FB or via sites highlighted on my linktr.ee

TIPS:

• I added individuals from many different sources. Reference many media images of people in queues for sources of people to include. Stopping videos is good. 
• Focus on stance/posture and clothing and NOT on people's faces. A suggestion of eyes is often all you need
• The zigzag enables you to get more people on the page! Plus cater for different angles....
• Try and tell a story
• You might want to try a few people before you get started. 
• You'll be amazed how your drawing improves as you build your queue!

This time I'll be waiting up again - tomorrow night into Wednesday morning - with all my fingers crossed that the "gold standard" pollster Ann Selzer has got it right - after doing her Iowa Poll "the right way" (i.e. proven sound methodology + track record over time). She has an absolutely exceptional track record - check the tabulation of her poll predictions over the years on Wikipedia. Also listen to Rachel Meddows.

Prior to the 2024 United States presidential election, Selzer & Co. released their final Iowa poll that had Kamala Harris leading Trump 47% to 44% in the state, markedly different from other polls that showed Trump with a significant lead.[18] Trump criticized the accuracy of the poll. Selzer responded by saying the poll used the same methodology as in 2016 and 2020, and that, "It would not be in my best interest, or that of my clients—The Des Moines Register and Mediacom—to conjure fake numbers."[19] Wikipedia

References:

• 10 Tips for How to Sketch People (2008
• Drawing people (2018)
• Which are the best books about Portraiture? (2013)
• Van Gogh: Drawing media and techniques (2007)

and

• Another kind of surge (2008)
• Sketching the Vote in 2008 (2016)

PS Yes, there is a red vertical line. I hadn't quite given up on my old malfunctioning Canon Printer/Scanner at that time!

PPS Do not underestimate the effect that allowing people to bet on elections in the USA has had on the incentive to keep other polls looking very close.  I don't think it's close at all. I think it's going to be comfortable heading towards landslide. This is because too many male commentators have totally missed the commitment of women to voting and getting the vote out.

PAOTY 2023: Commission Painting of Dr Jane Goodall

This is about the winner's story about painting the commissioned portrait in the 10th series of Portrait Artist of the Year.

Every year, the winner of the Portrait Artist of the Year Award receives a £10,000 commission to paint a specific individual for a particular organisation - who would like to have a portrait of that individual. The latter is typically famous and has contributed in a significant way to public life.

The unveiling of the commissioned portrait of Dr Jane Goodall
by Wendy Barratt
in the History Makers Gallery at the National Portrait Gallery

In this instance:

• the winner is Wendy Barratt, (see Wendy Barratt is Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 (Series 10)

"a great painter with a sensitivity for the human condition - and that combination is magical" Tai Shan Shierenberg

• her sitter is the esteemed ethologist (a scientist who studies animals in their natural environment), activist and conservationist, Dr Jane Goodall who nearly 90 and is considered to be the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees following her groundbreaking research with a colony of chimpanzees in the 1960s. She also continues to campaign on behalf of the natural world around the world.
• and the organisation commissioning the portrait is the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) - who have been trying to get a proper portrait of Jane Goodall for some time!

The £10,000 commission

The National Portrait Gallery already has a portrait of Jane Goodall - as part of a Panel 1 of a newly commissioned artwork about Work in Progress for Reframing Narratives: Women in Portraiture (see below).

Sarah Howgate, the Senior Curator for Contemporary Collections suggested to Wendy that:

• it was important for the NPG to represent more environmentalists
• the commission portrait could be a head and shoulder, as a full figure of Jane Goodall (plus chimp) in her younger years has already been incorporated in the "Work in Progress" frieze mentioned above (on the left below).
• plus she has an incredible face.

On the left of this "Work in Progress" frieze
is a much younger Jane Goodall with a chimp

The Portrait Process

I thought that this particular episode was particularly good because, from beginning to end, it's a complete education in how one artist pursues her process by talking and showing us what she does.

Other programmes about the commission have similarly followed the process - but I think Wendy is particularly articulate about all the stages she follows and it was a sheer pleasure to watch.

I'm going to try and note the process - with quotes - below!!  I also highly recommend that you go back and watch it again to appreciate the pathway she pursues.

Also bear in mind this is a good process for whoever you are painting a portrait of!

