Review: BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2018

This post about the BP Portrait Award 2018 exhibition includes:

• my overall impression of the exhibition
• my commentary on my analysis of what I've noticed has changed in this year's exhibition - in terms of number of portraits, size and type, composition and colour and who are the subjects - with some number crunching for comparison with last year

The exhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery until 24 September 2017 - admission is free. It tours to Wolverhampton and Edinburgh later in the year (details below)

Posting about the BP Portrait Award Exhibition this year was interrupted by the fire at the Glasgow School of Art - which was a huge distraction - so apologies for the delay.

For the record, I think this might be my favourite portrait - because it's extremely well designed and painted, shows a complete person - with hands - tells a story and has context of which more later....

The Oolographer (in his study) © JJ (Jeremy) Delvine

Overall Impression

The main difference this year is that the exhibition is in a completely different gallery - The Porter Gallery - having been "bounced" by the exhibition about Michael Jackson which is located in its usual gallery.

In the video (below) I'm walking around a completely different space than in previous years. I'm not a fan of this gallery as I always find it claustrophobic. In effect it's a collection of small rooms and it's impossible to get any real distance from the portrait.

The overall effect for me was that it somehow doesn't feel like the BP Portrait Award exhibition.  I'm guessing quite a few other people, particularly the portrait artists who visit, have had the same sensation.

This exhibition has lots of walls which prevent a view of the whole exhibition

Certainly other BP Portrait Award fans who have been to see this exhibition have also been unimpressed with the different gallery.

My first thought about the exhibition though is that it's a shame it been moved to the (wrong name) Galleries (ground floor on the right) - it all feels a bit more disjointed than it normally does.

...in terms of curation and display, this is the worst BP Exhibition I’ve seen in years. Such a diverse selection of paintings should not be crammed and hung so close to each other.

Hence it felt very weird while walking around taking videos of this year's exhibition.

To me it felt a much less imposing exhibition compared to normal.  It certainly lacked a "WOW" factor and colour for the most part - with the notable exception of Felicia Forte's painting!

Maybe unsurprisingly, this was also reflected in the reviews of the exhibition. I checked to see which newspapers and magazines had reviewed the exhibition and found much less than normal.

• The last reference to the BP Portrait Award  by the Daily Telegraph was in 2017
• The Evening Standard - London's evening paper - has been a regular reviewer but this year hasn't done one. This year it just highlighted the winner of the award and had a very short piece about how a BP Portrait Award artist gifts painting to her ballet dancer subject
• Apollo Magazine stopped reviewing in 2015

Other focused on the prizewinners only (i.e. read the press release and reviewed these portraits)

• BBC: BP Portrait Award: Mum drinking tea picture wins top prize 
• The Guardian | Surreal portrait of artist's mother wins 2018 BP portrait award
• Culture Whisper | BP Portrait Award 2018, National Portrait Gallery, London focuses on the winners and extracts from the press release

Those who did provide reviews  of the exhibition included some I'd not heard of before.

• The Upcoming - BP Portrait Award 2018 at the National Portrait Gallery - features images more than words and awarded the exhibition 3 stars "Overall, this show is worth a look for a few gems and some talented artistry, but it’s unlikely to set any sparks flying."

I found just one good review of the exhibition by somebody who had obviously not relied on the press release for the majority of their content, had obviously seen it and then thought about it for more than a minute or two. Worth a read.

• Medium | BP Portrait Award from an artist’s point of view

It left me wondering who all the people at the Press Review represented (other than foreign press) given the dire coverage of the exhibition online.

I guess my conclusion about the press reviews is that if you downgrade an exhibition in terms of the space used for its display, you shouldn't be too surprised if the press react accordingly.

However is the change in gallery the whole story?

Overall, while I liked some of the paintings a lot, I generally found it a less than inspiring exhibition. It lacks something. I can't work out whether this is because scanning the exhibition as a whole is much more difficult or whether the calibre of the work is somehow less.

Rather than blaming the actual portraiture, I keep coming back to how the discontinuity and "chunked" up nature of the exhibition just fails to create an exhibition which impresses. An impressive exhibition needs an exhibition space which measures up to it.

