Review: Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2018

This week, I return to making comments about people painting portraits on television, after having posted my own credentials for Drawing People last week after the last review of the Portrait Artist of the Year series.

The top down view of the set up in the atrium at the Wallace Collection

This is a review of Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year by Sky Arts - and brought to me via the Now TV app (see blog post at the end for how)

You can see links at the end to my reviews of the first four episodes.

The Professionals

Five professional artists participated this week

• Phan Phan Duc (spelling?) - I can't find anything online but I may have got the spelling wrong
• Lizet Dingemans - born in Helmond, the Netherlands. Studied Fine Art at Angel Academy in Florence. Continued her studies at a student at the London Atelier of Representational Art (LARA). Now a full time artist and art teacher
• Sarah Hope - Lives in Newport in Pembrokeshire.  She has a degree in fine art and returned to art 10 years ago after bringing up her family.  in 2017 she was one of the Artists & Illustrators Magazine ‘Artists of the Year 2017’ Prize Winners. This is her blog post about the day itself and what she did next - which was basically use her coloured pencil drawing to create an oil painting of Fiona Shaw.
• Lee Fether - I thought her work looked familiar and looking at her website it's because I've seen it before! She has a design degree from Central School of Art and Design and was selected for the BP Portrait Award in 2009 and 2011.
• Richard Kitson - clever man - he's got his self portrait and the logo for Portrait Artist of the Year on the home page of his website! He's got a degree in Fine Art. Currently he paints, draws and makes etchings in his studio in Barnsley - and he's got his first solo exhibition of his portraits at the Cooper Gallery in Barnsley opening on 14th April.

The Amateurs

Four amateur artists testing their skills were

• Georgia Palomba - from Prestatyn in North Wales. She lists herself on Pinterest as "fine art student, boxer, pole dancer". She's studying fine art at Kingston University.
• Liam Dunne - apparently no website but he posts his art on his Twitter account
• Jonathan Stockley - very succinct bio on his website "Born in Wokingham, England. Raised in Lurgan, Northern Ireland.  Living in Coatbridge, Scotland and currently working as a Modelmaker in Newcastle upon Tyne, with drawing in my spare time" Having started out as a pet artist who has progressed to doing proper portraits of people - but from photographs.
• Corinne Pierre - Originally comes from Guyana (British Guiana South America). She obtained a BA in Illustration at Bristol Art School. She now lives in Gloucestershire.

Survey of the self-portraits

Survey of the self-portraits

Note the variation in sizes of the self-portraits submitted.  Of course the impact of the dimensions will have been greatly diminished when viewed online - which is how selection is made for the Heats. This is the first time the Judges have seen the self-portraits "in the flesh" as it were.

You can get a sense of scale by looking at hwo big they look relative to the size of the presenters and judges!

Frank made an interesting comment about it being a bit like dating apps where you see the photo online and now you get to meet the person for real - and asked which of the painters did they want to meet. It's an interesting question. This is the first time you get to create an impression. Does the way you design your self-portrait and then render it make a difference to your chances of selection? I would suggest that it does - but also that viewers should listen carefully to WHAT it is about the portrait that impresses.

Sitters

The sitters this week were

• Elizabeth McGovern of Downton Abbey fame, 
• Harry Potter's aunt - the film star and theatre actress Fiona Shaw and 
• Paralympic gold medalist Kadeena Cox.

Discussions and Observations

What's in a portrait

I often discuss the question of what impresses judges in terms of portraits produced for competitions.

Review: The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 10th Exhibition

This is the last week of the exhibition of the The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2018 at the Mall Galleries. If you've not yet been it's definitely worth visiting.

Preview/Awards Night - The Columbia Threadneedle Award 2018

To my mind it's one of the better exhibitions in the history of the prize. 
Visitors to the exhibition also get to decide who to vote for The Visitors’ Choice Award, a further prize worth £10,000 to the winning artist. The Visitors’ Choice Award winner will be announced at the end of the exhibition.

I wrote as the exhibition opened about the shortlisted artists and the winner Ana Schmidt wins Threadneedle Prize 2018

This post is about the exhibition itself. The exhibition is on until 1pm on 7 February 2018, Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1.  It's open daily 10am to 5pm and admission is free.

