WATCH ME ON: Landscape Artist of the Year- Series 8
So I trust many of you must have watched me on Sky Arts programme ‘Landscape Artist of the year- Series 8’ yesterday in one of the Heats filmed at Royal Ascot.
For those who missed it, the episode was aired on Wednesday 8 February at 8pm on Sky Arts channel.
It’s available as freeview on channel 11 or you can view it on NOW streaming or Sky On Demand.
The heat was filmed at ‘Royal Ascot Racecourse’ on one of the hottest day of the year last June and as a racecourse dresscode we had to wear a three piece suit with an option of Top Hat! So no need to mention how it felt wearing that in a green house like Pod.
However I don’t think I have had so much fun ever being filmed and talking to the camera whilst still keeping track of the time and painting.
This show is one of its kind and made for the pure purpose of enjoying art and involving artists to come forward and show their talent on the big screen. It does put you right under that spotlight, specially when you are one of the pod artist. And while many may find it quite stressful and intimidating painting in front of the lenses and being judged and then also being aired to million of those viewers, I found the experience extremely ‘cool’, and hopefully it showed how I felt on the screen too.
Since we were setup facing the racecourse and not the main pavilion, there wasn’t much to paint except the green racecourse. We could either wait for the race to begin in anticipation that we could then paint some horses and the jockeys in the afternoon when the race would have begun or paint the Wildcards in the front.
I however chose to paint the panoramic view of the entire racecourse, from the Main Pavilion to the grounds. I split my painting in two boards keeping ,my decision flexible till the end whether to submit one painting or both panels as one big panoramic painting. I chose to do the later. I was very pleased to be in the Top three shortlisted artist from my HEAT and then finally hear some good comments by the judges when it was aired on the tele as the judging obviously happened away from us.
I found the hosts Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan very friendly while the three judges Kate Bryan, Katheleen Soriano and Tai-Shan one of the nicest to interact with along with the entire team of Story Vault Films.