There again it might be because the NUMBER and TYPE of portraits this year are very different. Or the composition or colour

What's Different? An analysis of the Portraits

Every year I do an analysis of the portraits selected for the exhibition in terms of size and type - and you can see the results below. This year's exhibition prompted me to think about a wider-ranging analysis and to think about doing more analysis of the exhibits over time....

The factors I consider below are:

• number
• size and media
• type
• composition
• colour
• subject

VIDEO Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2017

Below you can see the Video of the Annual Open Exhibition 2017 held by the Society of Women Artists at the Mall Galleries this week. The exhibition is open until 3pm on Sunday.



However for those of you who can't get to see it, you can view my (slightly unsteady) walk (with a stick) around the exhibition and/or read yesterday's post reviewing the exhibition Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2017

Artworks which caught my eye

I also said I'd highlight a few artworks which caught my eye.  See if you can spot them in the video.

I was particularly struck by the media used for artwork which I've never seen outside this exhibition

The first piece by Heather Meyerratken was awarded a prize yesterday and was also highlighted in my first post - but deserves another outing! It's a screen print - but on a wire mesh located within a 3D grid made of thick brass-coloured wire

Meyerratken carefully selects the images from discarded slides and photographs which she finds in bins and junk shops around the world....However, it is the unique printing onto wire mesh that encourages yet another layer of loss to the image. A particular fragility aligned with faded memory. This occurs serendipitously during the mechanics of printing in the form of pixellation and is relative to how the ink remains partially suspended within the mesh. The image becomes both translucent and lenticular. As one moves to the side of the image the colours become more intense and as you move to face the image it fades.

Sitting Pretty by Heather Meyerratken
(Edition 1 of 6 - five available) £1,200 

On the same wall I also spotted a piece in glass. The artist, Dr Linda Smith SWA is both an artist and a scientist with a PhD in chemistry. After this she switched to art and graduated with PGCE’s in both Fine Art and Glass and Architecture (2007) from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design. She was also was awarded the John Corkill Memorial Award for best presentation in 2006 by The British Society of Master Glass Painters.

Treasured Possessions by Dr Linda Smith SWA
Enamel fired on Glass, £1,890

She now teaches hot and cold glass working techniques and tutoring students on the Fine and Applied Arts BA (Hons) course at Canterbury University - which explains the sophistication of her glass artwork in the main gallery.

I have absolutely no idea how you fire enamel on glass and achieve the effects she does! Her website has even more interesting cast glass pieces

There were other interesting and innovative pieces within the exhibition - but I didn't take photos of all of them.

Last year I was intrigued by Wang Ziling's painting and this year had me puzzling over her optical illustion again.  She is one of the Young Artists being supported by the SWA and the catalogue includes a piece about this painting.

How we perceive time is influenced by how time is fragmented and divided by the structures of our one-dimensional society, as a result of mechanical and monotonous reproduction and repetitions

It's a very healthy antidote to the "same old same old" seen in some exhibitions.

The Wall of Repetition by Ziling Wang YAA

Wang was born in China in 1988 and now lives in London. Her work is being exhibited in Beijing, London and Venice.

I liked Christine Southworth ASWA MAFA NDD's suite of pen and ink drawings of different landscapes. It was interesting figuring out how the artist had tackled the question of composition of a monochrome drawing within the context of an oval - not just once but four times - and how to get them to read from a distance

Ovals One to Four by Christine Southworth
Pen and Ink (£480 each)

and finally......

Probably like most artists my eye goes automatically to any paintings of art materials or equipment.

In this case it was Dani Humberstone's oil painting of paint tubes and a brush.

Cerulean Blue by Dani Humberstone
oil (£495)

Plus another work from the innovative Dr Linda Smith who also painted and drew Painters Palette which comprises a montage of painted paper annotated with a drawing of the name of the colour - with all of them laid out in terms of colour and tone

Painters Palette by Dr Linda Smith SWA
mixed media £680

Past posts

• Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2017
• Review: Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2016
• Review - Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition 2015

Interview with Benjamin Sullivan, Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2017 - plus his portraits 2006-2016

The point about the exhibition is to be in it - the prize is just a bonus

I've uploaded my interview with Ben Sullivan, the 2017 Winner of the £30,000 BP Portrait award to my YouTube Channel in which he offers some excellent advice to all aspiring portrait artists.

