A THIRD Season of Portrait Artist of the Week starts soon!

A THIRD season of Portrait Artist of the Week starts on Sunday 21st February 2021 - find out more below.

 

Here's a revised version of my summary of 

• how it all works 
• how to watch
• how to take part

KEY FACTS about how it works and how to take part

HOW IT WORKS

WATCH this video on the Sky Arts "Artist of the Year" Facebook Page

The THIRD series starts on starts on Sunday 21st February 2021

This live streaming event is completely FREE and accessible by EVERYBODY! 

• It does NOT matter where you live in the world and/or whether you are in lockdown 
• because it's accessible via Facebook Live Streaming 
• which means you can watch and join in no matter which country you live in.

The sitters will be "the stars of lockdown"  those people who have inspired and entertained us - I'm hoping for Chris Whitty and Joe Wicks! 

The portrait painter leading the live "paint-along" will vary every week but they are all artists who have participated in Portrait Artist of the Year series on Sky Arts (generally somebody who has done well).

HOW TO WATCH AND/OR TAKE PART: 

• Find the Live Stream for Portrait Artist of the Week on Sunday morning on this link https://www.facebook.com/skytv/live (see below for more details)
• The Live Stream starts at 10am and finishes at 2pm (UK time) every Sunday - starting  
• In theory 4 hours but less in reality. 
• If you want to check what time it is for you elsewhere in the world use tTHIS website https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html to check what time this is in another time zone. 
• You can also watch the live stream as a video after the event as well - it's just not interactive.

To join the LIVE conversation, ask the judges questions or give feedback 

• comment on the facebook live feed 
• or use #PAOTW using social media

If you want to join in - post your artwork on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter using #myPAOTW.

• The deadline for entries is 2pm on the following Friday
• Check the terms and conditions before posting. You may be fine with them - or you may not like them - but you won't know if you don't read them!

The Judges will then choose which artists work they like the best in the show in the following week.

More about Portrait Artist of the Week

• 'Portrait Artist of the Week' returns every Sunday (17th October 2020) - this includes MY TIPS for participating in this online event
• Art On Demand during the Pandemic #1 - British TV (10th May 2020)
• Sunday morning is portrait painting time! (1st May 2020)
• Portrait Artist of the Week - starts today 10am (26th April 2020)

Review: Episode 4 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2021 at Chartwell

Shortlisting line-up after landscape painting is over

Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year 2020 returned to Chartwell in Kent for the fourth episode having kicked off with a view of Chartwell the house in Episode 1 (see my review). 

This review of the fourth episode of Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 6) considers:

• the location and weather
• the artists profiles
• themes arising during the episode
• who was shortlisted and who won.

LAOTY Episode 4 at Chartwell in Kent - the Garden and View

The Location

This second heat at Chartwell saw the pods moved up the steps on to lawn terrace in front of the House - which has the most amazing view of the rest of the Estate and the Weald of Kent.

 

The pods on the Terrace Lawn in front of the House

Below is the view from the Garden terrace below the house. I know that skyline of trees extremely well from sketches. That's one of my favourite places to be sat on a good day! It is however very exposed on very sunny days. I also have many, many photos - and sketches - of the view from that terrace. I've sat there more times than I can remember!

The photo below was taken in the early morning as the lawn (and terrace) are in full sun from late morning to the end of the day.

 

the view from the terrace beneath the house

The Weather

It looks as if it was a scorchingly hot day. There were certainly comments about people having problems with what the heat was doing to their paint.

The Artists

Artists are listed by status and then alphabetically. You can see their profiles on the Sky website . 

Professional Artists

There were four professional artists in this heat.

• Max Denison-Pender Facebook | Instagram | Twitter - He wanted to be a painter age 5. Now aged 22 he is a classically trained painter based in London. I assume he has "connections" as he's certainly got access to locations and jobs which would normally be very surprising for an artist of his age and experience.  He's very clear that 4 hours is an oil sketch for him. 
• Imhonigie Imoesi Facebook | Twitter - Born and raised in Edo State, Nigeria, graduated with a Higher National Diploma in painting and general art, majoring in painting in 1999. Upon graduation, he embarked on a full time career as a studio artist and has exhibited regularly. Had a residency at the National Gallery of Art, Lagos at the 2005 and 2009 . Moved to the UK with his wife and daughters 9 years ago.  He likes using a palette knife and creating texture in his painting to prevent his painting from being static. He had a very impressive submission which you can see on his Facebook Page.
• Rosie Parmley Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Born and grew up in Finchley, London with her Turkish Cypriot parents. Graduated from Bath with a fine art degree. Completed teacher training in 2014. Currently works as a Painter and Teacher at The Colour Factory, Winchester UK and is currently doing live Zoom classes. You can see both her submission and her heat painting on her website.
• Rachel Wright (Instagram) No social media sites for Rachel [UPDATE - oh ye she has - thanks Louise Gillard!). I was very puzzled by somebody who was fairly new to painting in watercolour would choose to continue to paint in watercolour in the heat. I wondered if anybody had explained to her it's not uncommon for artists to switch media between submission and heat - and can still do well of their paintings are good and consistent in style. 

