Landscape Artist of the Year - Season 10 Episode 5 - Quarry
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00:00Hello, and welcome to Parc Padan in North Wales, former home of the historic Welsh slate
00:17industry, where today eight artists are lined up in front of this spectacular disused quarry.
00:23So who will rock it and who will get slated? It's a brand new episode of Landscape Artist
00:29of the Year. In the Welsh mountains, eight new artists face a monument to the country's
00:36proud heritage. Well, a lot's already gone wrong. Another five hours, I might be okay.
00:43And it's not just the four-hour time limit that's causing concern. I'm on track, unless
00:48the wind comes along and blows it into some sheep poo. As always, the artists are working
00:55under the exacting gaze of our three judges. I'm going to leave you to have an existential
01:01landscape crisis in your pod. You won't be the first. Also painting today are 50 wonderful
01:07wild cards. We can add you right here under this tree with the sheep. What am I doing
01:13with the sheep? Don't answer that question. Today's winner will be one step closer to
01:19a prestigious prize. They'll be travelling to the south of France, a region that's been
01:25the muse of some of the greats of art history, Van Gogh, Monet and Cezanne, to undertake
01:32a £10,000 prize commission for London's Courtauld Gallery. So who will find a rich seam of inspiration?
01:42I'm actually going for the gash and being brave. And who will have to dig deep? So is
01:48painting for you a relaxing experience? Not really, no.
01:55Today, eight artists are set for a Welsh landscape contest. Sian Emerson, an entrepreneur
02:03and painter from London. Printmaker Helen Campbell, who lives in Oldham. Chef and artist
02:13Tiago Santo from Brazil. Barry Mitchell, a Scottish painter and sculptor. And the winner
02:22of the Welsh landscape contest is...
02:28Oh, yes, I've been training. So I'm cautiously optimistic. Let's see that one.
02:38Also taking part today, Cathy Sutherland, a painter who lives in the Scottish Highlands.
02:46Berkshire charcoal artist Julian Court. Chris Cypress, an oil painter from Greater Manchester.
02:54And from Barnsley, ink artist Sarah Stoker. Regarding feeling prepared, I'm not quite
03:01sure. I think I am. And it's not just the pod artists caught between a rock and a hard
03:09place today. Our 50 wildcards are setting up just behind them in the same field. I prepped
03:16by having a good bacon sandwich this morning and now I really need a cup of tea. That's
03:22what I really need is a cup of tea. Our pod artists are here thanks to their submission
03:27landscapes, which are displayed ready for the judges to examine later on. But some artists
03:33are already feeling the heat. The lash are on. We don't see the sun very much in Scotland.
03:41The backs of my legs are burning. It's very hot. So it's going to be a challenge. I've
03:47brought loads of jumpers with me. I'm boiling. Artists, I hope you're ready for the challenge.
03:59You have four hours to complete your artworks. Good luck. Your time starts now.
04:05Surrounded by mountains and sheep on every side today, all our artists find themselves
04:22facing an imposing and monumental view. Dinoic Slate Quarry, once one of the world's largest.
04:33Directly in front of the pods, the wooded hillside is cleaved in two by a dramatic gouge
04:38in the rock face where Slate was once pulled from the earth. While to the side, the quarry's
04:44long abandoned slag heaps and terraces stretch along the valley all the way to the distant
04:49hills. I love today's view. I think it's very challenging, but I just fell in love with
04:56the colours and the rocks and all the shapes in there. I think it's beautiful. The scene
05:01to my right is calling me a lot more. The way the light's falling on the mountains
05:05and the slag heaps, it's creating some nice shadows. I wish I had a darker sky, but I'm
05:12sure I'll be able to work with what we've got. I'm so happy with this view. There's
05:26loads of triangles. It's like a sort of party of triangles in front of me. Having studied
05:33at art school in the 90s, Sian Emerson has returned to her first love after spending
05:38the last 14 years running a business. Her submission in acrylics on linen board depicts
05:45the view from her London flat. Morning, Sian. Tell me what you're up to. Well, I'm a drawer,
05:53so I usually do draw a chart. I just need to identify what it is I'm interested in.
05:58OK. And it's all about the shape. I mean, you've even got cascading shapes written there
06:02as a note to yourself above. Yeah. I'm drawn to the central section. Oh, interesting. And
06:08the way that the shapes are sort of collapsing into the centre. Yes. Your submission is also
06:12all about shapes. You've got squares. I mean, you know, we understand it's an open landscape,
06:17but does it matter to you that we'll be able to read that in a way? Is it more about the
06:21shapes? Ultimately, I'm looking at this landscape and giving you a record of it. If I can make
06:27an image that I'd be happy putting on my wall, I think I'll obviously be good.