You can watch it below or on YouTube where you can access the bigger HD version.



I've done something a little different with the video this time - and added a montage at the end. I think aspiring artists who want to get their work selected on a regular basis can learn a lot by looking at Ben's portraits over the years.

Given this is Ben's 13th appearance in the BP Portrait Award Exhibitions - which I'm convinced is a record which may never be equalled - at the end of the video you will find images of his previous portraits from 2006-2016.

The montage of portraits - year by year - represents a kind of pathway to a prize. Plus gives aspiring BP Portrait artists something to contemplate as they think about what they are going to paint for 2018! (see my suggestions below of what to study while you view).

(Note: Ben also had a portrait in the 2002 exhibition - but I've never seen that one).

Ben Sullivan with Ginnie and 15 month old Edie (at her second BP Awards ceremony!)
Breech! - Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2017
Oil on canvas, 820 x 400mm

It also helps enormously if you have a very supportive wife! I've been using the file label "Team Sullivan" for my photos of the Sullivan family  this year for a very good reason!

Ginnie has now featured in seven of Ben's 13 portraits selected for BP Portrait Award exhibitions in 2002 and 2006-2017 - and below you can see four of the portraits.

Interview with Antony Williams (BP Portrait Award 2017 3rd Prize)

This post includes:

• my video interview with Antony Williams
• more about Antony Williams and a summary of his track record to date as a portrait painter
• more about other people who have won third prize eg Benjamin Sullivan (who won 3rd Prize in 2015) and David Jon Kassan (who won third prize in 2014)

Antony won the BP Portrait Award Third Prize of £8,000 for his egg tempera painting of Emma Bruce who had been modelling for Williams almost continuously for eleven years in his studio in Chertsey

Antony Williams with his Third Prize and his prize-winning portrait
Emma
Egg tempera on board, (690 x560mm,

You'll see from my "More about Antony Williams' section below that Antony is a professional painter who is very experienced and well regarded. He has won a number of prizes and awards and his portraits are in a number of collections, notably the Royal Collection, the House of Commons and the National Portrait Gallery.

Below is my video of my interview with Antony. I asked him about

• the impact of being in the BP Portrait Exhibition - he first exhibited age 26 and then got caught by the age 40 limit before this was lifted - and he started submitting and exhibiting again (you can see some of his other BP exhibits below)
• his advice for people wanting to get into the BP Portrait Award exhibition and/or a BP Portrait Award
• the benefits of being in the exhibition
• the interest in his use of the egg tempera media 

Antony encourage other portrait painters to also use egg tempera and submit their paintings to the annual exhibitions of the BP Portrait Award!

His technique isn't obvious from digital images so I've done a crop of the portrait to illustrate how Antony works and why people are so interested in his use of egg tempera and how he applies it - using hatching strokes. Right click the image below and open in a new tab to see his technique even more clearly.

Crop of Emma - demonstrating Antony's egg tempera technique
copyright Antony Williams

More about Antony Williams RP PS NEAC

The Top Botanical Art Show in the World - Video

I made a video at the weekend about the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017. It's now available to view on my YouTube Channel - and below.

I think it's the first time that a video has ever been made showing all the exhibits in the show - as well as the overall size of the show. It's made up of about 50 small videos of different parts of the show.  Next year I'm going to have to try for mini-interviews as well!

Overview of the exhibition

For the uninitiated, this is an international and very prestigious show. Botanical artists jet into London from all over the world as well as all over the UK to exhibit at this show. It's not uncommon to have artists from at least five continents represented.

In my opinion, this is the top botanical art show in the world because of

• the challenge it presents to exhibitors
• the sheer quantity and quality of botanical artwork on display 
• the status of the botanical artists who exhibit - it's revered by leading botanical artists who know the value of an RHS Gold Medal.

This year, the show at the end of February in the RHS Lindley Hall in Westminster had

• 26 artists from 8 different countries around the world each exhibited a minimum of six botanical artworks; and
• nine RHS Gold Medal-winning exhibits on display
• some of the best technical use of watercolours for painting that you're ever likely to see
• masses of visitors, many of whom were buying the art on display.