About The Columbia Threadneedle Exhibition 2018

The submission and the selection

• It's the product of the selection of work from 4,118 submissions via the open entry - from 2,097 artists. 
• Just 104 artworks by 95 artists were selected for the exhibition.
• In percentage terms that's 2.5% of the artwork and 4.5% of the artists
• The average number of works submitted were 1.96
• Compared to 2016, the number of entries grew by 7.5% and the number of artists submitting work grew by 6.2% - so the competition remains an attractive proposition for figurative artists despite it now being a biennial.

You can read profiles and visit the websites of the artists who had work selected for the exhibition in my post Selected artists for Columbia Threadneedle Prize Exhibition 2018.

Media

Interestingly this exhibition is dominated by oil paintings - including some very large oil paintings.  I discovered this by using the menu selector for the online exhibition. Why is it that oil is seen as the media that must be used for art competitions?

(Left) Duff by Ruth Murray, Oil on canvas, 210 x 150 cm £27,000
(Right) Shallows by Helen Flockhart, Oil on linen, 105 x 155 cm £15,000 [SOLD]

There were very few acrylic paintings - although one of them worn First Prize.

More positively, there are a significant number of very impressive works in monochrome - using graphite, charcoal and/or pen and ink - although some are on oil.

Final Call for Entries - Wildlife Artist of the Year 2018

The Final Call for Entries

This year's  Wildlife Artist of the Year 2018 exhibition will be the first year without David Shepherd (1931-2017) at the opening - but I'm absolutely sure it will be a really great exhibition - in his memory.

However you have just a few days left to get your digital entry in to this prestigious open competition - and have a chance of winning the £10,000 top prize for Wildlife Artist of the Year. 

This year for the first time there is NO LIMIT on the number of entries you can submit.

The closing time/date for digital entries is midnight on Monday 12th February 2018.

You're probably too late for postal entries as the closing time for them is 5pm on 12th February 2018.

The exhibition is at the Mall Galleries as usual however the timing has changed. It's one between 2nd - 6th May 2018. (Note this is much earlier than usual) with the PV on the 1st May.

Final Call for Entries

Well the first thing to say is your wildlife art better be good because this competition regularly receives top notch wildlife art from around the world!

Indeed simply getting selected for this exhibition is regarded as a big honour by many wildlife artists. 

You can see last year's winners on the website

DSWF Wildlife Artist of the Year is a prestigious annual wildlife art competition. Founded by David Shepherd over 10 years ago, the competition attracts artists from all over the world and showcases some of the finest and most exciting wildlife art whilst at the same time raising vital awareness and funds for the endangered wildlife that DSWF works so hard to protect. Every entry, and proceeds from all sales, supports our work to that fight wildlife crime, protect endangered species, and engage local communities in Africa and Asia.

Prizes

The first prize is definitely worth winning and the category prizes are also very nice!

• Overall Winner £10,000 cash prize & title ‘Wildlife Artist of the Year 2018’ 
• Overall Runner-Up £1,000 cash prize. 
• Remaining Category Winners £500 each.

So who can enter, what can you submit and what do you have to do?

Eligible Artists

Artists aged 17 years old and over - living anywhere in the world - are eligible to enter.

The competition is open to both amateur and professional artists and no distinction is made between them in terms of judging or prizes.

Eligible Art

The main conditions are as follows.

• THERE IS NO MAXIMUM NUMBER OF ENTRIES - This is NEW for 2018. Previously there has been a maximum limit of five entries.
• All media are eligible (EXCEPT photography). For example, the competition is very happy to receive artwork in media that includes oil, acrylic, watercolour, pencil, mixed media, bronze, plaster, wire, collage with styles encompassing traditional, abstract, monochrome, original prints* and many others .

* An original print is a print either in black or in colour, drawn from one or several plates, conceived and executed entirely by hand by the same artist, regardless of the technique employed, with the exclusion of any and all mechanical, digital or photomechanical processes. Every stage has been completed by hand by the artist. 

