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Portrait Artist Of The Year - General Discussion

ElectricBoogaloo
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RealityCheck

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(edited)

S10E01 [Sitters: Richard Curtis, Emma Freud, Fleur East]

This heat had some very strong artists so I enjoyed this episode.  I agreed with the winning portrait but did not agree with the short list.  I thoght the graphite drawing of Richard Curtis deserved to be on the short list and was annoyed with Katherine's comment about graphite being at a disadvantage but I thought she had gotten over that when they chose Gareth Reid as the winning artist in the third season.

Edited by RealityCheck
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RealityCheck

RealityCheck

Here is an interesting interview by Tai-Shan Schierenberg.  He talks about the competition and explains why he could not compete within the confines of a four-hour time limit.

And this an interview with Calum Stevenson, the 2021 winner who did a spectacular comission portrait of Nicola Benedetti, violinist.

TVbitch

TVbitch

What were the judges smoking during episode 3?! I cannot believe they put that student artist's "legs removed from body" thing through. It looked like when my young niece starts a drawing of someone, gets distracted, and then starts drawing again in another spot on the page! It has to be one of the worst I've ever seen on this show!

RealityCheck

RealityCheck

S10E03 [Rory Stewart Ainsley Harriott, Rob Delaney]

I finally got to watch this episode and I agree with TVbitch.  I didn't agree with the short list at all.  The least objectionable portrait was the one of Ainsley Harriott.  I definitely didn't agree the heat winner's portrait of Rory Stewart.  The head/torso proportion was off (the body was too big for the head).  And the portrait of Rob Delaney where the artist placed the bottom half of the body next to the upper half of the sitter was just ridiculous.  Every time I hear Kathleen or Kate say "I want to see something new" or "I want to see something I've never seen before", I cringe and expect the results we saw this episode.

Changing subject, here is a Tai Schierenberg interview I found interesting.  Tai talks about his family background and why he paints.  There are examples of his work shown, including a portrait of himself as a woman.

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RealityCheck

S10E09 [Sitter: Joan Bakewell]

Wendy Barratt is Portrait Artist of the Year 2023 (Series 10)

Some miscellaneous observations:

Joan was a very fidgety sitter.

Wendy Barratt: Wendy chose to do an elarged head and shoulders and was the only one captured Joan's likeness.

Davide di Tarantino: Davide chose to do a small profile portrait.  Unfortunately, he has only done profiles in the competition and this one missed the likeness.

Lorena Levi: I will admit I am not enamored with Lorena's style and Joan's portrait is no exception. She elongated Joan's face and neck and I didn't see Joan in the portrait

For me, Wendy was the obvious winner so I was relieved that the judges agreed.

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RealityCheck

RealityCheck

On 11/28/2024 at 3:11 PM, TVbitch said:

Not a fan of the judges choices lately. I think they let some better painters go.

I agree TVBitch.

Review: Semi Finals of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024

Sitter:   Joely Richardson

Of the three chosen finalists, I much preferred Jennifer Anderson's painting.  I didn't like Paul Lee's painting because of the eyes.  Paul depicted the sitter facing to the right but her eyes were angled to the left, away from the viewer.  I found that distracting.  Brogan Bertie's painting came in a very distant third.  The grandmother's face overpowered Joely's face.  In my opinion, that was poor composition since the painting was suppose to be a portrait of Joely.

Based on the semi-final paintings, I hope Jennifer Anderson is awarded the commission.

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TVbitch

TVbitch

Oh my gosh, Brogan's painting in the finals! I would not even call it a portrait. It was clear they were dead set to pick him. I will say that his final commission was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and Lorraine seemed to love it, and love him, so I guess it all worked out. They spent so much time in the finale preparing us for Brogan's painting that I thought it was going to be much worse. But I don't like how he made his partner's portrait and Lorraine's so legs forward.

I really wish they would refresh at least one of the judges at this point, but I think we're stuck with them. 

RealityCheck

RealityCheck

Series 2024: Review of Final

I agree with what the author of the blog post stated but here are my observations.

Interestingly, the curator of the Portrait Gallery of Edinborough, where the commission portrait will be housed, was one of the judges instead of Kate.  In my opinion, the winner was Jennifer Anderson, second place was Paul Lee, and Brogan Bertie was a poor third.  Jennifer captured their likeness and her work was selected by the sitters.  Brogan's rendering of Lorraine was poor, which Tai specifically mentioned.  And, during one of the talking heads, Brogan said capturing likeness was nice if it happened but it was more important to him that he captured the attitude.  All three of the commission paintings demonstrated the artists' capabilities but, Jennifer's painting was the one that spoke to me.  When one of the judges (I think it was Kathleen) during deliberations, said they were looking for something they had never seen before, I knew  the judges chose Brogan to do the commission.  The decision was unanimous and the curator lobbied for Brogan.

The Commission and the Reveal

Commission Sitter: Lorraine Kelly

Again, I agree with the author of the blog post observations.

The finished commission was OK but didn't speak to me.  Because Brogan did a full figure painting, I thought the body dominated to the detriment of face - poor compisition, again.  The face lacked detail for a portrait.  However, Lorraine liked it, so there's that.

From this blog post, they are preparing for the next season of the series <yah!>

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