Video of the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017

Below you can view my video (8 minutes 36 seconds) about the show

You can read my comments about the exhibition in Video and review of RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017 on my dedicated botanical art blog.

If you want to know more about what's involved in exhibiting at this show you can

• review a couple of pages on my website
• Exhibitions: RHS Botanical Art Exhibitions
• Education: TIPS from RHS Gold Medal Winners - plus also see the main Tips page
• Plus take a look at this video from 2014 (below) when I interviewed Denise Ramsay about her Gold Medal and her approach to developing her exhibit. He six paintings were all bought by Dr Shirley Sherwood - and exhibited at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in Kew Gardens.

More about the show

I'm already looking forward to next year when the show will be in the summer.

Past blog posts relating to this year's show (to date) include:

• Interviews with RHS Botanical Art Gold Medallists 2017 - from Asia and Australia
• RHS London Botanical Art Show 2017 - Medal Winners
• Best Exhibit and Best Painting in RHS Botanical Art 2017
• Artists' Exhibits in the RHS Botanical Art Show 2017
• RHS Botanical Art 2017 - Selected Artists
• Who's exhibiting at RHS Botanical Art (London) 2017?
• RHS Botanical Art Shows in 2017 - the FAQS

Interview with Benjamin Sullivan (BP Portrait Award 2016 3rd Prize)

The major benefit of NOT winning the BP Portrait Award - but being a regular exhibitor - is that the exhibition enables a lot of people to see your work. That, in turn, means more opportunities for selling work and getting commissions for future portraits from people who see and like your work.

Ben, Ginnie and Edie Sullivan and the BP Portrait Award Third Prize Painting of Hugo

That was the major conclusion drawn from my VIDEO interview with Benjamin Sullivan who won 3rd Prize in the 2016 BP Portrait Award. He's a "BP regular" who has had his portrait selected on a number of occasions since 2002. In fact I think he may well lay claim to being the portrait painter who has been selected the most times for this exhibition.

Let's also not forget that in 2015 the BP Portrait Award Exhibition was seen by 329,556 visitors.

Where else can you get this number of people viewing your portrait painting?

Plus if you keep coming back - and become a BP regular - some artists become better known than the people who won!

Video Interview with Ben Sullivan

My Video Interview with the 2016 Third Prizewinner Ben Sullivan covers:

• the benefits - in terms of sales and commissions - for a professional portrait painter of getting a portrait into the BP Portrait Award Exhibition 
• being a professional portrait artist
• painting people in their own home
• his approach to painting and how he starts
• the importance of drawing from observation
• working from observation vs working from photos
• the value of painting family and friends on a regular basis

This year I wrote a post Comparison of the RSPP Open and BP Portrait Award Competition in which I compared the similarities and differences between the open annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the BP Portrait Award which is an art competition.

I think a number of portrait painters - around the world - might like to reflect on Ben's comments in the video and my observations in the abovementioned blog post.

More about Benjamin Sullivan RP NEAC

You can read a lot more about Ben in my shortlist blog post - £30,000 BP Portrait Award 2016 - The Shortlist. Key facts are:

• previously selected 12 times for the BP Portrait Award Exhibition (2002 and 2006-2015)
• won the Lynn Painter Stainers Prize in 2007
• the youngest ever painter to be elected (at the time) to both 
• the New English Art Club (2001) and
• the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (2003)
• BA (Hons) in Drawing and Painting from Edinburgh College of Art (graduated 2000)
• born in Grimsby in 1977 and lives and works in Suffolk - but will travel for commissions.
• website: http://www.benjaminsullivan.co.uk
• Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/benjaminsullivanart/

Check out the portrait with the model.
This is Hugo Williams (the subject of the portrait) and his wife

BP Portrait Award Winners and Shortlists

You can read more about the past winners and shortlists in my post Interview with Clara Drummond - Winner of BP Portrait Award 2016.

Below is a list of the videos of past prizewinners

Videos of BP Portrait Award prizewinners

I began to interview prizewinners in 2012 - starting with Aleah Chapin - whose video has now been seen by around 80,000 people

I try to interview as many prizewinners as possible the following morning after the Awards Ceremony. It's often very loud and noisy in the exhibition and I try to leave the interviews towards the end of the morning when the hubbub has died down.  Sometimes there is a problem with language and sometimes the artist has disappeared before I can interview them!

