Kirsty said that in her role as Newsnight anchor she needs to take politicians to task and report on serious events, therefore doesn’t always get the chance to show her off her sense of humour and perhaps her warmer side. My question was to ask Kirsty to tell me who she is as a person when not in the public eye, to see if I could then communicate some of this in my portrait. I was also aware that she is a very knowledgeable patron of the arts and was a recent judge on the BP Portrait award. She is clearly a very bright, passionate communicator and inquisitor. I knew Kirsty as a journalist and television presenter on Newsnight and from her other work as an author, in newspapers and on tv over the years. I was lucky enough to get Kirsty Wark as my sitter. They get an amazing range of fabulous sitters, from well know actors to musicians and people in the public eye. Bright colours could suggest confidence and a more out going, extroverted character. Muted desaturated colours could suggest a more private, reserved and maybe even introspective personality. Colour is definitely my thing! I try and use it to help describe my sitters personalities too. Not over mixing colours also stops colours getting too dull or muddy. I like each mark to create interest and earn its place on the canvas. I decided to depict myself with a fairly intense direct gaze, to try and grab the judges attention! I like to not over mix my colours, that way you get lovely bright fresh marks that can give skin in particular a real luminosity, with tiny nicks of pure colour showing through. I would typically take weeks to finish a portrait commission. In hindsight the problem with this approach is that it didn’t show off what I can produce under ‘normal’ conditions over a longer time frame. To get selected artists have to submit a self portrait that demonstrates your style and ability and that hopefully suggests you can capture and communicate more than just an accurate physical likeness.įor my selfie submission I decided to paint it in just 4 hours, the format of the show, so it would hopefully demonstrate what I might be capable of producing on the day. On my show the sitters were Sir Derek Jacobi, Meera Syal and Kirsty Wark. The format of the show is that 9 artists are split in to three groups of three and asked to paint three different celebrity sitters from life in 4 hours. Joan Bakewell and Frank Skinner host the show. There are three judges, Kathleen Soriano, Kate Bryan and Tai-Shan Schierenberg of whom I’m a massive fan. It was an amazing experience and here are my thoughts on the day.įor those who don’t know, the tv show gathers together the best professional and amateur portrait painters in the country, in groups of 9, to compete to win Portrait Artist of the year. In April 2017 I was selected to appear on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the year 2018.
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