06:44I'm really passionate about etching, so I thought I'd try mokuhanga, which is a Japanese
06:50woodblock, but I've never done it under four hours. So it's a challenge today.
06:58Helen Campbell has only recently discovered the discipline of Japanese woodblock printing,
07:03which uses water-based ink rather than the oils of Western woodcut.
07:10Her ethereal submission is based on a photograph she took of Aberford Beach in nearby Anglesey.
07:17Helen, what we really loved about your submission was the kind of monochromatic quality to it.
07:22It was sort of deeply atmospheric, but not overly descriptive. That operates really just
07:27with quite a bit of... Just limited colours. Limited tonal register. But I tend to work
07:32in limited colours anyway. OK, so basically today, you've carved your drawing into this
07:38board. I've picked that hillside there, so that whole landscape. I don't know if you
07:44can see, but it's in reverse. Yeah. So you can see that zigzag there on the mountain,
07:49and you can see these steps here of the quarry face. And then I wanted to create the feeling
07:55of this mottled sky with the green forest. Fabulous. Well, I think this is going to be
08:01quite special.
08:04It's... It's quite ugly, isn't it? Yeah. It's a landscape that's been scarred...
08:10Yes, by humans. ..by humans, and what's left is ugly and sort of epic and beautiful
08:16at the same time, isn't it? Yeah. I know you keep looking over there, and that is...
08:20I know, that is part of the landscape, but I think this particular quarry, that's a central theme.
08:25How do you capture that? Well, I'm going to start with the landscape.
08:29I think this particular quarry, that's a central theme.
08:32How do you capture the scale of it? I mean, as a scar, it goes in, and the sun is moving.
08:38Yeah. So that is constantly changing. It's an absence almost as well, isn't it?
08:43It's a gap, it's a hole. Yeah. It is very difficult to do. Yeah.
08:51Oh, the train. It's the haunting sound of the train. Of the train. It's rather beautiful.
08:55Also, it's been 50 years since they took slate from this hillside,
09:00but you can see the vegetation is starting to grow back. Yeah.
09:05You know, I was going on about how ugly it is, and actually there's also optimism.
09:09So it's interesting. Yeah, let's see what the artists come up with.
09:11It's also making me think I should redo my roof.
09:17When it comes to being optimistic, our next artist is intent on seeing beauty
09:22in the most unlikely places.
09:25Usually I find the beauty in little things that makes me want to paint.
09:29An old boat, an old shoe, even something that caught my eye and somehow is beautiful,
09:34and I need to get that in paint.
09:36Self-taught artist Tiago Santo swapped his native Brazil for the delights of Surrey six years ago.
09:44His submission in acrylics depicts dilapidated boats moored on a quiet stretch of Basingstoke Canal.
09:53Tiago, how are you feeling?
09:55I'm very nervous, but I love the view, so yeah, hopefully it'll make something nice.
10:00It's a beautiful start.
10:01You've really sort of just shown us this kind of extraordinary kind of steps into the slate mine.
10:07Why was that your choice?
10:08Well, the beauty today, when I look at the quarry, I see all those colours of the stones,
10:14the shadow that the rocks create.
10:17So I think there's old beauty in there, loads of it.
10:20I can't take my eyes off of it.
10:21Yeah.
10:22Your submission is quite serene, it's obviously a lovely canal.
10:25Tell us why you chose that.
10:27I was walking down the canal with my wife, and I just saw that broken boat there,
10:32and I just thought that was very beautiful, like a decaying beauty there that I want to tell.
10:37I think that's why we were really struck by the submission,
10:39because it had this idea of like the natural world, but things slowly but surely kind of decaying in it.
10:51My chosen medium is charcoal.
10:54Having that black and white, certainly to my eye, is much more appealing.
10:59Security guard Julian Court's background is in hyper-realist portraiture,
11:04and he recently turned to charcoal landscapes to free up his style.
11:09His melancholic monochrome submission should stand him in good stead today.
11:14It's a portrayal of another abandoned slate quarry right here in North Wales.
11:20Julian, I get the sense that light is your enemy.
11:23I must admit, I do prefer dark and dingy and...
11:26Moody.
11:27Moody, yeah, moody is the right word.
11:29I'm really intrigued by the way in which you've started,
11:31apart from the fact that you've narrowed down your frame with the tape.
11:36It's quite small, isn't it?
11:37It is quite small, but I think it's going to be quite intense,
11:40thinking about your submission.
11:42That's what I'm hoping for.
11:43And I didn't realise until I was scrutinising your submission that it's actually of Snowdonia.
11:48Snowdonia is probably my favourite place in the UK.
11:51I take photographs when I'm out walking, and then I do the drawings when I get home.
11:56OK, well, I'll pray that the light is your friend today.