The process

• meet the artist - having watched her produce three separate portraits, the programme introduced us to a bit more about the artist and how she works
• her style is rooted in tradition - but she tries to introduce expression as well
• she loves lines
• she's an oil painter who does more drawing than painting - she wanted to know why she couldn't draw with a brush and then started to draw into her paintings using a small flat hogshair brush
• she loves painting people with a story and likes to bring out the heart and soul of the sitter.

"What drives me is constant looking and learning. It's about experimentation" Wendy Barratt

• meet the client - and find out what they want. In this instance 
• Wendy met Sarah Howgate at the National Portrait Gallery (below)
• she saw the new History Makers Gallery and the nature of the scale, size and style of the different portraits (see second pic below)
• Wendy's favourite gallery in London has always been the National Portrait Gallery so it must have been intensely meaningful for Wendy to know that she would be painting a portrait for the national contemporary collection.

Wendy meeting Sarah Howgate at the new entrance 
to the refurbished National Portrait Gallery

The NEW History Makers Gallery at the National Portrait Gallery

• First Sitting: getting to know the sitter - on their own territory. Wendy visited Bournemouth and Dr Goodall in the house in which she grew up and where she still lives. They talked together in the garden. In a way it's interesting that this approach is routed in ethology - of getting to know an animal in its own space.

"I would love Wendy to be able to capture determination and compassion..... so who can capture 90 years worth of experience and living? It's really difficult!" Dr Jane Goodall

• Wendy brings pre-conceived ideas about what she wants to do
• however first sittings are about trying to take everything in
• at the same time as remaining open to her instinct
• it's about keeping ideas about the portrait loose and fluid so it can change

"I hate looking at myself. I hate photographs" Dr Jane Goodall

• Wendy is making notes - in charcoal - about Jane's face
• She focuses on structures and shapes and how to achieve them
• she takes photographs - at the end AFTER Jane has relaxed from the observation during the drawing session

Note that this section is also wonderful for Jane Goodall talking about what she did and how she did it.

• drawing from life - Wendy is a huge fan of drawing from life and always starts her portraits by making a drawing to get to know the head and face of the sitter. 
• taking photographs - Wendy took numerous photographs for reference to begin to try and work out what might be the best composition for the portrait

Wendy and Jane - getting to know one another prior to starting the drawing

• more studies: 
• working through the size, proportion of the composition and developing drawings of the face from photos and sketches
• she also drew her while Jane was giving a talk in London - while relaxed and at her most animated without thinking - with chimpanzee noises
• then sketching again after she's walked away from the meeting of the face while still fresh in her mind's eye.

"She's so petite and fragile but so strong" Wendy Barratt

• use of life drawing - to stimulate expression
•  she runs a life drawing class in Worthing
• Wendy draws from life a LOT which is probably one of the reasons why she could capture a good likeness so quickly in the heat and subsequently
• Second Sitting: painting from life plus more photos - a second visit brought an opportunity to paint rather than draw Jane. 
• Except of course, Wendy drew her in first to get the shape, size and relative proportions right which underpin the likeness - using a brush. 
• she uses a limited palette of two colours and white to get a number of related tones and develop a tonal painting
• more photographs now she has learned her face and Jane is once again less likely to tense when the camera comes out

I know I can get likeness. That wasn't the sort of thing for today. Today was see what squidging paint around on the surface would do for the story and what I'd glean from that Wendy Barratt

Second Sitting at the Natural History Museum

"She's small and quite quiet but with a strength that sort of almost punches you in the stomach" Wendy Barratt

• working out the final design - this is gathering all the information together in terms of drawings and photographs and different perspectives
• she wants to go through the painful process of working things out
• the studies have helped to eliminate some of the options

Some of the photos and studies of Jane

• painting the final portrait: Wendy's aims include that viewers - when standing in front of the portrait - should be: 
• drawn in by the face alone
• see how serious Jane is
• see also the life in Jane and her emotional spark; and 
• for the face to give an emotion to the viewer

"It's like being at the top of the rollercoaster.... I could end up with really white knuckles and really poorly at the end!!" Wendy Barratt

"I'm not expecting her to like it - but I'm hoping she might appreciate it" Wendy Barratt 

I think she succeeded and then some. It's an amazing portrait painting.

I hope others wanting to do well will also learn from Wendy's process.

