What fun! As a response to lockdown, Sky Arts created a compelling incentive for everyone at home to pick up their paintbrushes and they called it ‘Portrait Artist of the Week’.
My portal to another word
Every Sunday for a number of weeks, Joan Bakewell hosted a paint-along series which aired lived on Facebook. There was a celebrity sitter and a past ‘Portrait Artist of the Year’ contestant painting them live over 4 hours. ‘The Judgementals’, Kathleen Soriano, Kate Bryan, and Tai-shan Schierenberg popped up intermittently to say hello and offer guidance and insight. Everyone in the world got to take part by simply uploading their artwork to instagram with the hashtag #mypaotw and every week there were approx 1000-2000 entries as a result. The judges would then pick their top three favourite portraits.
I decided to take part and I’m so glad I did …
Firstly, it was a lovely way to spend a Sunday. Painting along with other artists, listening to good conversation and getting art tips and updates from the judges as we went along. And, hello!! we got to paint a celebrity! Amazing! Melanie Blatt, Russell Tovey, Baroness Floella Benjamin, Nihal Arthanayake, Jon Snow, Dannii Minogue, Samira Ahmed and Annie Mac, to name a few.
Secondly, I discovered a whole community of artists on instagram as we all rallied behind the hashtag and discovered each other, commenting on each others work and praising each others accomplishments. All the other artists on instagram went from being my ‘competition’ to being my ‘community’ and I’ve never felt more connected to the art world. #mypaotw
My painting of the vivacious Floella
Thirdly, on the week we had the magnificent Baroness Floella Benjamin as our sitter, she was so taken with my portrait that she picked it as her favourite of the week and it now hangs in her house in London, the house of a baroness!? I was blown away. What an honour! And I got a mention on the ol telly box!
The final week, was celebrity sitter Dannii Minogue and the judges chose me as their second favourite of the week which was another added bonus to this wonderful experience. Looking forward to the next one!
“The one that kind of leapt out at me was the one that showed the joy that I have for life and it was done by Sinead Lawless. She captured my smile, not just the smile on my lips but the smile in my eyes and showed how much I really love life.”
Here are my portraits from the season …
For the series I painted the celebrities in oil paint on Arches 100% cotton cold-pressed oil paper, with the exception of newscaster, Jon Snow, where I created a line drawing inspired by his infinite eyebrows.
My eyebrows are off on a journey which doesn’t seem to end - Jon Snow
My daughter, Ellie (2 at the time) even took part at one stage and got her own tv mention although she was oblivious. (It was really more for the grandparents)
Ellie’s drawing of Jon Snow, ‘the man with the eyebrows’, channel 4
If you’re interested in commissioning a piece of your own, drop me a message. I’d love to hear from you.