12:03Fortunately, our 50 wildcards are rather enjoying basking in today's sunshine.
12:09You know, I think you could have done better with the weather, quite honestly.
12:12I had guy ropes to secure the easel if it had been windy,
12:15but I'm not going to need them, so...
12:20You know, you just sit in the chair and you've got the paintbrush and you've got the paints,
12:23and you think, oh, my God, I'm outside.
12:26I'm not in front of a computer screen.
12:30To give themselves the best possible chance of impressing the judges,
12:33some of the artists have even recruited cheerleaders.
12:38I brought my dad along.
12:40We come from Norfolk, that's why she's not used to hills.
12:43You only have mole hills, really, compared to these hills.
12:46But she's doing very well.
12:48Fingers crossed our wildcards stay on track today.
13:03I've moved on to my board now,
13:05and what I'm doing at the moment is looking at the shapes within the quarry.
13:09You know, these mad triangular shapes.
13:11I'm being quite cautious today.
13:13I do not want to dive into this and overcook it.
13:22I'm concerned.
13:24I'm not entirely happy with the composition or the light,
13:28but I'm hoping that's going to improve in the next half an hour,
13:31otherwise it might be a case of starting again, maybe.
13:35I've finished my carving,
13:37and what I'm doing at the moment is just putting on some base colours
13:40to prime my wood,
13:42because the more ink that goes into the depth of the wood,
13:46the better it'll print.
13:48But I need to get a move on.
14:05In the mountains of North Wales,
14:08eight artists are tackling the vast panoramic vista
14:11of Dinoic Slate Quarry.
14:14And it's left our next competitor fearing a rocky road ahead.
14:19These sort of bigger, wider open landscapes is not really my forte.
14:23I prefer to get tighter into a lot of my subjects,
14:26so I'm actually going for the gash.
14:29So we'll see how it goes.
14:32Two decades ago, a health scare convinced Chris Cyprus
14:36to pursue his dream of becoming an artist.
14:39Since then, a passion for capturing everyday scenes has taken root.
14:44His submission shows an allotment near his Oldham home.
14:49Morning, Chris. Morning.
14:51I can see from your wonderful submission
14:53that you love sort of slightly inconsequential,
14:56ignored little spaces,
14:58and central drama here.
15:00Is that taking you slightly out of your comfort zone?
15:02Totally, yeah. Really?
15:04I do like to get tight into a subject.
15:06Well, that's exactly what you've done.
15:08I mean, you've gone in.
15:09I mean, it looks like an alien spaceship has landed at the minute.
15:12Yeah, as soon as I saw that, I just thought,
15:14take what is going on there, honing on that.
15:17OK, well, the sheep obviously like it.
15:19They're singing your praises, isn't it?
15:21Yeah.
15:29What I'm aiming for is to give this impression of scale.
15:35The magnitude of the mass, that's what I like to show.
15:39This is massive!
15:41Incredible.
15:43Barry Mitchell sees himself as a chronicler of the world around him
15:47and works in a range of media to conjure his landscapes.
15:51His oil painting of a French roadside substation
15:54took two days to complete,
15:56so today he's working in acrylics to speed things up.
16:00Hello, Barry. Welcome.
16:01Very ambitious.
16:02So you're getting in this kind of extraordinary kind of slate steps
16:05with a mind, but then the big piles here too.
16:09Yeah, exactly.
16:10And the fact, what I want is I want everything.
16:13So, as you see, I'm going from there over to there.
16:16I've basically put in the colour,
16:18now I'm putting in the noise or the texture.
16:20And then it's interesting because we're getting this texture here,
16:23but then your submission is kind of a flatter picture.
16:26Exactly.
16:27I think what we loved about it is just that you chose, well,
16:30just kind of quite grubby little unloved buildings, graffitied.
16:33Yeah, exactly.
16:34And then you turned it into such a great picture.
16:37Whatever it is, it is not sexy,
16:39but you made it look great in this picture.
16:44On the grass nearby,
16:45our wildcards are using every trick in the book
16:48to produce their own interpretations of today's view.
16:52So you've taken that chunk... Yeah.
16:54..and you've put it next to that. Next to that, yeah.
16:56Nice. You don't hang about, do you?
16:58No, I'm a bit rapid. You're a doer, you get things done.
17:01I'm a doer, I'm a Yorkshire-ler. Is that what it is? Yeah.
17:04Do you don't sit around drinking tea all day
17:06and looking out the window, dreaming?
17:08Absolutely, Yorkshire tea.
17:13Lilia, hi, I'm really drawn to the way your paint is going down.
17:17It's very lively and feels very fleeting.
17:19Does it get difficult to put more stuff on it?
17:21Yeah, well, that's why I'm sort of holding back and holding back.
17:24Because I see you taking stuff off as well.