 

The unveiling of "the biggest commission on Wendy's life"

The portrait was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery - in the Gallery were it will hang - History Makers on Floor 0 

This gallery includes paintings of people who are really making a difference to Britain today.  It also includes the portrait of Lenny Henry by last year's winner Morag Caister - see PAOTY Commission - Painting Sir Lenny Henry (aka Len) and the 

Two women with character and strength - waiting for an unveiling

"I think we need a portrait which knocks it out of the park and nothing less" Kate Bryan

Part of this you have captured is me - and part of it is the icon. It's interesting Jane Goodall  

I thought it was a brilliant portrait and I'm looking forward to seeing it "in real life"!  I also really appreciate how Wendy shared her process so very clearly and I hope others learn from it.

PAOTY 2023: Portrait of Dr Jane Goodall by Wendy Barratt
 - for the National Portrait Gallery

Some comments from my Facebook Page 

I was in tears when I saw her portrait of Jane Goodall. I keep going back to it, spellbound.

When I saw the commission programme I knew that she was the only one who could have connected so well with Dr Jane . It was hard to imagine either of the other finalists making such a good connection. Ruth Mann

I felt exactly the same about her connection with Jane Goodall. I'm not sure either of the other two could have achieved it. It really brought it home to me that technical ability is only part of artistic talent, especially where portraits are concerned. It's the artist's ability to see things AND get that vision down on the canvas (or whatever) that makes the difference. Lesley Waring

Previous PAOTY Commission blog posts

• 2022: PAOTY Commission - Painting Sir Lenny Henry (aka Len)
• 2021: incorporated in this post Calum Stevenson wins Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 8 Autumn 2021)
• 2020: PAOTY Commission: Curtis Holder draws Carlos Acosta
• 2019: ncorporated in this post Duncan Shoosmith is Portrait Artist of the Year 2019
   

How a Court Artist works

Court artists - not one but THREE - have been all over the news media in the last two weeks as the Vardy vs Rooney Farce has played out at the High Court. But 

• do you know how a Court Artist works?
• did you know there are only four court artists in the UK?

Court artist Julia Quenzler drawing the picture that covers the first 20 seconds of our piece on 6 and 10 news tonight. (If u missed it!) pic.twitter.com/1y4dF4Tn4d

— Danny Savage (@dannysavage) November 10, 2016

The Court Artists

Here's some facts about court artists working in the UK

• There are only four Court Artists in the UK - and they are all women!
• They exist because cameras are not allowed in UK Courts. 
• Typically they are only employed to draw key players in the high profile / celebrity / sensational cases
• Court Artists are typically hired by the news media and commissioned to produce visuals for major news stories involving court cases
• To gain access to the the courtroom for high-profile trials, the courtroom artists must be sponsored by an accredited news agency.
• Their major skill needs to be in memorising what the scene looks like as NOBODY is allowed to make a drawing in court. However court artists can make written notes about manner and clothing. 
• Once they get outside court they have to work quickly to download the memory AND meet the deadline to produce the visual for the client. 
• Typically most use charcoal pencils and pastels for speed and saturation of colour.
• Each has a distinctive style - and some are better at accuracy and catching features than others.
• Court artists can also merchandise their sketches via the picture agencies such as Alamy.

Their names are as follows and you can find links to their websites embedded in their names below (if they have one)

• Priscilla Coleman 'The Courtroom Artist' - who uses GRN as her agent
• Julia Quenzler - no website or social media site
• Elizabeth Cook - no website but is featured on Alamy
• Siân Frances - has worked for The Times and Channel 4 News. She now describes herself as a "former court artist".

All the Court Artists seem to have been around for some time - and at least one seems to have retired herself. What I'm very surprised about is that:

• they don't make more use of photographs of the key players when drawing them outside the court - given some of the drawings are HIGHLY exaggerated and stylised and sometimes bear little resemblance to the individual in question.
• they don't have more competition from younger artists wielding marker pens which are so very often the medium of choice for those drawing fast for illustration today.

I'm impressed by the ensemble drawings of Priscilla Coleman - which you can see on her website. I assume most of these are drawn after the court risen for the day given the number of individuals she manages to cram in. It rather looks like she has a nice business in commission based artworks from some of those involved!

There's a really good way of checking whether you'd be any good as a court artist. Spend some time watching court cases on public enquiries on television and then move to another room and recreate a drawing of what you saw!

Back in January 2020 - before the Pandemic hit - The Crown Court (Recording and Broadcasting) Order 2020 was published as draft legislation. The intention was that sentencing remarks in profile cases could be televised. However that's not the same as covering a civil court case such as Vardy vs Rooney - and I'm sure there will be a continued demand for courtroom sketches - done outside the court!