• Entries must be completed by the entrant themselves
• it must be their own original work. 
• If a reference photo has been used, then the permission of the photographer is required (i.e. copyright issues are NOT allowed!)
• Work must be completed in the last five years - hence artwork completed before 12th February 2013 CANNOT be entered.

Please note that in their Helpful Hints document the organisers state the following about the sort of artwork they are looking for and will rate highly.

The judges are looking for not only beautifully executed artworks but also imaginative interpretation, moving away from the purely photographic to interesting compositions with great characterisation, showing imagination, originality and genuine creativity. As well as showing an understanding of the subject, they are looking for a genuine love of paint. 

and

You can of course get your inspiration from a photograph or drawing, but be sure to make it your own interpretation of that image. Straight copies are not only breaching copyright but are judged to be unimaginative and dull. 

How to enter

The details of entry page on the website provides three documents (as pdf files)

• Terms and Conditions of Entry (PDF) - this is a MUST READ for all artists
• Helpful Hints (PDF) - a RECOMMENDED READ
• 2018 Postal Entry Form - for those wanting to enter by post rather than online (get a move on!) Also good for noting down what you need to enter on your online form before you start completing it!

Categories

Entries must be submitted to a category. The categories are:

• Animal Behaviour: Showing a real understanding of animal behaviour, a sense of character, maybe something the judges may not have seen before.
• Into the Blue: Illustrate the wonderful world of water, be it ocean, seashore, wetland, river or stream. 
• Urban Wildlife: Entries can be in an urban style or depict the city life of animals and plants. Judges will be looking for both originality in the habitat as well as the contrast between wild and urban life. Vanishing Fast: Our vanishing world – it can be any species officially listed as endangered or threatened on the IUCN Red List – or any landscape that is at risk. 
• Wings: The extraordinary variety of winged wildlife – birds and insects, in flight or at rest.
• Earth’s Wild Beauty (including animals and landscapes in which they inhabit): The choice is yours! 

All categories are open to UK and international wildlife, landscapes, flora and fauna.

For all categories the judges are looking for....

not only beautifully executed original artworks but also imaginative interpretation, moving away from the purely photographic to compositions with great characterisation, showing imagination, originality and genuine creativity.

Method and cost of entry

Entries can be my post or online - however

• all images submitted as an entry must be digital. Please NOTE that no allowance is made by the Judges for poor digital images or bad quality photographs. It's up to you to submit quality images.
• all entries must reach the Foundation by 12th February 2018.

Your artwork should be submitted as a JPEG digital image via the digital entry form or should be burned to a CD. They require:

• High resolution @300 dpi
• minimum pixels of 2,200 pixels on the SMALLEST side
• File size not exceeding 6MB.
• all files must have an easily identifiable name eg you should use your surname followed by title of art artwork

Responsibilities of the artists

• Note that delivery, collection, shipping costs and insurance are the responsibility of the artist.

What does it cost to enter

Entry costs vary depending on the status of the artist

• normal entry fee: £25 
• concessionary rate: £10 for DSWF members, 17-25 year olds and the over 60s.

How should I price my work?

• All entries MUST be for sale. Do NOT enter anything you don't want sold as this exhibition aims to sell (so don't sell anything you have entered before the exhibition). 
• All prices need to be realistic i.e. PRICED FOR SALE. This includes making your sale price appropriate for the exhibition and marketplace. This is not a vanity exhibition! Note that this competition is a bit different. Sale price will be negotiated with the artist but the final decision will be made by DSWF. That effectively means that if you enter your work and then put 
• an outrageously high price on it so it won't sell - then DSWF can vary that so it will sell!
• a low price on it - maybe because you don't know London prices - that DSWF can raise it so that it's consistent with prices asked for other work of the same quality in the exhibition.

Commission

There are three commission rates:

• Sales proceeds for works exhibited at the exhibition are to be split 50/50 for sales made for the duration of the exhibition and for one month after. 
• After one month, any sales made as a result of the continued promotion of the piece by DSWF will be split 70% artist and 30% DSWF
• Sale proceeds resulting from commissions taken at the exhibition are to be split 70% artist and 30% DSWF. 