Amateur Artists

The two amateur artists were

• Ben MacGregor (Instagram) Ben would normally be working on a building site - but in what capacity I'm not quite clear.  (Decorator?).  It's such a shame that Ben is not online with his artwork. He prefers to work in an expressionistic abstracted way and his artwork reminded me strongly of some of the works of the painter Paul Nash - not entirely divorced from reality but not realistic either.  He spreads his paint with spatulas [UPDATE: I've been sent his Instagram ID!]
• Zoe Wilkinson (Instagram) Philiosphy student who produced her submission - a painting of her local pond - for her A level course work. 

Wildcard Artists

Wildcard artists arriving

The wildcard artists had absolutely masses of space. They seemed to move down to the lake or stayed near to where they could see a wall (for those who like buildings rather than a lot of green!)

I think I'm right in saying you can see the winner in the above pic!

Themes and Learning Points

Green, green and more green

top down view of the estate

It's pot luck whether as a landscape artist you get an urban or more rural landscape. It seems as if those who like trees sometimes get buildings and those who like buildings sometimes get trees and an awful lot of green.

Lots and lots of green is a big problem for anybody not used to working with greens and how to see, make and vary them.

For me it's very unwise for people participating in this competition not to know how to make effective and interesting greens - mainly by mixing rather than straight from a tube. 

One of the things I was always taught is that you can't make effective greens for transitions unless you also use some red.

This is the wildcard winner showing you just how much red she had on her painting....

working with reds to get solid and interesting darks to show off the lights
in the Wildcard winner's painting

A blue sky with nothing happening

Framing your artwork - a summary

This is a summary of my various blog posts about framing artwork - written over the last 15 years. Much of it is perennial advice.

Today I searched my blog for a particular post I wrote about the sort of frames which artists use for contemporary artwork in London Galleries.  Which is when I realised how many posts I'd written about framing!

All about Framing Artwork - a Summary

A frame has four main purposes. It serves to:

• support and protect the artwork
• make it easier to hang
• separates - and connects - the painting from its surroundings
• enhance its presentation - and avoids our attention being distracted from the painting

However that's just the basics - there's a lot more to framing artwork! 

Below is some of what I've written about frames on this blog. Links in the title of the blog post take you that post.

"Symonds Yat - blue green and gold" by Katherine Tyrrell
coloured pencil image 12" x 16"; frame 50cm x 60cm
ivory double mat and framed in American Oak by 'b2'
- with protective film for transport

How to frame your art

• How to mat and frame your artwork (2008) - a summary of my tips about how to mat and frame artwork

Getting ready for an exhibition is always a time when I try to remember all the tips I've ever had from anybody about how artwork should be framed. I thought it might be timely to try and record some of them and this post is a summary of tips for how to mat and frame artwork.

Protecting Frames

• Protecting your frames (2007) - passing on a tip from my framer about how to avoid damage to your frames (see also image at top)

(my framer) always cling films the framed picture so that the frame edges are covered when they are stacked. This provides good protection and helps to prevents marks being made on the frame during the stacking process. It also means I can avoid using cardboard corner protectors which (a) add to the space required and (b) results in exhibitors normally asking for them to be removed prior to stacking if space is limited!

Frames and Style

Five of the series of paintings of Poplars on the Epte by Claude Monet

• The reasons why frames for art change over time (2015)

One of my framers told me a long time ago that the bulk of his business came from replacing frames on artwork. The collectors liked the artwork but the frame simply didn't fit in their home - and it had to go.

 

Frames and Selling Art

SOLD ARTWORK: Types of frames relative to sale price

• Do frames help to sell art? (2015) - this tells you what happened when I went to an annual art exhibition of a prominent art society - and started to count what sort of frame the SOLD artwork had....

Frames and Money Management

Published in "The Artist" 2016

• How to avoid frames eating your profit (2016) - this was about an article I'd written for the Artist Magazine

A frame can make or break a sale. Framing can also cost a lot and eat into your profits. However, with a bit of effort you can achieve good looking framed art while controlling costs and increasing profit.