Articles about court artists

• Drawn in the dock: the story of courtroom illustration | It's Nice That
• Courtroom artists on their toughest cases: 'It's a compelling, sometimes upsetting job' | The Guardian - in which Elizabeth Cook describers her job
• Court artists: Quick on the draw | The Independent
• A day in the life of a court artist | BBC
• EXCLUSIVE: Secrets of the courtroom artists sketching the rich and famous in the dock | Daily Mirror
• Court Sketcher | Granta

How to describe art

There are various terms and phrases used to describe different approaches tp the development of artwork and working from life and subject matter. 

Below are my interpretations of what these mean.

"Working from life" 

Working from life is a practice deeply rooted in artistic traditions - before photography and projectors and other forms of technology were invented. 

It is commonly used to mean working with the subject in front of you whether it's a landscape, an interior, a still life or a person.

No photographs are involved, there is no tracing or projection of the subject. The artist has to sight size the subject and make judgements about values and colours using their eyes and the experience and skills they have developed through working from life. 

Bottom line - it's essentially about:

• developing your skills by drawing from life a lot and 
• then trusting your eyes and drawing and painting what is in front of you.

Practice helps enormously with developing skills. A number of artists routinely make a point of keeping sketchbooks and drawing something from life each day

Family Pets make useful subjects as they tend to sit around a lot - waiting to be drawn!
This is a very fast pen and ink sketch of my sadly departed cat Cosmo
It's informed by having drawn him many times before
- so that I know what the key lines which need to be included
(Pen and ink; Katherine Tyrrell)

"Plein Air Painting" 

"en plein air" is a French term. It's frequently used to describe painting from life in the open air and out of doors and away from the studio. Devoted plein air painters keep painting whatever the weather!

Artists Sketching in the White Mountains by Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
1868, oil on panel, 24.1 × 40.3 cm,
Portland Museum of Art

It's also sometimes used as a euphemism for painting nature and the natural world. 

It mainly developed during the nineteenth century. The practice of paintings landscapes 'on the spot' became possible as technology advanced and allowed artists to use tube paint - rather than paint in bladders.

There are 

• numerous groups of painters devoted to plein air painting around the world - and some periodically host exhibitions.
• individual painters who make a career and develop a reputation for painting landscapes plein air - and some even record the process on Instagram! (see below)

The sketching equivalent in towns and cities is called "Urban Sketching".

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Peter Brown (@petethestreet1)

Other references:

• There is a succinct glossary entry defining "plein air" on the Tate Gallery's website

The French term plein air means out of doors and refers to the practice of painting entire finished pictures out of doors

• En Plein Air | The Art Story - provides a good narrative about how it developed over time. 
• There's a good description of plein air painting and how it came about on the website of the Plein Air Painters of America. 
• British Plein Air Painters - a group of professional artists based in the UK that share a passion for painting outdoors, in front of the subject, and capturing the essence of their surroundings with freshness and energy.
• Plein Air Painter has an article about Pete Brown who's known for painting outside whatever the weather.   

Working from life INDOORS

Saturday Sketch Club at the Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts has been running a FREE ONLINE Saturday Sketch Club for a while. I'm not sure how many people know about this (I didn't!) because there's not a lot of visits to their videos.

Below are the LINKS to the YouTube videos of various sessions. Most last an hour or thereabouts.

(NOTE: the links do NOT work on the RA website - you need to go to the links listed below)

 
Saturday Sketch Club: still life (10 May 2021) - still life drawing with Mark Hampson, Head of Fine Art Processes at the Royal Academy Schools.

Saturday Sketch Club: collage (26th May 2021) - Grab any paper you have lying around (newspapers, magazines, leaflets or receipts), a pair of scissors and something sticky (an old glue stick or some tape will do).

Saturday Sketch Club: anatomy drawing (1 June 2021) - Artist Adele Wagstaff leads a session on the anatomy of the human form; from the deep landmarks of the skeletal system, to the musculature which is evident on the surface of the body. Observe the structure and movement of the body as you practice drawing the model in a series of short and long poses.

Saturday Sketch Club: botanical drawing (7 June 2021) a session on botanical drawing with Laxmi Hussain. Laxmi will introduce you to techniques involved in mark making, to discover drawing as an everyday activity. Laxmi explores minimalism in her work through continuous line and will demonstrate how to approach and use these techniques.

