Once you apply to be a contestant on Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year, whether successful or not, the idea, the temptation and the potential is revisited every year with an invitation to apply again, in email form. So up it popped… again… and again… until the deadline came and went and I felt thankful to put the opportunity, which I’d already visited and adored past me. It wasn’t something I needed to experience again and if I did apply, wouldn't I just feel a bit greedy for the experience?
Well, apart from my husband, I am usually the last to leave the table. Greedy is my middle name! A few clicks later and I had applied to be put through the mill of joy and loathing again. You guessed it. Lucky greedy me was chosen for the second time. But this time it was different. Gone were the bright bold brushstrokes of carefree days. We had just been through a pandemic and homeschooling two young children was not conducive to painting impasto in my kitchen.
My style of art became someone meditative and stripped back. Using only vertical lines, reminiscent of prison wall cells (I imagine?) I embarked on a minimalistic style capturing very local scenes on my ‘let-out-once-a-day runs’. Reaching for materials you might only find on a school desk, I found my new style not only a total departure from previous practise, but obsessive and necessary. I had to find order in my art, to answer the chaos that the pandemic had brought.
My submission piece. Black Nore Lighthouse, Portishead.
The day filming in Northern Ireland was an incredible day of hard work, shared wonder and camaraderie. Meeting artists fills me with excitement. A plethora of human experiences and expression captured in one intense day, scrutinised on camera. I knew there was a reason for my greediness. It was cold on the spit looking over the water to Castle Ward. Of course I was ill prepared but the very kind and attentive crew found a heater and a spare jacket for me. The jacket wasn’t spare might I add, but given with great insistence off someone’s back. I can be stubborn but this was next level.
It was a struggle to finish the work with drying pens from the cold and tinges of RSI! But the judges were able to glean my intentions which ultimately led me to getting shortlisted as one of the final three. To be honest, when my name was called out, I barely noticed. I clapped out of reaction but didn’t really register the moment. I may have jumped with shock and joy like a deranged seal. Such an embarrassment. The editors thankfully cut that bit out.
So, thank you Sky Arts. Thank you attentive crew and thank you universe for sending me this gift. I am humbled and satisfied. The belly is full.
Link to time-lapse: https://www.skyartsartistoftheyear.tv/landscape-artist-of-the-year/profiles/series-8/