17:26Yes, because I didn't want it to get muddy.
17:28It just looks beautiful.
17:34Do you paint outside a lot? Nope.
17:36Do you paint landscapes? No.
17:40Do you paint in groups? No.
17:43Just by myself in my kitchen.
17:45Oh, you have painted before, then?
17:47Yeah, I do portraits, usually.
17:49Well, why don't I just stand there and you can paint me?
17:52Yeah, we can add you right here under this tree with the sheep.
17:55What am I doing with the sheep? Don't answer that question.
18:18I'd say I'm a colourist.
18:20I've been up to the quarry and brought down bits of rock.
18:23From here, it just looks grey and purple,
18:25but actually there's eight or nine different colours I can see straight away,
18:29so I've pinched a few bits.
18:32Though Cathy Sutherland calls the Scottish Highlands home,
18:36she draws inspiration from sunnier climes.
18:39Her submission, rendered in her signature bold hues and loose brushstrokes,
18:44shows the view from a balcony in the Mediterranean.
18:48Cathy, is colour the way you create form?
18:51I just kind of see the shapes as colours to start with.
18:54OK. I'm greatly influenced by the colourists,
18:57Cézanne and the south of France, really, as you can see.
19:02Yes. So I thought, just why not bring it to Wales?
19:05And you've gone straight into the quarry here, undaunted.
19:09Well, Cézanne made loads of quarry paintings, didn't he?
19:12And that's the only bit I really am drawn towards.
19:15Your submission is full of colour.
19:17It really transports us to somewhere warm. Where is this?
19:21This is in Montaigne, in the south of France.
19:23It's kind of interesting seeing it live, is how little is there.
19:27That's where the magic lies, isn't it?
19:29I've got a sense that's where your magic lies.
19:32Today, I brought alcohol inks to work with.
19:36If you work on a slightly shiny surface, it's very resistant
19:40and it leaves really beautiful marks.
19:44Sarah Stoker has run a pottery business since the 1990s
19:48but is now starting to apply her techniques to painting.
19:52Using alcohol inks, she's created a series of paintings
19:56a scene in her study of the woods near her home in South Yorkshire.
20:02Sarah, this is already a very luscious-looking painting.
20:06Luscious? Luscious is gorgeous.
20:09And I just love the way that the alcohol is doing these fascinating things
20:14with, you know, kind of an ice-skating rink.
20:16It just sits on the surface.
20:18It's just so beautiful.
20:20It's got a lot of depth to it.
20:22So you've obviously had to learn what the paint will do,
20:25how it will pull, the saturation, the opacity.
20:27Yeah, it's taken a little while.
20:29I knew the first time I ever used it that the possibilities were endless
20:33but it didn't do what I wanted it to do.
20:35It didn't even come close to doing what I wanted it to do.
20:38And is it the same process for your submission?
20:40It's marvellous.
20:41It feels like a kind of enchanted magic forest or something.
20:44Yeah, it was a little bit more give and take on that one
20:47and it took a while to make it.
20:49Well, it's lovely.
20:50It's a fascinating process, so abstract,
20:52and then you pull back and you completely understand it.
21:09So I have everything blocked in.
21:11I'm going to now start drawing on top, you know, doing details.
21:14I'd like to show kind of the scale of it.
21:17So, like, another five hours, it might be OK.
21:25It's really interesting with it just being that thin, tall piece
21:28in the midst of all that green, so I'm sticking to my plan.
21:31I'm not even looking over there cos it looks pretty good at the moment.
21:41I'm in fear of working over some of the marks
21:43that I like in the first paintings.
21:45So it's a good idea to start something fresh.
21:47I'm full of adrenaline. At least I've got one.
22:02In North Wales, eight artists are taking on the towering spectacle
22:06of Dinoic Slate Quarry, and the heat is on.
22:10I'm struggling.
22:12You know, it just dries so quick.
22:15I've taken two prints,
22:17but as soon as I put the watercolour on here, it dries out.
22:21So that's what's interesting about working outdoors,
22:24obviously, why not many people do it.
22:29All those million shades of colours and the shadows of the rock,
22:33I find a beauty in little things that makes me want to paint.
22:37I'm happy so far, I just want to speed up a bit
22:40to make sure I've got more paint in there.
22:46Right now I'm trying to find marks to describe the trees,
22:49in contrast to this slate, which is very sharp and geometric.
22:56Being in this pod, this is like my idea of heaven, being here.
23:00It's so fun.
23:03But not everyone is having such a jolly day out.
23:11So I've started again, a completely different landscape
23:14than what I was doing previously.
23:16The first one just seemed very flat,
23:18there wasn't enough in it to grab your attention.
23:21Things still aren't going to plan with the second drawing,
23:24but hopefully it will improve.