( I'm going to jump in here and say if you want to know more about drawing plants do take a look at the Scientific Botanical Illustration on my Botanical Art and Artists website - which also discusses What is Botanical Art?) 

Saturday Sketch Club: drawing as exploration (14 June 2021) - Discover repetition and transformation in this workshop with Elinor Stanley, exploring the power of your drawing through multiple versions. Inspired by Picasso’s cut-outs, this session investigates how simple shapes can be crystallised into expressions and motifs for future

Saturday Sketch Club: experimenting with the figure (21 June 2021) - oin artist Jake Garfield for this fun and informal life drawing session. Working directly from a clothed model, you will break drawing down to its essential ingredients. Expect to explore formal qualities including “line”, “mark-making” and “tone” through a series of short activities, before combining these different aspects over an extended pose. This practical drawing session is perfect for beginners and experienced artists alike.

Saturday Sketch Club: drawing into the abstract (28 June 2021) - Emyr Williams for a workshop which will explore and challenge our perceptions of ‘realistic’ drawing and abstract art. Emyr will introduce us to new ways of seeing, building confidence in our drawing. 

This is the Link to ALL THE VIDEOS

Current Art Shows on Channel 4

This is a post reflecting on art programmes on Channel 4. Specifically:

• Grayson's Art Club
• The Great Pottery Throw Down 
• Drawers Off

Believe in yourself, Jodie. We all do. #potterythrowdown pic.twitter.com/Bc7DuGa1cX

— The Great Pottery Throw Down (@PotteryThrow) March 14, 2021

The Programmes

We would like our arts films to change the way we think about the world now. Commissioning Brief 

Channel 4 is a public service commercial broadcaster that commissions original programming and online content from independent production companies.

Interestingly Channel 4 does NOT have a category for Arts - despite its stated purpose - and despite having a commissioning brief for the Arts.

Of the programmes highlighted above:

• The first two programmes are listed among the top 20 shows on Channel 4.
• The last two are listed in the "Lifestyle" Category!

Grayson's Art Club

Grayson talks to artists, creatives, celebrities and viewers about art and lockdown

Grayson Perry has been at the heart of Channel 4's arts output for some time now - with various programmes having been made and broadcast on various topics dear to the artist.

For example - from a press release in late 2018 

For Grayson Perry being an outsider is at the heart of "Culture Wars" (w/t), which sees the acclaimed artist and broadcaster travel across the US, applying his unique artist-anthropologist’s eye to unpicking the tribal and cultural conflicts that underlie this deeply divided nation. Channel 4 announces line up of new arts programmes (November 2018)

In the last year, he has emerged, with his wife, as something of a creative saviour for all the angst and time on our hands associated with the pandemic and lockdown and staying at home and wondering what to do after baking banana bread!

Lately, this is what Channel 4 have had to say about Grayson - who's beginning to resemble a bit of a 'golden goose'

We have been looking for a popular returning arts series for the last 18 months and hope we’ve found one in the fantastic Grayson’s Art Club.

What I like about this programme

• This is absolutely the perfect programme for lockdown
• everybody outside his studio seems to participate via Zoom
• Grayson Perry has serious art credentials - but is possibly the most unpompous member of the Royal Academy of Art ever
• we all get to see the real version of an artist' studio and get to see how Grayson Perry makes his very popular artworks - and in particular his drawings and ceramic art / sculptures (although this time it's going to be cast in iron)
• It involves both television personalities used to speaking to an audience - alongside members of the public talking about their experiences and their artwork
• it displays both hidden talents (who can forget Joe Lycett's painting of Professor Chris Whitty in the first series?) and amazing creativity
• I like the fact that Philippa Perry - who is no slouch being both a psychotherapist and author of #1 bestseller "The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read" - also gets to make art and her contributions are also very interesting
  
• it combusts the notion of what is "proper art" and embraces the notion of "contemporary folk art" i.e. the art made by a community - in this case one experiencing a pandemic
• as such it's also a vehicle for story-telling and community a well as making art. 
• I'm guessing that a lot of people get comfort from the things they hear as well as see
• There's going to be an exhibition at the end of it!!

