SKY Portrait Artist of the Year, 2020

SKY Portrait Artist of The Year is a much loved programme, a favourite with not only many of my students, but lots of my non-arty friends too. It's a delightful watch, and artists are not judged harshly, but encouraged (and cajoled) by the judges and presenters alike.

The set for filming Sky Portrait Artist of The Year. Who's that in the apron... and, who are those two ladies bottom right... And, who's that in the blue and yellow dress..? All very familiar, just sayin... (this photo is a screen shot from the trailer)

The challenge for artists is to try to complete a portrait in just four hours. Perhaps 'challenge' is the wrong word - 'madness' might be better! If you have never seen the programme, you can watch previous series on many different platforms, including Now TV, Netflix and Youtube. 

The 2020 series is about to start, with the first episode airing on Tuesday 21 January 2020. If you watch on Tuesday 28th January, you may see someone you recognise...! (or perhaps several people you recognise!)

I'm not allowed to say more now, but instead I will show you this painting, which was one of 15 practice paintings I did, to work out how to complete a head in just four hours. Considering that most of my artorks take around 40 hours, 4 hours is very short. 

Drawing and painting completed in 4 hours - a marathon

For info on workshops and weekly classes, please email julie@juliedouglas.co.uk

Upcoming workshops include Friday Night Life drawing, portrait drawing, and an oils week.