First Prize

• 2015: Matan Ben Cnaan
• 2014: Thomas Ganter
• 2012: Aleah Chapin

Second Prize

• 2015: Michael Gaskell
• 2014: Richard Twose

Third Prize

• 2016: Ben Sullivan 
• 2014: David Jon Kassan

More about the BP Portrait Award 2016

You can see the exhibition at:

Interview with Clara Drummond - Winner of BP Portrait Award 2016

I've uploaded my video of my interview with Clara Drummond, the 2016 Winner of the BP Portrait Award to YouTube

Clara Drummond with the portrait which won the First Prize
in the BP Portrait Award 2016
Girl in a Liberty Dress (260 x 370 mm, oil on board)

You can view my video interview with Clara below - or you can click the YouTube icon bottom right and view it on HD and a larger scale within my YouTube Video Channel.

WARNING! As often happens with my interviews with the winners of the BP Portrait Award, there's a lot of hubbub in the background. This year it was compounded by the painting being hung in the middle of the exhibition rather than towards the end of the gallery - so even more noise! However you should be able to hear my questions and her responses without too much difficulty unless you have a hearing impairment.  However I would recommend listening to the interview when you don't have any background noise in your own environment.

By the way it's a great interview and very informative!

To give you a flavour of the interview here are some of the highlights of what she talks about:

• why she decided not to go to art school
• what she learned as an assistant to portrait painter Jonathan Yeo
• the drawings and paintings of other artists which provide her with inspiration
• her emphasis on drawing
• why she paints her friends repeatedly
• why you need to keep growing as a painter and try new techniques
• why experimentation is important when working 
• what was the one thing she did which changed her approach to her format and painting
• how her approach has changed recently - and how she describes it
• what it was like meeting Jenny Saville - and why she has been an inspiration

Below you have

• more about how you can see this year's exhibition in London and on tour
• more about Clara Drummond and other comments on her win
• FOR THE SERIOUS FANS: more about BP Portrait Award Winners from previous years

More about the BP Portrait Award 2016

You can see the exhibition at:

• National Portrait Gallery until 4th September after which it tours to:
• Usher Gallery, Lincoln (12 September – 13 November 2016) and 
• Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (26 November 2016 - 26 March 2017.)

Plus you can see it online my video of the exhibition

These are my previous posts relating to the 2016 competition

• Call for Entries: £30,000 BP Portrait Award 2016 - How to enter and how to get selected
• My annual guide to how to enter the BP Portrait Award 2016! Plus how to improve your chances of being selected & 12 great reasons to enter
• Comparison of the RSPP Open and BP Portrait Award Competition
• BP Portrait Award 2016: Selected Artists
• My "Best of the Rest" from BP Portrait Award Entries The top ten 'best of the rest' - selected from entries submitted to me that didn't make it into the 2016 BP Portrait Award Exhibition.
• £30,000 BP Portrait Award 2016 - The Shortlist
• Clara Drummond wins £30000 BP Portrait Award 2016 - Making a Mark
• BP Portrait Award 2016 - Artists with their paintings - Photos and bios of artists with their portraits in the BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2016.

This is how to sign up for information about the 2017 Award

More about Clara Drummond

This is Clara's website http://www.claradrummond.co.uk
This is Clara on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/clara.drummond.79

Contact Clara to find out where she is teaching.

• She's a member of the Royal Drawing School Central Faculty. 
• This week she's teaching a Summer School Course for the Royal Drawing School - Summer School: Inspired By Flora: From Botanical Gardens To Persian Carpets, Matisse And O'Keeffe

Read more about Clara in the press about her win

• The Guardian - The painter enchanting the art world with her thoroughly modern muse
• The Guardian - Clara Drummond's Girl in a Liberty Dress wins BP portrait award
• The Telegraph - Third time lucky for BP Portrait Prize winner

More about the Winners and the Shortlists

What follows is for those seriously interested in this competition!

Video and review of BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2016

The 2016 Exhibition for the BP Portrait Award is very different from previous years. 