More lockdown #installation shots. Four images from 'Grayson’s Art Club', a wonderful exhibition of works selected by #artist #graysonperry, which is still waiting @mcrartgallery for the public to be allowed back in. When opened, on until October 31st. @MAGcurators @Alan_Measles pic.twitter.com/4xwqXkUM2t

— Michael Pollard (@MichaelActors) March 4, 2021

This time the themes were announced in advance and people have had the opportunity to send them in with a digital video of themselves telling the story behind 

I have no doubt this programme will be written about and archived as a way of understanding the social history of what the pandemic meant to many people.

Alan is off to the foundry today pic.twitter.com/vLNDQYThK8

— Grayson Perry (@Alan_Measles) March 16, 2021

REFERENCE

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GraysonsArtClub 

Previous blog posts - in date order - include

• Grayson Perry's Art Club on Channel 4 (27 April 2020)
• Art On Demand during the Pandemic #1 - British TV (10th May 2020)
• Grayson Perry's Studio (12th May 2020)
• Grayson Perry Returns - on TV, at the British Museum and with a new exhibition! (September 2020)
• Grayson's Art Club : The Exhibition (and the television programme and the book of the exhibition!) (5th December 2020)
• Grayson's Art Club (Series 2) back in February (21 January 2021)

More about Grayson Perry on this blog

• 22nd September 2013 - Who's made a mark this week? - which highlights he was identified as #3 in the Top Ten most influential British artists (2011)
• Essential Listening: Democracy Has Bad Taste (15 October 2013) - about Grayson Perry's Reith Lecture
• Grayson Perry on television in 2014 (19 April 2014)
• Grayson Perry - Who Are You? - on TV and at the NPG (22 October 2014)
• Grayson Perry's Dream House - tonight on Channel 4 (17 May 2015)
• Grayson Perry vs Jonathan Jones (12 October 2016)
• What's different about the 250th Summer Exhibition curated by Grayson Perry? (11 June 2018)
• The Great Grayson Perry Lost Works Treasure Hunt (1 August 2018)

The Great Pottery Throw Down

Twelve of Britain's best home potters compete to be crowned best at the wheel

What prompted this post was the Final of Series 4 of The Great Pottery Throwdown on Sunday night.

This programme started out on BBC2 in 2015 and 2017 - and then transferred to Channel 4 - which seems to be doing rather well in picking up programmes that the BBC don't want to invest in. 

Interestingly ceramic art links this programme and Grayson Perry. 

Participants, Judges and Presenter in Series 4 of The Great Pottery Throwdown

What I like about this programme

"Drawers Off" is such a tacky title for a life drawing television programme

I missed any press briefings for a new television programme about life drawing on Channel 4. However the trailer advert did not impress me with the title of the programme.

"Drawers Off"? For goodness sake!

Turns out goodness doesn't have a lot to do with it.

It says
"Jenny Eclair hosts a life drawing class with a twist,
as amateur artists take it in turns to reveal their naked ambition and compete to win a cash prize"

It's art as entertainment art competition yet again - but this time the artist is the one who has to get naked!

The format for the programme is as follows

Five amateur artists take it in turns to disrobe and pose while the others draw him or her. The model then picks their favourite.

Which means presumably (I've not watched it yet) we've got an art programme about exhibitionist artists.  Most artists wanting to draw one another are perfectly happy to keep their clothes on!!

Once you realise that 

• the comedienne Jenny Eclair is the presenter and that 
• Diane Ali has got "the Daphne Todd role" as the "expert" 

you just know they're playing for laughs.  

Plus this is Channel 4 yet again in one of its "anything to get people to take their kit off for a TV programme" mode.  Apparently it's made by the team who make "Come Dine with me" and there's a £1,000 prize at stake each week - which explains a lot....

I suppose the pandemic means that lighthearted humour in the early evening might be in order. Personally I'd vote for The Magic Roundabout being rebroadcast!

Drawers Off started its daily run on Channel 4 yesterday (Monday March 1) - at 5.30pm - and will run for four weeks.

Of course Channel 4 have got it billed as 

Jenny Eclair takes Channel 4’s Drawers Off

Five days a week. Five artists. Five nude poses. £1000 prize.#DrawersOff with Jenny Eclair starts next Monday at 5:30pm on Channel 4! 🩲 pic.twitter.com/mzNqKuZDqR

— MultiStory Media (@MultiStoryTV) February 26, 2021

I'll watch it - but I don't expect it'll become a programme I'll want to continue watching....

Not least because Diane Ali annoys me so much with the things she says. (Reference every single programme of the BBC's Big Painting Challenge). They might at least have got a decent art teacher. 