23:36I should point out that those cries we can hear
23:39are the bleating of sheep and not the anguish of artists.
23:43Occasionally it's an artist, but it's mostly sheep.
23:46Helen's having some heat issues,
23:48so that's not, I suppose,
23:50an issue she might have considered having in North Wales.
23:53I'm not sure Helen considered very much at all.
23:55She's so obsessed with her technique
23:57and the materials of this Japanese printmaking form,
24:00and it's wonderful to see someone who's immersed themselves
24:03so much in a particular tradition.
24:05She's had one pull that she's really happy with.
24:07It's great to see someone come with a completely new kind of skill set
24:10and get tucked into it, yeah.
24:12I look at Chris's painting
24:14and I see someone who's revelling in the rhythm of that quarry.
24:17Would you agree?
24:18He really has just concentrated on that scar in the landscape,
24:21but he's given us a run-up to it.
24:23Suddenly you've got the height of the thing.
24:25It is a very pretty quarry.
24:27I like it a lot.
24:29But it's getting less pretty, and I like it even more because of that.
24:32He's even got the sheep in.
24:33They're like little white humps here and there.
24:35Sian drew up some plans beforehand.
24:37Has that helped her produce something successful?
24:40I loved Sian's early drawings.
24:42It was a kind of joy and freedom to them
24:44and a very quick understanding of what she was looking at.
24:47I think Sian's picture's really, really strong.
24:49I love the shapes, I love everything about it.
24:51I don't know that it's describing what she's seeing,
24:53but probably a lot of that will be corrected through continuing to paint.
24:56Barry's commission gave us a scene in pin-sharp detail.
25:00He can't do that today, though, can he?
25:02Well, his composition's greedy because he wanted to get the quarry
25:05and then all of the kind of extraordinary marks this side too.
25:08I mean, in his submission, you've got this enormous volume of sky,
25:11and today he's trying to give us this enormous volume of rock face.
25:15At the moment, it does just look like a swathe of stuff.
25:18Sarah, in her submission, took us into the woods in all the gnarly detail.
25:22She's got a lot of detail to work with here today too, hasn't she?
25:25Yeah, I mean, Sarah's ink,
25:27it's an incredible textured and interesting material to use.
25:31My worry is she is a slave to the effects of what alcoholic ink does.
25:37Yeah, Sarah loves the effects.
25:39I mean, I do think that that level of immersion that Sarah gives you
25:42in the work is what's really, really powerful.
25:44You're completely lost in it.
25:46Tiago, how's he doing?
25:48He was one of the artists this morning that I didn't feel like
25:50the drawing was believable,
25:51but it really has started to resolve itself through the painting.
25:54It's also those beautiful tones that he's added as well.
25:57What Tiago's done for me is he's caught the bit of that quarry
26:00that interests me the most, which is the very top.
26:02So I think he's really captured a strong sense
26:05of how I feel about the quarry, actually.
26:08Oh, goodness. Oh, blimey.
26:10Oh!
26:14That was a bit painful.
26:16Imagine if he'd got all his stuff out and was like,
26:18sorry I'm late, James Bond welcome.
26:20Well, our two artists at the end, Julian has started a second piece
26:26and he's not happy with his second one either.
26:29Yeah, I mean, Julian's submission has got such confidence.
26:32We can see that he can do black on black on black on black,
26:36but make it very textured and full of shapes.
26:39So I just hope that, you know,
26:40the morning hasn't sort of unnerved him too much.
26:43Yeah, I think Julian's second attempt is great and it's looming
26:46and this thing looms, it's got a menace about it and it's all there.
26:50Kathy's started again as well.
26:52She's a colourist, she's conjured up this quarry and she thought,
26:57OK, let's see if I do it with a different colour range,
26:59we can go a bit further.
27:00I like the fact that she's done something else,
27:02but I'm really nervous as a consequence
27:04because I still love what's sitting there on the floor.
27:18That's quite interesting. That's not too bad.
27:27So the foliage, you're putting it on with a brush
27:29and the foliage has got this roundness to it
27:32and now your pens have got that very slatey look to them.
27:35Are you happy with where it is now?
27:37Erm...ish.
27:39Are you ever happy with where it's now?
27:42When it's finished.
27:43And when is it finished?
27:44When I'm happy with it.
27:46OK, it's circular, OK.
27:52Chrissie seems to have really got into her.
27:54I mean, you make it look very beautiful, really.
27:57That was a challenge, I think, trying to make something that,
28:00I guess you could say, is quite ugly, to make it pretty.
28:03Could you paint me?
28:05That was not as a challenge.
28:07That's a step too far.
28:09I mean, you're good, but you're not that good.
28:17It may not be easy on the eye,
28:19but Dinoic was once one of the largest slate quarries in the world.