That's not a surprise given that threre's been a change in the Director of the National Portrait Gallery and this year Jenny Saville was asked to be a member of the Selection Panel. The Director of the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland was also involved with the selection this year.

Video of the BP Portrait Exhibition 2016

For those familiar with the exhibition you can see the changes for yourself in my video of the exhibition below (which you can also see on youTube).  As usual the 'bumpy' view is due to me literally walking with my iPhone6+ around the gallery.

Apologies for the lack of audio - there's normally background "hum" but in this instance there was music playing and I don't have the copyright permission - hence it's now a very quiet video!

If you're unable to visit the exhibition, my video is particularly relevant to:

• getting a much better understanding of the relative size of the individual paintings
• appreciating more about the choice of subject, size, style, palette and approach to painting a portrait for this exhibition.

You can find out more about the individual artists:

• on the NPG website - see exhibitors. Click the individual images to see a bigger image and read about the painting and the artist
• in my blog post BP Portrait Award 2016: Selected Artists - which lists those selected by country and also includes links to their websites (where one can be found).

What's different in the 2016 Exhibition

The main changes I noticed are as follows:

• there are many more smaller portraits.  This is possibly a reflection of the cost of shipping original works - but I think is more likely to have been a deliberate choice by selectors.  I think it's maybe partly a rejection of the notion that you have to "go big to impress" - which is no bad thing. (I'm going to do a count of the sizes of the portraits - and will add this in to this post. I ran out of time today having had complications with making the video and the video upload. I do however now know where a video which has been made but crashes before it is shared goes on my iMac!)
• the photorealistic style has taken a back seat. A number of those painting realistic paintings are in fact painting from life.
• there are an awful lot of portraits cropped to head and shoulders / head and upper torso (ie minus hands) 
• there are absolutely no big heads of the type which were very prevalent in recent years

This view inclues the largest head in the exhibition

• there is a lot of realism but it's of a much more painterly variety
• I got a very strong impression than most of the subjects are identified very clearly as close friends and family:
• children eg. 
• Pearl in the morning, ready for school by Samantha Fellows
• Francesca by Daniele Vezzani. This striking painting was chosen for the cover of the catalogue
• A Portrait of my Son by Miseon Lee
• Jean by Jean-Paul Tibbles
• Stanley on a Painter's Rag by Keith Robinson
• Alice and the Planets by Lewis Chamberlain
• Die Vermutung I by Wolfgang Kessler
• Tad (Son Of The Artist) by John Borowicz

• spouses and partners eg 
• Oana by Boris Dobre
• Laura In Black by Joshua LaRock
• brother and sisters and in laws eg 
• Carol by Richard Burger
• James Rhodes by Alexander Chamberlin
• parents eg LMF03 by France Borden
• grandparents eg Bo Wang's grandmother in Silence
• close friends eg 
• Falk by David von Bassewitz 
• Vacuum 2 by Thomas Ehretsmann
• Petras by Laura Guoke

It seemed to me that the paintings selected this year in general have stuck much more closely to the brief. They represent portraits by people who have had plenty of opportunity to work from life with their subject.

• a number of portraits are self-portraits 
• both large - eg Self Portrait In Pembroke Studios by Eileen Hogan
• and small - eg Self by Shany van den Berg
• there are a number of portraits of fellow artists eg
• The Enigma of Jasper Rose by Saied Dai
• there are a few professional models. An example is: Portrait In The Mirror: The Veil
  by Antonio Laglia
• there are very few "famous people". Those selected are typically commission and not the conventional 'crowd pullers' i.e. 
• Sir Andrew Motion (who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009) - painted by Fiona Graham-McKay (see Artists with their paintings)
• Hugo Williams - the British poet, journalist and travel writer - painted by Benjamin Sullivan (see my video interview with him later this week)
• Harriet Harman MP - painted by Charles Moxon
• Laurie Weedon, D-Day Glider Pilot by Martin Yeoman
• It's also very clear that the subjects of these commissioned portraits subjects also sat formally for the paintings - much as the representatives of 'the great and the good' do when sitting for portraits commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery.
• there are also some commissions of 'ordinary people'. For example:
• The Weaver by Joshua Waterhouse
• The 271 to Arsenal (Xavier & Max) by Teri Anne Scoble

One exception is Diversion by Charlie Masson - which does NOT conform to the brief for the paintings i.e.