There again, would a decent art teacher risk their reputation by having anything to do with this???

Life Drawing Live on BBC4 tomorrow

I forgot to include Life Drawing Live when I did my compilation of Art On Demand during the Pandemic #1 - British TV

Drawing the Nation Together is a new episode of Life Drawing Live and will be broadcast at 8pm on BBC4. Unfortunately if it's like last time you will be unable to see it later (unlike the Sky Arts portrait video arrangement).

The groundbreaking Life Drawing Live! returns to BBC Four, drawing the UK’s four nations together in the biggest-ever live, life drawing class. There has never been a better time to collectively get those creative juices flowing, as presenter and artist Josie d’Arby is joined by experts Lachlan Goudie, Diana Ali and Nicky Philipps to share their passion and knowledge in this inspiring event.

Viewers will be able to watch live and draw along, as amateur artists at home and in our socially distanced studio, capture a series of life model poses, based on classical works of art. Class starts at 8.00pm and is open to everyone with artistic skills, and those who think they have none, to pick up a pencil and draw!

BBC4 tried out Life Drawing Live earlier this year.
READ my two blog posts - before and after - earlier this year

• Views about the Nude and Life Drawing Live - on BBC next week
• Live Drawing Live - my results and conclusions

This time it's going to be a bit different - as Lachlan Goudie explains below



However

• there's absolutely NO INFORMATION ON THE BBC4 WEBSITE about how to access the screen on which you can see the model continuously during the programme
• assuming that it works in a similar way to last time - but with social distancing due to the pandemic - this is what you will need to do (see video below). You'll be using the red button on your computer.

No need to be 2 metres from your screen though!



I recommend you watch the programme on one screen and have the model on the red button on another screen.

Live Drawing Live - my results and conclusions

I have to say Life Drawing Live flew by yesterday and the two hours were up in not time at all.

You can see my results below with some quickie comments from me.

Live Drawing Live - The programme on BBC4

Here's what I think about the programme. In summary.......

Shows promise if technologically challenged. Could do better.

• good tutors - and nice to be able to see Daphne and Lachlan in a tutorial role rather than as Judges. I'd banged on at length about how the BBC needs to stop creating "gameshows for artists" and start focusing on its remit to educate as well as entertain and this went a long way to doing that
• a bit like the Iowa Caucus one had the distinct impression they'd not tested all the link ups and technology before the show - except in isolation. When it came to bending under the pressure of real life and people sending in drawings the system crashed. 
• Something went wrong with the curation of images. I need to watch it back but it seems to me as if the bulk of the images were coming from the various studios set up around the UK rather than from genuine images from the public who were al sat in front of their TVs EXCEPT
• you couldn't draw yourself unless you had an extra feed which allowed you access to Pose Cam - and where was the access to information about that prior to the programme?

BUT THE BIG ONE was

• you couldn't watch the TV and draw at the same time and process your drawings to email them in.....

So I drew from my Pose Cam on my iPad Pro with the audio off and watched the TV - but mainly listened to it.

As somebody pointed out it might have been better to do it the other way round and have Pose Cam on your big screen and the programme on your tablet.

The one thing I regret not doing is screen dumping the poses so I could have another go within the same timescales.

PS IMO Diane Ali still can't draw..... I stopped watching after her hands.

The programme is available on iPlayer for the next 28=9 days - but I'm unclear whether or not the Pose Cam will work given it was all live. Obviously you can ignore all the stuff about processing your drawings and sending them in.

My drawings

I haven't done any life drawings in ages, had just got in from the Pastel Society Private View and could barely move at all due to the problems with osteoarthritis and three pieces of bone fragments floating around in my ankle.

So the notion of trying to find a range of things to draw with was out and, having got in at five to 8 o'clock I just grabbed the nearest A3 drawing pad and a graphite stick.

Below (and above) is what I produced.

During the first pose with the chap I was trying to work out what I needed to do to access Pose Cam i.e.

• remember/find my BBC account login name and password
• find the right website URL (where was the prompt running along the bottom of the picture when you needed it?)
• then had to work out to get Pose Cam going.....
• which left me with 5 minutes for the hands and feet pose

I did think more than once that it would have been nice to have had more notice of this. I crawled all over the web on Friday before writing Views about the Nude and Life Drawing Live - on BBC next week and I saw absolutely nothing about Pose Cam and the need to log in!