28:23Opened in 1787 at the height of demand for roof slate,
28:27it employed 3,000 men.
28:33My family connection to the quarry,
28:35we can relate to going back at least six generations as quarrymen,
28:40back to the 1820s.
28:43Working in the quarry was perilous.
28:46Injuries caused by falling rocks were frequent and sometimes fatal.
28:51My gait got further and a piece of slate cushed his pelvis,
28:55so he ended up in hospital for 18 months.
28:58But once he got better, straight back into the quarry, as you do.
29:04To provide immediate on-site medical care,
29:07in 1860 the quarrymen's hospital was built.
29:11The hospital was funded by the quarrymen itself.
29:14It was very advanced for its time.
29:16They were one of the first to come up with the X-ray
29:19and even with the artificial limbs.
29:23Despite slate being natural and easily recycled,
29:27cheaper materials became available and demand declined.
29:31When the quarry closed in 1969,
29:34the final 350 workers lost their livelihoods.
29:38Today, as nature slowly reclaims the site,
29:41their story is kept alive at the National Slate Museum.
29:47Remembering the old ways, it's a must.
29:50Because once you lose it, not only are you losing the skill,
29:54but you'll be losing the Welsh way.
29:57So there's a lot behind it for us, like, as a community.
30:03Back on the valley floor, our very own artistic community
30:07are putting the final touches to their landscapes.
30:12It's, for me, the first time to be painting alongside
30:16with so many of us, plein air.
30:18I really enjoy the atmosphere.
30:22I just have to, you know, feel free to do it.
30:28I just have to, you know, feel free, paint, enjoy the process.
30:34The most important thing is giving it your best shot
30:36and I've been doing that, so it's OK.
30:43The mood and the people, the friendliness, the openness,
30:47the chat, it's all there and it's a great experience.
30:52But which of our wildcards will experience success today?
30:58Hello, you're our wildcard winner
31:00and you've run away from your painting.
31:02Thank you very much.
31:06Congratulations.
31:08Thank you very much.
31:10The judges' choice is Lelia Nishaw for her ambitious,
31:14impressionistic panorama of the entire quarry complex.
31:19Yeah, we love it. I just think it's got such lovely energy in it.
31:22Love the sky and I love how you managed to get the whole thing
31:25in, like the quarry and the hills. Well done.
31:29No, I wasn't expecting to win it.
31:31My lovely friend Caroline is here with me today
31:34and I'm sure we will go and find a nice pub in Lambarris tonight
31:38and have a drink or two.
31:41Lelia, from Kent, will join the wildcard winners from all the heats
31:45to be in with a chance of a place in the semi-final.
31:49The stones throw away, our pod artists are into their final hour.
31:55Barry, are you grabbing pastels?
31:57Yes, it's my secret weapon for the day
32:00because what I really need is sharp definition
32:03and I find pastel on top of acrylics is perfect for that.
32:09I'm just finishing off the second painting.
32:12I'm happier with the colours than tones,
32:14but I'm really relieved that it's nearly over...
32:18..if I'm honest.
32:22I'm going to ditch this and start a third drawing.
32:26I've kind of given up, really.
32:28But we shall soldier on.
32:40In the shadow of the hill,
32:42a group of young men and women are on their way to Lambarris.
32:46They're on their way to Lambarris.
32:48They're on their way to Lambarris.
32:50They're on their way to Lambarris.
32:53In the shadow of Dinoic's slate quarry,
32:56our eight artists are nearing the end of their landscape challenge.
33:01Right, let's have a look.
33:03That might dry quite well.
33:05Do you have a winner yet?
33:07Possible one.
33:08Which one?
33:09The last one.
33:10Am I right in saying you haven't done that many of these Japanese style?
33:14This is my third.
33:15So I've got to admire your chutzpah.
33:20My madness, do you mean?
33:22Well, you tell me, which one is it?
33:27Julian, third drawing.
33:31Yes.
33:32As you can see, I've struggled with it all day, really.
33:35Well, Julian, look, I'm sorry you've had such a difficult day,
33:39but I must say, looking at your discarded drawings,
33:41there's some good stuff there.
33:44What I'm doing now is putting as much detail as I can
33:48without overworking.
33:50Two or three marks might be too much.
33:56I'm trying to resolve some issues with my painting.
34:00I don't know if the rocks look heavy enough.
34:02Yeah, I'm just panicking a little bit, probably.
34:08Artists, you have five minutes left.
34:11Five minutes left.
34:15Matt is right.
34:20I'm still nervous.
34:21You find something right at the end,
34:23oh, no, I haven't done this, or it's not finished.
34:30Can't decide which one to go with.
34:33Not that one.
34:35Maybe the first one.
34:38Up, up, up, up, up, up.