More about Wildlife Artist of the Year in previous years

• Clare Harkess wins Wildlife Artist of the Year 2017 (28 June 2017) - about last year's prizewinners and pictures of the exhibition and artwork on display.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year - The Exhibition June 20, 2016 - these are the people whose work caught my eye
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2016 - The Awards June 28 2016 - these are the people who won awards in each of the categories - plus the overall Wildlife Artist of the Year Award
• Review: Wildlife Artist of the Year 2015 July 02, 2015 - 186 artworks were selected from the 1,000 entries to the competition. A further 38 artworks were selected but not hung 
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2015 - Call for Entries - 1 September 2014
• David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the Year 2014 - deadline ... 18 Jan 2014 - Summary of the Call for Entries for David Shepherd's Wildlife Artist of the Year 2014 - exhibition at Mall Galleries in June 2014.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013 - David ... 06 Jun 2013 Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013: Review of the prizewinners and exhibition at the Mall Galleries.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013 - Call for entries 24 Oct 2012 - Overview of call for entries for The David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation Wildlife Artist of the Year 2013 Competition.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2012 - Call for entries 16 Dec 2011 - The overall BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year 2012 wins a place for one person on a 10-day painting safari with Pip McGarry in Botswana in October 2012
• Two opportunities to be Wildlife Artist of the Year 2011! 25 Jan 2011 - The competition is open to all professional and amateur artists aged 17 and over. The top prize is £10,000 and all shortlisted artists are exhibited at the Wildlife Artists of Year 2011 Exhibition at the Mall Galleries
• Adam Binder wins Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010 25 May 2010 - Yesterday evening, at the Mall Galleries, Adam Binder's stunningly simple bronze sculpture of a polar bear on an iceberg - "Sinking Feeling" - won him the title of Wildlife Artist of the Year 2010. 
• Art competition: Wildlife Artist of the Year 28 Jan 2010 - The title Wildlife Artist of the Year is awarded by a panel of judges appointed by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF) and comes with a cash prize of £10,000 generously donated by the exhibition sponsors
• Exhibition review: Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009 02 Jun 2009 - You can see my photos of fellow coloured pencil artists Gayle Mason and Jonathan Newey with their work on the UKCPS News blog in UKCPS members and their art at Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009.
• Wildlife Artist of the Year 2009 - the online exhibition - 13 Apr 2009 - so refreshing to see the online exhibition for the Wildlife Artist of the Year some two months in advance of the actual exhibition in June. 
• Two wildlife art competitions and a snow ... 28 Nov 2008 -The Wildlife Artist of the Year, run by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation (DSWF), is open to amateur and professional artists alike from anywhere in the world. Artists must be aged 17 by the closing date - 30th Jan 2009.

Drawing people

Given I've been commenting on other people painting portraits in my reviews of the Portrait Artist of the Year series, it occurred to me that maybe those who aren't aware of my background might think I had some nerve!

So I thought I'd better establish some credentials! 

I don't paint (I'm a "dry media" person) but I do draw.

I've also been drawing people for years.

Over the years I've also studied very many old master drawings - which is how come I like to hatch when I'm drawing in pen and ink and coloured pencil.

Plus I've commented on very many drawings and paintings of people by contemporary artists over the last 12 years as part of my reviews of exhibitions of portraiture eg the BP Portrait Award. 

A drawing in pen and ink in 45 minutes
no contour lines and no underdrawing
all hatching and eyeballing the model

Before my tenosynovitis in my drawing hand got bad (Don't EVER interview all day for two weeks non-stop!) I used to go to a weekly "Drawing a Head" class at the Princes Drawing School (now Royal Drawing School) - not so much for the tuition as having models to draw.

There I used to "eyeball" the models and in TWO HOURS used to progress through a series of personal challenges which went a little way beyond drawing the head

Draw two people, full size, in graphite on a large sheet of paper

The interesting thing about drawing two models is getting the perspective right
and making them look as if they are actually sat in the chair (or on a cushion)

I always drew in the backgrounds as it gave me a scaffolding matrix
against which to measure off parts of the body!

Draw the models and the other artists

Then there was two models and the artists on the other side of the room......

I spent many weeks doing this until I decided I now needed the challenge of pen and ink.....

