Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year Wild Card.
I decided to apply to take part in the TV Sky artist of the year way back in February the 27th and sent off thee paintings and a photo of myself (Passport as requested by them)
Originally I applied for the Portrait competition as I like drawing and painting portraits and the comments have always been good by artists that have seen my work and by the people that I have painted by way of commotions.
I also decided to apply for the Landscape competition and sent of the relevant paintings that they asked for.
I did not think that I would be successful even though the paintings I had sent to them I was relatively pleased with.
Two months after I had applied an email came back thanking me for applying but this time I had not been successful I was not surprised in receiving this email.
Imagine my surprise when I had a telephone call from Sky TV channel asking me to take part in the wildcard part of the landscape TV program.
The following day 11th June I had an email to congratulate me and the relevant details and what to do and what to expect.
The wild card of the Year is also a television programme it is a group of artists 50 in all and they had to paint a landscape painting in 4 hours there would be an hour break for lunch and a Half hour brake in the morning and afternoon. The Sky art team would choose area and view.
The winner would go forward to the next stage of the competition.
The location and time would be Tuesday 27th June at Rhossili The Gower Peninsular South Wales.
We would have to be there for 7.45am so it would mean a very early start.
My wife came with me and I thank her for all the moral and practical support that she has given me. She organized were to stay and she managed to find a good hotel called the Carlton about 13 miles away in the Mumbles area of South Wales.
We drove from Cornwall on the Sunday morning and got to the Carlton Hotel about 5 o’clock late afternoon.
We were up the following morning after having a good breakfast and set off to find out all about the Rhossili and the Gower coast were I would be painting the following day. It is always a good thing to do a recce of the area you are going to, how are the roads, how far is it and how long will it take us to great there the following morning, because we needed to get there on the Tuesday morning for 7.45.
The painting competition was held on the National trust property and it was a very long walk from the car park to were the painting competition was to take place it was interesting to see all the preparation that was going on by the TV Channel the camera crew getting all the necessary equipment in place and the running the cables for all the equipment etc.
So I had a good look round and could see what I would be painting the following day.
It would be starting at 9:30 and the wild card artists would be all together in a area overlooking the rocky area, as I have already said we would be painting for 4 hours and would have 1 hour break for lunch and two half hour breaks in the morning and afternoon. The judges would be coming around and would decide which artist would be going forward to the next stage.
We decided in the afternoon to have a look at the other parts of this area of Wales and then went back to the Mumbles to have a meal and get ready for an early start.
Tuesday morning we got up early and had a good drive to Rhossili and parked in the area set aside for the artists taking part in the Sky art landscape competition.
We had to register and also have the canvas and materials stamped and were given a wristband.
The heavens opened up and great sheets of rain hit us as we were registering, as a Welsh man (fellow artist) said, “Only the British would paint a landscape in such conditions”.
Thankfully the rain stopped and I discovered (thankfully) that all of our equipment would be taken down the headland by golf buggies pulling trailers so the art equipment could be carried to the location were we would be told were and when to start painting.
The filming began after we and the our art gear was dropped off, the idea being that we Artists would be filmed carrying our gear and then setting it up.
My location the area and location was fairly good being “The Worms Head” a rocky stretch of two islands leading out to sea.
The weather was changeable and showery with sunshine intervals, I had brought along an umbrella the a G cramped so it could be fastened to my French easel this worked out really well as it shaded my painting to help me distinguish the colours in the bright sunshine and also protected me and the painting from the occasional rainy shower we had.
I have included a map of the Rhossili at and The Worms Head we were all painting in the area before the old Coastguard lookout although I could not see this from my painting position.
It was good to meet and chat to other artists and see the type of work they did. I am a traditionalist artists and I decided to use acrylics as they dry fairly quickly and there would be not need for turp’s and linseed oil to carry, only water and a spray bottle. Looking around at the artists I felt that we were all evenly matched in ability and talent.
I had never painted outdoors with acrylic before so it was a new experience for me (I usually paint in watercolour when outside so may be that is what I should have done hr.
Anyway the acrylics I used was the Interactive professional acrylic paints as these do not dry as quickly as traditional acrylic paints and by spraying with water this revitalizes the paint and they become workable again so by blending and spraying the drying time is increased considerable and it is very much like using oil paints.
But having said this in the conditions I was painting in the sun and wind the acrylics were drying very quickly so I struggled to blend the colours together indeed there were times when the paint soaked into the canvas like blotting paper.
I was not pleased with the finished painting although the judges said that I had captured the seen well and my colours were very good and they enhanced the over all composition.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if I painted the seen again I would have gone further round the cliffs were the angel was better and not so straight across the painting as I and the majority of the other artists had done. It is always better to paint this rocky Island seen at an angel even as much as 45%. This would have given the painting more impact and interest.
The artist that did win had painted the Worms head rocks about 35% angel which made his painting more interesting so he did deserve to win although I would say he was no better artist in his painting and drawing skills than the rest of us artists. Also the area that he was painting did give the angel anyway.
I do wish him every success and will look forward to see how he gets on in the next part of the competition.
What did I learn from doing this and having the opportunity as an artist to take part in the Sky Art Competition of the Year?
First I found it fascinating to see how a TV programme is made and the amount of people involved, from directors to camera crew and those that make sure all the equipment is in place and everything runs smoothly, it was great to be involved as an artist in all of this.
Second it is so easy to pack to much paintbrushes and general art equipment I normally have a limited palette and I took colours that I very really use and did not use in my painting.
Packing light is every artist’s nightmare whether you’re in plain air or going urban sketching, it can be a little overwhelming when it comes to narrowing down the essentials for a trip.
The colours I used in the painting I did were Titanium White, Carbon Black, Prussian Blue, Transparent Perinone Orange, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Vermilion, and Raw Sienna Dark.
That’s 8 colours and I used 4 brushes from no 6 to number 9.
The experience was very good but it was very stressful and I was painting for over4 hours as I did paint in some of the break time.
Would I do it again yes but I would feel more comfortable in the Portrait of the year as I am more comfortable in drawing and painting Portraits.
If you would like to know more about it get in touch here or my website.
I have included photos
Cheers Phil
As you can see a dull day but not a bad subject, it did rain from time to time and became misty so it was a chalange to paint.
The film crew at work filming the Artists, I was painting at time just out of camera shot.
My set up including Phil’s French Easel and the umbrella all worked very well, si the sun and rain. The plans for the easel are availabe on my wedsite.
Me painting, as my wife said “you do not look very happy”, so sorry about that.