34:40Really push for time, of course, but this is the adventure.
34:43I don't regret pushing the boat out and going wild.
34:48I'm happy with the second painting,
34:50and this is the one I'll submit to the judges.
34:52I'm relieved, big style.
34:54It's all over.
34:57I don't want to leave this pod now.
34:59I feel attached to it.
35:01Quite happily living it.
35:08Artists, your time is up, your challenge is over.
35:11Please stop what you're doing and step away from your artworks.
35:26Thank you, everyone.
35:29I've had a lovely, lovely day.
35:31I had a little dip when things were going a bit rough,
35:34but I figured it out and I would still like to be painting.
35:41Today's winner is competing for the title of Landscape Artist of the Year
35:45and a £10,000 commission for London's Courtauld Gallery.
35:50They'll travel to the south of France,
35:53the birthplace of the great post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne,
35:57whose landscapes of the arid Aix-en-Provence hills
36:00paved the way for 20th-century modernism.
36:03Cézanne deconstructs what's in front of him,
36:06so if we think of Mont Saint-Victoire,
36:08he starts reducing things down to their geometric essence,
36:12and then he uses these very cubist brush marks,
36:15and the language is so abstract.
36:17However, we understand the distance, we understand the atmosphere,
36:21we understand the heat, and for somebody to conjure that up,
36:24that is the great magic trick of painting.
36:27So we're looking for an artist who can go into this landscape
36:31in the south of France and really understand Cézanne's lesson
36:35and see how the actual structure and the place
36:37can change the language of painting.
36:41For now, in the rather more verdant hills of North Wales,
36:44the judges must decide who will make it to the semi-final.
36:47First, they narrow the selection down to a shortlist of three.
36:54It's a bit like looking at scenes from the Grand Canyon
36:57rather than being in North Wales, don't you think?
37:00There's so much richness in all of them.
37:03I thought it was just wonderful to see Helen be sort of traditional
37:07and truthful to Japanese woodblock,
37:09but at the same time to play and experiment.
37:12It's almost like she's taken the grass off the field
37:15and rubbed it into the paper itself.
37:17I'm not sure it's got a really strong sense of place here.
37:20It's so delicate.
37:22And these mountains, they're boisterous, they're boisterous things.
37:26I think Barry, funnily enough, has got that boisterousness.
37:29And it's interesting, the quarry's immediately in front of us,
37:32which he's put to the side, and he's really taken in that whole sweep.
37:35I think what Barry's done is so ambitious.
37:37This morning I thought he was a bit mad,
37:39but actually it sort of tells the story of this place
37:42and kind of man's intervention on it.
37:44That texturisation that he put in has been really successful.
37:50With Chris, you sort of fall into that crevasse, don't you?
37:54It truly reflects what the quarry really looks like.
37:57We often get artists complaining about being too far or too close
38:00to the subject matter, and I think Chris overcame that by going,
38:03OK, I'm going to go right up to it.
38:05And he's changed the sheep into kind of stepping stones.
38:08I can't believe I like the sheep. I like the sheep.
38:13I love what Sarah's able to achieve.
38:15I love this way of making art through all of the materials
38:18that you put together completely resisting one another.
38:21The whole thing is just about textures, and in doing that,
38:24she's sort of recreated the ancient, organic feel of the place.
38:27Close up, it is mesmerising. I mean, the mark-making is...
38:30But it works from here, and that's fantastic.
38:32That's what I find really strange about Sian's,
38:34because up close I thought, no.
38:36But from back here, that, for me, that is an ancient working quarry.
38:41You know, she's obsessed with shape,
38:43and she's reflected the reality of what it is.
38:46It's very reluctant to give us much information,
38:49but in that brutality, I mean, I'm feeling the rock face.
38:55Tiago has given us every facet of every rock.
38:58I can feel the surface of it.
39:00The beautiful blue sky, I think,
39:02really helps bring out the lighter slate tones as well.
39:05I think that, of everybody here,
39:07this kind of quite expressive treatment of the slate
39:10is perhaps the most successful for me.
39:14Well, I think Julia was dead right.
39:16You know, having something that's so small is very, very effective.
39:19And, you know, his single tree works very well as a full stop.
39:22I wish he hadn't actually started the second one,
39:24because when he really got going and got into the naughtiness
39:27of the darker areas here, I mean, they are so interesting to look at.
39:31That's a gift to be able to get all that down on just this tiny thing.
39:36Cathy, where's the other painting?
39:38I wanted the other painting!
39:40Interesting.
39:42Did you tell her to do that?
39:45I mean, I still love this because, you know, it's expressive,
39:48it's colourist, it's energetic,
39:50but the other one had air and it could breathe.
39:52This doesn't have the air I wanted in it.