• Poll Results - Size Matters! () - I asked in a Making A Mark Poll what was the primary reason for the size of your artwork and 125 people responded.

Just under a third are mindful of pragmatic and financial considerations with respect to framing for exhibitions and sales.

• POLL: Exhibition frames: How much do you spend per frame on average? (2011) and How much do you spend on exhibition frames on average? (Poll results) - which revealed diverse practices re. how much artists spend on their frames between the UK and USA. However....

The disinclination to spend any more than around $160 seems to be approximately the same as UK artists disinclination to spend more than £100

Framing and Art Competitions

Frames stacked on the Receiving Day
for the Open Annual Exhibition of an Art Society

• NOT selected by an art competition or open exhibition? (2017) - highlights how framing can be a reason why your artwork gets rejected

Don't be parochial - and don't make personal preferences the deciding factor in framing choices. You are NOT framing for your home - you're framing for an exhibition and (presumably) to sell.

• 20 tips for entering art competitions (2010)

Make sure you can get your work framed correctly. Book your framer well in advance. Do not assume that they can turn around your frames in the time you've allowed. Remember that framers do have holidays! I'll never forget the August that I couldn't find a framer who could dMore about Framingo my framing in time for exhibition deadlines!

 

Framers

the studio of an 18th century German framework gilder

• A list of recommended picture framers (2017) - framers who are recommended by artists who have used them - on the artist's website or blog.

Hanging Picture Frames

• How to hang a picture (2020)
• How to hang a painting - using mirror plates (2015)
• How to hang a picture - using D Rings (2015)
• How to hang a large or heavy picture - using heavy duty hanging hardware (2015)

More about Framing Art

You can find out more about Framing on my Art Business Info for Artists website.

The section on Frame Art includes

• How to frame art
• General tips about framers
• General tips and frames
• What sort of frame design / moulding / wood? - Different styles and types of frames
• Framing for open exhibitions and art competitions (summary) - also see dedicated page
• Framing for gallery exhibitions
• Framing for commissions (summary)
• ​Protecting your frames
• How to store finished artwork

Plus additional pages for

• List of Recommended traditional and online framers - by location (UK and Ireland only at present)
• ​Framing for open exhibitions & art competitions
• VIDEOS: presenting, framing ​and hanging your art​
• Conservation Products
• How to hang a picture

The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame: 1968-2011

The New Yorker published a wonderful article last week - prompted by the recent publication in the USA of the second and final volume of the landmark and official Biography of Lucian Freud by William Feaver.

The article is titled Lucian Freud and the Truth of the Body by Adam Gopnik.  It's a RECOMMENDED jolly good read (or you can listen to it - see podcast link near the top). The article

• discusses the way in which Freud for a long time didn't 'fit' the American art scene - but how that changed over time. 
• comments on how this volume covers the 'School of London' painters who were a group of artists who socialised with one another and continued to pursue figurative painting during the 1970s. As such it's also an account of a particular time in art history in London.
• explores Freud's approach to painting his models and how this changed over time
• provides an abridged commentary on the life of Freud - including some of the creepier aspects.

Below you can find out more about 

• the second volume of the biography
• my past blog posts about Freud

The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame: 1968-2011

The second volume of the much anticipated second volume of this biography is titled The Lives of Lucian Freud: Fame: 1968-2011. (592 pages, Bloomsbury Publishing). 

Freud trusted Feaver with this project because he was convinced Feaver had no interest in his notorious private life. Here are now in total some 1,200 pages to prove him wrong. The Lives of Lucian Freud by William Feaver — lust for life | Financial Times

In September 2020 it was long listed for the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non Fiction.  

It was also chosen as 'book of the year' by The Guardian, Observer, Financial Times, the Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, New Statesman and the Spectator. It was also the Sunday Times Art Book of the Year.

The first volume - The Lives of Lucian Freud: YOUTH 1922 - 1968 - was shortlisted for the same prize in 2019.

Fame follows Freud at the height of his powers, painting the most iconic works of his career in a constant and dissatisfied pursuit of perfection, just outrunning his gambling debts and tailor's bills. Whether tattooing swallows at the base of Kate Moss's back or exacting a strange and horrible revenge on Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, Freud's adventures were always perfectly characteristic. An enfant terrible till the end, even as he was commissioned to paint the Queen and attended his own retrospectives, what emerges is an artist wilfully oblivious to the glitter of the world around – and focussed instead on painting first and last.

The biography was researched through daily conversations with Freud over many months - and some reference him as a recorder of detail rather than a biographer in the normal sense of the word i.e. it is not a critical and fact checked endeavour with evaluation from an independent perspective. Rather it is a record of what Freud told him - and events Feaver witnessed during the period when he was Freud's friend. So official rather than authoritative.

