I felt for the artists, presenters and the judges as I watched the opening of Episode 3 of the
Landscape Artist of the Year 2018 series - filmed by Storyvault Films for Sky Arts.
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| Episode 3 Pod Participants line up for the results of their plein air painting endeavours |
After three weeks of blazing sunshine, they ran into what Scotland does best - a dreich during a heatwave i.e. mist and steady fine rain which absolutely drenches.
So there were LOTS of umbrellas in this episode - and one even found its way into a painting by one of the pod participants.
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| The wildcard participants - around the corner from the Pods |
Below you can
read about:
- the location
- the artists
- my commentary.
- Learning Points: The themes I identified this week's episode are:
- Dealing with a lot of landscape and changing weather
- Knowing what format works best
- Knowing what to leave out and when to stop
- The importance of a sense of place
- The need to lick your websites and social media into shape
- the shortlist
- the winners - of the Heat and the Wildcard entry
Warning if you continue to read but have not yet watched this episode you will find out who won!As an aside - one of the very curious things is that Landscape Artist of the Year seems to have died on social media. I always look every week to see if I can find any of the artists and it's now proving more and more difficult!The Location: Loch Fyne
The pods were set up in front of that universal phenomena - the Indian Restaurant - in
Inverary on the western shore of
Loch Fyne, a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde which is the longest one in Scotland (i.e. some 40 miles long). Prior to the D Day Landings in 1945 it had been home to a base which trained a quarter of a million troops for the landings.
The day started with steady rain coupled with a low mist - and this was the view for some of the artists in the pods!
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| The initial view from the pods |
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| The pods in the morning - in front of the Indian Restaurant - looking out at the above view |
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| The Wildcard contestants around the corner and next to the war memorial - after the rain stopped |
The Artists
Some 1,600 applications were whittled down to 48 for the Heats and these are the latest batch of artists to get their every move recorded by camera.
BELOW are some mini profiles of each of the pod participants - with links to their websites embedded in their names and links to Facebook and Instagram where obvious. I'm always bemused about the distinctions between the professional and amateur artists.
PS There's a point at which you know you've got the right Facebook account by looking at the faces of people who have already participated in LAOTY in the friends! ;)READ MORE......>>
