Review: Episode 4 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2019

Episode 4 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2019 seemed different and I'm not quite sure why. 

• the Judges picked their shortlist in record time 
• the Twittersphere did not go into meltdown. 
• Instead we had lots of tweets commenting that even the Judges can get it right some of the time!

The best portrait (of Beverley Knight) in Episode 4 - by Archie Wardlaw

I'm not going to repeat what I've said in other reviews of this series other than this post includes:

• a list of the professional and amateur artists participating in Episode 3 of the series
• my commentary on themes which I spotted
• who got shortlisted
• who won the Heat and goes through to the Semi-Finals.

More about the competition and the judges in my first blog post - listed at the end.

The Artists, Self-portraits and Sitters

You will find links to:

• the artist's website - embedded in their name - click the link to see more of their artwork
• artists' social media accounts if I can find them online.
• the speeded up time lapse video of each artist working on their portrait - which means that even if you can't watch the television episode you can at least see the portraits being painted

Please contact me (see side column or via Facebook Page) re. any inadvertent errors of spelling or links ASAP

Oddly, this Heat has more contestants without a website or any social media presence.

The Professional Artists

The five professional artists were:

• Archie Wardlaw (Facebook | Instagram) - video - He is a contemporary painter specialising in portraiture and still life. He studied Classics and Philosophy with Mandarin at the University of Exeter and then trained for five years in the Classical Atelier method at London Fine Art Studios where he is now a senior tutor.  He has also taught art to the inmates of a prison. He lives in London and undertakes portrait commissions from his studio at Battersea Business Centre in London.
• Dante Turner - video - Nothing much online. A Peruvian artist who lives in Somerset with his husband. He won the Public Choice Prize at Wells Art Contemporary (WAC) Competition and Exhibition in 2016.
• Daisy Murdoch - video - Lives and works in the Cotswold Village of Amberley, near Stroud. She works predominantly in oils, painting small still lives and portraits
• Zoe Beaudry (Facebook | Instagram) - video -  (b. 1991) an American artist from East Lansing, Michigan, specializing in oil painting with an emphasis on portraiture and the figure. BA in studio art from Kalamazoo College in 2014 and her MFA from The Glasgow School of Art in 2018. In in 2019 was featured in the annual FBA Futures exhibition at Mall Galleries in London. Currently on a residency with Kriti Gallery in Varanasi!
• Jane Clatworthy (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - a figurative artist based in London. Her studio is in Earlsfield. Born in the north of England, raised in Zimbabwe, lived most of her adult life in South Africa. Did a portrait Diploma at Heatherly's Art School. This is an Interview with Jane Clatworthy. She wasn't joking about the thing she liked to paint best!  It's the first time I've looked at a contestant's website and recognise people in the portraits on the website!  This is how she saw Stephen Graham on the day of filming.

Amateur Artists

•  Shalewa Olayiwola - video - a 19 year old psychology student.
•  Romy Kelleher - video - age 17; lives in Hertforshire. D doing her 'A' Levels after the competition. This was her first self portrait and it took her four hours to complete it which was impressive. 
•  Feisal Brimah (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - Revenues Officer with Brent Council who paints in his spare time. He prefers painting animals.
• Robyn Parker (Facebook | Twitter | Instagram) - video - 28 year old Artist and School Photographer based in Clacton, Essex. She specialises in coloured pencil drawings, oil paintings and Ink work and also runs workshops - including taster sessions for those who'd like to try alcohol ink work. Wants to be a full time artist.

The Review of the Self Portrait Wall

Art is like handwriting. The more you do it the more you develop a style. Age has nothing to do with it. How much you've painted has.

When you have finished watching the programme, go back and review the self-portraits again and ask yourself

• what's the difference between the self portrait and the heat portrait when reviewing those who were shortlisted and everybody else?
• what's the difference between between the short-listed heat portrait and the self-portrait submitted in advance?
• Do they look like they've both been produced by the same artist? 

That's the really important point about the self-portraits. You need to assess if they've been done by the same person. In the case of the shortlisted artists / heat winner it's often very easy to give a very fast response.

The Sitters

The three sitters were:

• Anna Chancellor - actress
• Beverley Knight - singer
• Stephen Graham - actor

I always think the chairs could be more helpful to the sitters. It might just be me. Every time I look at them and think I'd be walking straight out again, saying "I'll be back once you've got me a chair which is suitable for sitting completely still for four hours".

Discussions and Observations

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