Other articles about the book include:

Review: Episode 3 Landscape Artist of the Year at West Reservoir

LAOTY Episode 3 at West Reservoir, Stoke Newington, London

This review of the third episode of Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 6) considers:

• the location and weather
• the artists profiles
• themes arising during the episode
• who was shortlisted and who won

This was actually the last heat to be shot before the Semi -Finals (the following week) - although it's been screened as Episode 3. It's interesting to know this because it gives a better perspective on comments made by the Judges.

Location of the pods - next to the West Reservoir Centre

The location

Episode 3 was held at the West Reservoir in Stoke Newington (LB Hackney) last summer. (It's currently closed due to lockdown). 

• The water has 23 acres of a 30 acre site which is an accredited centre for water activities and water sports - including dinghy sailing and open water swimming.
• The pods were set up next to the edge of the reservoir - next to the West Reservoir Centre building.
• The general public were not allowed at the event
• Participants could only bring one guest.

West Reservoir and Centre plus pods (centre) and wildcard artists (left)

The weather

The weather was sunny but breezy and it looks on screen as if an excellent day was had by all.

The Artists

Links embedded in the artists' names below go to their websites. Their social media accounts are indicated if they exist.  Their 'official' Sky Arts profiles and videos of how they created their landscape can be seen here.

Artists on a break - after they had finished

Professional Artists

There were three professional artists:

• Silviya Georgieva (Instagram) - trained and educated in Sofia, Bulgaria but now living in London. She has a BA in Applied Textiles and a Masters in Graphical and Spatial Design from Bulgaria's most prominent art and design universities. She has a passion for working in passion for making multi-media collages. She also has has extensive experience in ceramics. Her artwork was selected for a Washington Post story The best art created by Washington Post readers during the pandemic, which shows the 20 best art works created during the pandemic. Below is an insight into what happens when the film crew photograph you with your submission

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by S E L L V I D A - S.Georgieva (@sellvida)

• Ophelia Redpath - lives in Royston in Hertfordshire and has had a career as an artist for 30 years. She has exhibited her work in over 100 shows in Britain and overseas, painted several murals and produced two books. She talks about her approach to picture making and her technique using oils on her website

She is currently immersed in work exploring the relationship between the human world and the diminishing natural world, highlighting both the negative dilemmas and the possibilities for change.

• Julian Vilarubbi (Instagram | Twitter) - Lives in Brighton where he has a studio. He studied painting at the Royal Academy Schools where he won the Richard Ford Award for travel in Spain.  He usually creates landscape paintings (in acrylic and oils) based on his travels. He writes about his process for producing his submission painting of Mount Athos in Greece on his website.  Also does life drawing on an iPad and has written a book about this 'Life Drawing on the iPad' (published by Crowood Press in June 2018).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Art (@julianvilarrubi)

Amateur Artists

There were three amateur artists:

• Amanda Barrett (Instagram | Facebook) Switched to a career in graphic design because her art school was only interested in promoting abstract work and wasn't interested in painting from life. Subsequently studied British Institute Florence: Certificate in Renaissance Art, Brighton Art College: Foundation Painting, Chelsea School of Art BA Graphic Design.  She does a lot of plein air painting (and is an active participant in various 'Paint outs') and is currently contemplating becoming a professional artist after deciding to retire from graphic design. Last year she won 3rd prize in Paint Out Norfolk - against 400 paintings by 48 artists!
• Judith McDonagh (Instagram) - an 18 year old student from Oxford.  Tai-Shan - who's a very nice man - voiced the view to camera that she had given up..... However judging by age and her relative lack of presence / paintings online and her process on the day, I suspect it's very likely that she either disliked the experience (i.e. it's certainly not for everybody) or maybe felt way out of her depth and/or both.
• Anil Patel (Instagram) - a graphic designer who lives in Leicester and is a big supporter of the local footie team. Previously appeared in chosen for BBC’s Big Painting Challenge 2018! (I knew his face and painting technique looked familiar!).  He won my "fastest painter of the episode" back in April 2018!

Wildcard Artists

Wildcard artists were limited to just 25 - probably due to the constraints of the site. They set up on mats in the grass around the reservoir.

Wildcard artists on their way to their may on the edge of the reservoir

Episode 2: Themes and Learning Points

As with all my other blog 'Artist of the Year' posts, I tried to detect some learning points within this episode - read on for more of these.

Today, these are:

• How best to combine nature and urban landscapes.
• More of what Tai-Shan does not like
• No scope for walking away
• Young painters
• sometimes the second paintings are better