The work entered should be a painting based on a sitting or study from life and the human figure must predominate.

I also noticed that, by and large, only well established portrait artists are painting people of note.

I must confess I'm very much in favour of this approach to selection. To my mind everybody selected for the exhibition should in theory be capable of accepting a commission from the National Portrait Gallery to paint a famous person. To do that they must be capable of making studies of and painting from life.

I pondered on the influence Jenny Saville brought to bear on the exhibition. She told me at the Awards Ceremony that she pushed hard for more painterly paintings.  It's certainly the case that are more painterly portraits and much less hyper-realism than I've seen in the past.

I'm going to do a count of the sizes of the portraits - and also count the different types of portraits (eg head only; head and torso; head and hands etc) and will add this in to this post. I ran out of time today having had complications with making the video and the video upload. I do however now know where a video which has been made but crashes before it is shared goes on my iMac!

I wonder what would happen next year if it was a requirement that every portrait had to include hands as well as a head?

More about the BP Portrait Award 2016

These are my blog posts

• Clara Drummond wins £30000 BP Portrait Award 2016 - Making a Mark
• BP Portrait Award 2016 - Artists with their paintings
• My "Best of the Rest" from BP Portrait Award Entries
• BP Portrait Award 2016: Selected Artists
• Comparison of the RSPP Open and BP Portrait Award Competition
• £30,000 BP Portrait Award 2016 - How to enter and how to get selected

Video: The Small Works Room at RBA Annual Exhibition 2016

I visited the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists yesterday. This is open every day (10am - 5pm) at the Mall Galleries until the 2nd April.

View of the Main Gallery in the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists 2016

The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is dedicated to promoting the highest standards of skill, concept and draughtsmanship in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing.

A virtual exhibition

You can view the works in the exhibition in one of two ways:

• on the RBA website - you can view a selection of the works in the exhibition (This actually means you can view works by members and not works from the open exhibition)
• you an also view the e-catalogue on Issuu

Small Works Room

In the past, one of the most popular rooms at the RA's Summer Exhibition used to be the Small Weston Room which was crammed from floor to ceiling with paintings of every description.

It was good to see that this exhibition also has a dedicated Small Works Room in the North Galley. This is a video I made panning around the room slowly. You can see an HD version on YouTube on my Making A Mark Videos Channel

The room is a mix of works by member artists and works that were juried into the show from the open entry.

Hopefully this will give those artists who submit work to the RBA a better idea of what gets selected. I certainly saw quite a few works I liked a lot.

If anything, I think I could make a very good case for the RBA using one of the larger rooms in the North Gallery for the small works.

Tomorrow I'll be publishing my review of the exhibition as a whole.

Video of Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Exhibition 2016

This is my video, taken late Monday afternoon, of the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Exhibition 2016. The exhibition for this prestigious prize for representational art continues to be on display until Sunday 13th March at the Mall Galleries (10am - 5pm). Admission is free.

You can also read my blog posts about this art competition, prizewinners and exhibition on this blog:

• Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize 2016: Call for Entries
• Lynn Painter-Stainers 2016 - Selected artists and works
• Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Exhibition 2016 - Prizewinners and Review

You can also see the individual paintings in the virtual exhibition.

You can see more of my videos of art competition exhibitions on my YouTube Channel - Making A Mark Videos.

BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2015 - video and analysis

I've uploaded my video of my walk round the BP Portrait Award 2015 exhibition to YouTube. I do this every year - with the kind permission of the National Portrait Gallery. (You can see more of my videos of past BP Portrait exhibitions in the BP Portrait and Travel Awards playlist on my Making A Mark Videos Channel on YouTube)

The video of the portraits in the exhibition is very relevant to:

• appreciating the different sizes of portraits which is not so evident when looking at file images on websites
• all those interested in the exhibition who cannot physically get to see it - particularly for prospective future entrants. This is even more relevant this year given the big increase in international entries which followed the initial submission process converting to digital. See:
• BP Portrait Award 2015 entry goes digital and 
• How to enter the £30000 BP Portrait Award 2015

As always I very much recommend seeing the exhibition in person if you possibly can. I've seen the images on the web, on video and in person at the exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery - and you really can never beat the personal experience for a proper appreciation of the works of the selected artists.