Review: Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2018

This is a review of Heat 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year - which this week saw six amateur artists and 3 professional artists

You can see links at the end to my reviews of the first three episodes.

Heat 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year

The Professionals

Three professional artists were:

• Jamie Green (Instagram) - age 27, based in Manchester and a shortlisted contestant in 2017 - who who was back by virtue of viewers of Sky voting for him to be the artist they'd most like see again. He has a very strong style which I guess is "a bit like marmite".
• Etha Gurak?? - an Eyptian by birth, who studied art and a professional artist in Cairo before getting married and coming to live in London 10 years ago. Her self-portrait took her 28 hours and she listened to an "inspiration playlist" while she painted which included 'Eye of the Tiger"
• Jackie Edwards - Born in London to Irish parents, she now lives in Ireland. She studied art at Dun Laoghaire School of Art and Design. She's also been exhibiting in Ireland, the UK and Europe since 1989. She exhibited a stunning portrait of "The Artist's children" at the Royal Ulster Academy last year (see Putting on an Art Exhibition - Behind the Scenes at the Royal Ulster Academy)

The Amateurs

Six amateur artists brought their kit to the Wallace Collection. They were:

• Olivia Crossman - uses pastel on canvas and has a somewhat unique technique to her work. She uses a palette knife to scratch at the pastel layers. Produced a very impressive self-portrait.  She had completed a Foundation Art Year at Camberwell College of Art - but was now pursuing a science degree (Biology at Imperial College) and hoped to combine the two.
• Anna Kenneally - She recently completed a BA in Fine Art at Bath Spa University - which I think she means she was in her final year when she painted in Heat 4. Her paintings on her website have a strong narrative edge notwithstanding some are contemporary updates on paintings by past masters.  She did an Interview with Cass Arts back in 2016.  Her goal is becoming a professional artist.
• Aret Shukovsky?? - Comes from Poland and now lives in Southampton. He placed an emphasis on wanting to get the drawing right
• Lisa Puhlhofer (Facebook Page) - Based in Suffolk, she is a former nurse. Between 2015 and 2017 she completed the Diploma Course at 2015-2017 Diploma in Portraiture Heatherley's School of Fine Art. Little did I know I was in the same room as Lisa just a few days ago - at the The Bankside Staff Show Private View 2018. I thought the hair looked vaguely familiar!

I took early retirement moved to Suffolk to free up the money I needed to go to college. I studied at Heatherley’s School of Fine Art in Chelsea, because it was the only School which had a Portrait Diploma at the time, and I liked the idea of being taught by professional working artists.

• Roy Goodman - A career in science - he now lives and works in Cornwall. After he took retirement he became a a painter and photographer. In 2007 he obtained an MA in the History of 20th Century Art from Falmouth University, followed by an MA in Photography from Plymouth University in 2012. He has a painting which has just reached Second Stage of the John Moores Painting Prize.  I'm not quite sure why he has himself down as an amateur portrait painter since he exhibits in galleries - however he mostly paints landscapes.
• Sam Smith - A self-taught IT Manager from Hertfordshire who had only painted 7 portraits before - including his self-portrait. He learned how to paint from watching videos on YouTube! Just a little competition from a bloke of the same name to find his website! 

The sitters were:

• Game of Thrones star Conleth Hill - who plays Varys
• model turned TV personality Rachel Hunter and 
• actor Stefanie Martini.

Discussions and Observations

Using a grid to get the outline embedded

The commentary noted that 8 of the 9 artists were choosing to draw in the outline using pencil, while one eyeballed the sitter and dew using her paintbrush. Guess which one impressed the judges?

Gridded up two ways on the iPad

The use of an app on their ipads to get the drawing started and well placed on the support was also very ubiquitous. I can understand why people might do this if they are not confident drawing from life - but it does speak to a lack of experience in drawing from life.

It's been a bit of time since I went to a life class (or the one I used to go to at the Royal Drawing School - which was about drawing a head) - but I don't recall iPads in use for that purpose. Maybe they are now?

That said at least two of the portraits ruled themselves out because they had MAJOR errors of facial structure and proportion.  Can you tell which two I mean? At least one of the artists knows it....