39:54It doesn't have that immediacy that she had,
39:57that first reaction to the quarry,
39:59but as a piece of painting about surface and light,
40:02I think they're fantastic.
40:04Mm.
40:13Artists, you've all worked incredibly hard today,
40:16so thank you for your efforts.
40:18The judges have now decided which three of you
40:20will go forward to their shortlist.
40:23The first artist is...
40:28..Barry Mitchell.
40:30Thank you. Thank you. Lovely.
40:37The second artist on the shortlist is...
40:42..Chris Cyprus.
40:44Of course. Well done.
40:51And the third artist is...
40:55..Sarah Stoker.
40:57Oh!
40:59Oh!
41:03APPLAUSE
41:08Well done.
41:10The judges must now agree today's winner.
41:13To help them choose, they take another look
41:15at the artists' submissions.
41:22Well, I love doing this show.
41:24We've spent a day in North Wales, in the baking heat,
41:28looking at a disused quarry, making art.
41:32It's a fantastic way to spend a day. It's amazing.
41:34It's a bit of cracker, isn't it? Yeah.
41:36Chris serves up such a colourful world.
41:38Well, he's got this very kind of quirky, charming quality
41:42to his pictures, sort of a la David Hockney.
41:44The colours are just ever so slightly hyper-real.
41:48I think, seeing the two pictures together today,
41:50I actually like what he did today more.
41:52I think there's more texture, I think there's a bit more drama.
41:54I think he's been able to take it to the next level.
41:57The other thing is, you realise there's a light
41:59that shines from inside that greenhouse,
42:01and it's the same in the quarry today.
42:03Light emanates from it.
42:06Sarah clearly enjoys the knotty detail.
42:10Yeah. Those trees.
42:12She found plenty to get her teeth in today with that quarry, didn't she?
42:16Yeah, it's amazing.
42:17You've got to think, every drip and pooling and mark
42:22is a decision Sarah's made.
42:24It's amazing that they coalesce to make this whole.
42:27I also think Sarah's completely lost in her own imagination.
42:30When I'm in that forest,
42:31I feel like I'm in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, you know?
42:34And today, you've got that lovely tree in the bottom right-hand corner,
42:37and then you're carried right the way up to the top
42:39where you can finally breathe.
42:41You do get this sense of a storytelling.
42:45Barry gave us this ugly little utility building in a beautiful sky,
42:52and today he's shown he's not a one-trick pony.
42:55He saw what we gave him today and he was like,
42:57I'll just do it all.
42:58And I don't know quite how he's managed to give us
43:01everything in this one picture and for it to make sense.
43:03It still somehow manages to have breathing space.
43:05Well, actually, it's about man's intervention in the landscape,
43:09and today he really wanted to tell us about the history of the place,
43:13the quarrying of the slate, the destruction of the mountain,
43:16and to do that in a completely different medium, I think,
43:18is quite remarkable.
43:21Barry, Chris, Sarah, congratulations on getting this far.
43:26To reach the shortlist is a great achievement.
43:30But only one artist can go through to this year's semi-final,
43:33and the judges have made their decision.
43:37That artist is...
43:45Sarah Stoker.
43:48I don't really know what I'm feeling right now.
43:50There's too many emotions.
43:52I can't believe it. I really can't believe that I've won.
43:56Good for you. Good for you. Lovely work.
43:59When I arrived this morning,
44:01I just wanted to do a painting that would do me proud.
44:04So after watching every series, to have won a Heat is just phenomenal.
44:10It's a great honour to be a part of this.
44:14I think Sarah's just such an interesting character.
44:16She creates these really magical, fantastical spaces
44:20that are weighty with sort of meaning and feeling.
44:24I think it's really exciting when you find an artist
44:27that might bring a different sort of language
44:29to the way in which you look at landscape,
44:31and I think... Thank you.
44:33I think to know that we've got that range in the sense
44:36that we've got a range of artists,
44:38and we've got a range of artists who have come together
44:41and to know that we've got that range in the semi-final
44:44makes me really excited about what we might see from her going forward.
44:52If you'd like to take part in next year's competition
44:55or want to discover more about the work of our artists,
44:58don't be sheepish. Visit skyartsartistoftheyear.tv.
45:05Next time, rain ponchos at the ready.
45:08Are we allowed to finish early?
45:10As we meet eight new artists
45:12tackling the complicated view from Bristol's historic harbourside.
45:16Literally holding everything down.
45:18Hopefully it will stay.
45:20So who will be racing to victory?
45:22I'll be doing a dart until they blow the whistle.
45:24And who will find themselves man overboard?
45:27How long have I got?
45:2911 minutes. Oh, well, that's all right. I can do it in 11 minutes.
45:32Oh, ****!
45:40www.skyarts.co.uk