Plus I've also done an in-depth analysis of all 55 portraits in the exhibition - it involved counting!

I'd suggest those wanting to enter a future exhibition take a look at the analysis as well as the video.



As per usual please excuse the somewhat jerky movements associated with me walking and filming at the same time.

If you've got a 27" iMac like me then you can watch it full screen. You just need to alter the HD settings for the 1080HD setting - which you need to do in YouTube (click the cog wheel which says HD)

At the beginning are stills of the NPG and the entrance on the night of the awards ceremony. At the end are stills of the three prizewinners.

As you can see from the video, the exhibition as well as attracting more entries than ever before has also got more variation than usual in terms of subject and style of portrait.

I thought it might be interesting to see if I could explore that further......

BP Portrait Award 2015 - Analysis of size and type of portrait

I went back to see the exhibition when in town recently and counted the different sorts of portraits as I thought it might be quite interesting to see what's most popular. The implication is that those which are less frequent may very possibly have less competition. Which is a thought worth pondering on for those who want to enter the competition in 2016.

My analysis had three factors and 9 variables.



The first factor is size - and on a very approximate basis I counted portraits as large, medium and small sizes.  This is not scientific. It's very much a "you know when you see it" calculation. There are:

• 24 large portraits
• 14 medium size portraits
• 17 small portraits

The next factor relates to number of people in the portrait i.e. whether the portrait is a singleton or a double.  There are:

• 44 portraits of individuals
• 11 portraits of two people

The third factor relates to type of portrait.

• 15 complete figures (although two had no face)
• 16 portraits of the torso - including hands
• 2 portraits of the upper torso (minus hands)
• 21 portraits of the head only

I would add that most of the artists who have been selected for the exhibition before paint portraits of at least the torso and always include hands.  That's a big hint! :)

Let's see how this stacks up in terms of prizewinners.

First prizewinner - Annabelle and Guy by Matan Ben Cnann

• double
• large
• full figure

I have been making the point for some time that I think there is a distinct preference for artists who display the ability to paint the complete figure. One of the prizes is a commission......

That said - it's just my opinion.

Of one thing I am absolutely certain..... all the portraits which have WON the BP Portrait Award since 2010 have all included hands

Second Prize - Eliza by Michael Gaskell

• single
• small
• head only

Are these three factors the reason why Michael Gaskell has won second prize four times and yet has never won first prize?

Of one thing I am pretty sure - if you want to win a prize with a small painting of a head it has to be impeccably painted!

Third Prize - My mother and my brother by Borja Buces Renard

• large
• double
• upper torso

More Blog posts about the BP Portrait Award 2015

• Israeli artist Matan Ben Cnaan wins BP Portrait Prize 2015
• Video Interview with Winner of the BP Portrait Award 2015
• Michael Gaskell (2nd Prize BP Portrait 2015) - a video interview
• BP Portrait 2015 - Artists with their paintings
• Shortlist for £30000 BP Portrait Award 2015 announced
• Selected Artists - BP Portrait Award 2015
• Brits lose out in BP Portrait Award 2015
• How to enter the £30000 BP Portrait Award 2015
• BP Portrait Award 2015 entry goes digital

PS. I'm sure you can guess what's under the pixelations in the video - my videos and blog are not rated for adult content and I'm not about to have their status compromised by individuals who like reporting images of naked young ladies!

Video: 2014 Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists

The 51st Annual Exhibition (2014) of the Society of Wildlife Artists opened this week and can be seen at the Mall Galleries - in all three galleries - until Sunday 9th November

The exhibition includes, paintings, drawings, fine art prints and sculpture by wildlife artists

A View of the Exhibition

This is a video of the exhibition taken at the end of the afternoon preview and as the evening event was getting underway hence rather a lot of people around and why I didn't do a very slow pan.

Workshops, Talks, Demonstrations and Events

There's a VERY extensive list of Talks, Demonstrations and Events being held during the exhibition.  All of them are held at the Mall Galleries and you can get full details from this website page plus information on how to book for any which still have spare places.