Sky Portrait Artist of the year

[HappydaysArehere]

Just seen the final and the artist painting the commission.
Wonder what other people thought. I love this series.

I thought hattie should have won. Such amazing talent for someone so young. Her submission portrait was magical. I thought samira's portrait of lily cole and Simon callow to my untrained eye was bad as was her final commission.

I knew they’d choose the winner they did SPOILER ALERT - they always go for a quirky one as I guess they want something unique and Samira’s was always a bit squiffy and ‘tortured’ looking, which they love! I agree about Hattie, she was amazing! But I think spending so much time drawing from a photo rather than from life went against her. (As an artist, it makes it so much easier so I know why they do it, but it does make a mockery of the poor sod sitting still in front of them for 4 hours!) I loved all of Hattie’s pictures, they had a really magical quality - maybe she’ll be back in a year or two, she can only get better and better.

Samira’s Final pic was much better than I expected given the sketches. When the sitter feels the need to point out that the artist hasn’t quite got it right you know there’s an issue with it! But the final portrait did capture her look quite well, if not really her character.

I thought the final portrait made the sitter look like she was dead.

I felt she was the least likely to win. Hattie was really accomplished but her age is going to allow her a lot of scope for the future. I did feel sorry for the professional artist who had put so much into his career. His work was consistently good and you knew he would have produced an excellent commission. I must admit when Samira won there were cries of disapproval from us. However, she managed a credible portrait in her loose, semi abstract style. The judges enjoyed her spontaneous slapping on of paint so there you are - Art is subjective but cannot help feeling disappointed for the other painters. The professional one looked gutted at the result and I am not surprised.

I thought the professional guy’s commission in the final was outstanding. I think Hattie was amazing but the fact that she used pencils might have gone against her. What a talent though.

I wasn’t keen on Samira as a portrait painter but she’s certainly talented as an artist. I just think that in a portrait competition, likeness does matter.

I came across this blog the other day which has interesting viewpoints on the artists. makingamark.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/review-episode-7-portrait-artist-of-year-2018.html

BestisWest. Agree about the likeness aspect. Thank you so much for the fascinating link. I am an absolute amateur but have been painting family members and friends for years. I love the challenge and how likenesses can suddenly emerge out of a struggle or disappear just as quickly. I love recording “a moment in time”. Catching someone doing something or looking at something or someone. As you can imagine painting a sitter was near impossible so my only experience of a live model was when I attended portrait classes at a local authority class. I was fascinated by how many of the artists used grids. I only tried once using an acetate grid over a photo but the result was so rigid and lacked “life” if you know what I mean! However, After seeing the programmes I did give a quick look at the apps available for the purpose but the cheap or free ones appeared to have too many squares. So I am still struggling away with photos printed out on A4 plain paper! Thank you again for the link.

I really wasnt keen on Samiras paintings. I dont think she completed a picture in any round either, very disappointed she won.
I really loved the professional painters commission and Hatties has so much potential.

When we watch the programme we have two guesses - Who we think should win and who we think the judges will pick.
I have to admit that if someone had to paint me I'd choose Samira , because as much as I preferred the others I couldn't think of anything worse than seeing my face so clearly.
I did think she was the best person to paint the designer as where would you start with all that makeup and hair !
Waiting now for landscape artist love that one as well.

I did a few years of life drawing classes at the local college and adored it although I’m nowhere near the standard of the entrants. It’s so difficult but I do sort of agree that using a grid is cheating but t makes it so much easier to get a likeness.

In that blog the author raised some really interesting points about working from photos and how the photo can distort reality. Fascinating.

I think it would be interesting for all three artists to have been able to paint the final sitter so we could see what they'd have come up with.

I found Hattie's work truly magical! I was disappointed for her and the professional artist who produced outstanding work imo. I loved Samira's portrait of Zandra Rhodes but don't think she is as good overall as the other two. Watching the final episode now so haven't seen her portrait of Kim yet. I'm following them all on Instagram, it's interesting to look at their other work

I was very disappointed with the result too altbough I wasn't surprised, I agree with the pp who said they go for the quirky one. I felt that Hetty Lawlor deserved to win, but I also thought her youth and inexperience would go against her and she will grow and develop as an artist as she matures. I loved her initial submission, it had a magical quality to it that was hard to beat. Her dad (Jimmy Lawlor) is also an artist although I think Hetty is better than him. Samiras final submission, the Rhodes portrait, was terrible, I didn't think it captured either her spirit or her likeness but hey what do I know!

I was taught that drawing from a photo was transferring from 2d to 2d. Drawing from LIFE is transferring 3d to 2d, and therefore much harder. Doing 2d to 2d and THEN using a grid is even easier. However I find them ALL hard!

Having said all that I loved all of Hatties' works. Whereas I only like the Zandra Rhodes and the final one of Samira's BUT otoh they show her development more though which was fascinating to watch, which maybe the judges liked too?

I'm going to get splinters sitting on this fence aren't I?

Samira’s Self portrait was very good though, lovely painting. She’s obviously still finding her way - she’d never painted anyone from life before.

I know I'm being pedantic here, and I possibly feel a kinship because she's Irish too, but her name is Hetty, not Hattie as pretty much every poster on the thread has called her.

I was disappointed. I don't like Samira's painting style at all. But that's why art is great - it's so personal and subjective. Really enjoyed the series. I'd record it then go and watch it the next evening on our bedroom on my own for a quiet hour.

I'll give landscape artist a whirl when it comes on but maybe it's not quite the same.

I've really enjoyed this programme, also, just found every episode from previous series on Catch Up to so that's me sorted for a little while.

The Landscape previous series are there as well.

I thought the fact that Hetty used pencils may have gone against her, plus her focus on the grid/iPad to create her work. I know many of them do it, but it almost feels like 'cheating' to me!

Wait....the previous series are on catch up?!

We'll see you in a few weeks iklboo 😀

Ahh! someone posted on another thread that it was only available on Sky catch up. We have Virgin!! Have to have a look.

Oh yes, I should have said it is only Sky Catch Up! The programme is Sky, so can it be seen on other platforms?

Argh. We have virgin. Wonder if now tv has it?

Yes it looks like it could be on Now TV box sets catch up. I'll check later when I'm home.

Fingers crossed for you! I loved watching them, both Portrait and Landscape.