Landscape Artist of the Year - Season 10 Episode 8 - Stonehenge
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00:00Hello, and welcome to Stonehenge.
00:15From high priests to hippies, this megalithic marvel has been welcoming visitors for over
00:214,000 years, and today is the inspiration for our three remaining artists.
00:26Prepare for a monumental challenge.
00:29It's the grand final of Landscape Artist of the Year.
00:35For this, our 10th anniversary competition, 2,000 artists applied.
00:39Have I painted a bridge before?
00:42No, I haven't, but there's a fire spread for everything.
00:46This is possibly one of the most daunting landscapes in Britain.
00:50Now after six heats and a semi-final, amidst some of the most stunning views the country
00:55has to offer, just three artists remain.
00:59Ciaran Guckian, Susan Eisen, Ben McGregor.
01:08Our finalists are tantalisingly close to an extraordinary £10,000 prize commission.
01:15The winner will travel to the south of France and create a work to hang alongside those
01:19of the great Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Monet, Van Gogh, and Cezanne, in London's
01:26prestigious Courtauld Gallery.
01:28To win both today's painting and the finalists' commissions, landscapes they've completed
01:33in their own time will need to impress our three judges.
01:37You know, these artists really sort of cement their reputation, and it feels to me like
01:43our 10th ever winner needs to be extra special.
01:48So the stone circle is waiting, and the final ritual is about to begin.
01:53The winner of Landscape Artist of the Year is...
02:24Shrouded in the early morning mist on Salisbury Plain, three pods are ready and waiting for
02:31our remaining artists.
02:34Irishman Ciaran Guckian.
02:37To be in the final is huge.
02:40I haven't been thinking about it too much because I didn't want to, you know, freak
02:44myself out about being in the final.
02:45I've watched this program for a long time, so to get here is, yeah, it's huge.
02:50It's huge.
02:51Susan Isaac from Nottinghamshire.
02:54This morning arriving here, I'm feeling full of trepidation and excitement and nerves and
02:59everything else.
03:00Compared to the other heats, it really feels like the sort of ultimate moment.
03:07And from Surrey, Ben McGregor.
03:09If I won, it would absolutely mean the world.
03:13The whole reason I paint landscapes is because of the show, so it's a lot at stake.
03:21Wow, look at that.
03:23That's incredible.
03:24That's cool, isn't it?
03:25It's amazing.
03:26Look at it.
03:27It potentially looks easy, but I don't think it is.
03:30No, to make something of it.
03:31Yeah.
03:38Through the blanket of morning fog, today our finalists find themselves face to face
03:43with perhaps the world's most celebrated prehistoric monument, Stonehenge.
03:50Its famous structure, the remains of a ring of enormous vertical sarsen stones topped
03:55with horizontal lintels, stands directly in front of the pods, rising from a grassy plateau
04:01which for now at least is largely hidden in the haze.
04:07Ten years, the final, I mean, it's the culmination of so much hard work.
04:13What can I say?
04:14We've got three brilliant artists, we're at the most iconic location in the country.
04:18We think we know these stones, you know, we see them everywhere, they're reproduced everywhere,
04:23but actually our artists today need to help us see them anew.
04:27It's the beginning of the day, the mist has descended, but during the day it's going to
04:31rise and it's going to be glorious.
04:36I've never been here, I've always wanted to come here, but actually it's a very complex
04:40group of stones, objects, patterns, so yeah, I think it's going to be an interesting day.
04:46I think what's difficult about the view is the stones are standing in a void almost,
04:54just sort of plain, so it's going to be hard to figure out how to give it a sense of scale really.
05:02I think Stonehenge is quite close to what I would usually paint, so it's just organic
05:07forms, you know, grass, rocks, sky, but I'm feeling tonnes of pressure right now, yeah,
05:14I'm nervous as hell.
05:18While the mist continues to burn off and before their final challenge begins, the artists
05:23have been granted the rare privilege of spending some time inside the stone circle.
05:35It feels rather awe-inspiring to be in the middle of this megalith, it feels quite special.
05:45At the moment I'm mapping out the sarsen stones in front of me to get a feeling of
05:51their shape, which is quite particular to each one.
05:59So I'm just doing a quick sort of oil sketch.
06:01I'm preferring up close I think to the zoomed out, only because I just think the zoomed
06:06out view is so recognisable.
06:09I've never been here before, it's the first time, so it's amazing to be like here in this
06:14context.
06:23There's a really interesting feeling in here, like there is definitely an atmosphere in
06:28here.
06:29Like there's forests of lichen growing on them, you can feel it's ancient.
06:34To be painting Stonehenge and to get to come inside is pretty special, yeah, it's cool.
06:44Look at the size, it's a square.
06:54Artists, I hope you're feeling prepared for the task ahead.
06:56You have around 90 great big stones to paint and only four hours in which to do it.
07:03Your time starts now.
07:14As the first of Stonehenge's visitors begin to trickle in, and some more familiar faces
07:21also take a closer look at the stones, our first finalist is fully focused on the gravity
07:26of the challenge ahead.
07:29What I'm hoping to put into this composition is a sense of the weight of the stones, a
07:34sort of weightiness of history.
07:35But I've never painted anything quite so ancient as this, or quite so iconic, so that's going
07:41to be an interesting challenge today.
07:46As a former archaeological illustrator, Susan Isaac is drawn to historical scenes, and first
07:53took part in the competition in 2022.
07:57Her submission depicted a passageway at Cambridge University, while in her heat at London's
08:02St Pancras Basin, she turned her attention to the old Victorian gas holders.
08:09It's got a strange sort of dark historical heft to it, and I think it comes from the
08:15power of the black line and the drawing.
08:18In the semi-final at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, Susan's dramatic impasto style and
08:24evocative palette saw her sail into the final.
08:27I mean, it's crude, but it's also very, very clever, and it's like the thing is vibrating
08:33with power and energy.
08:36Susan, we're used to seeing drama, energy, already getting that.
08:40We've got this amazing burnt orange beginning.
08:42Talk to me about how you've sort of come up with this composition.
08:45I'm very swotty, so I've done quite a bit of research into the background of the stones
08:49and the site.
08:50So I'm conscious of the weightiness, the history, the prehistory, the fact that the sense of
08:55the stones is so sort of solid and timeless.
08:58So I've zoomed in a bit to the right-hand side to give it a sense of the scale of the
09:04stones.
09:05Yeah, so you want to kind of get to grips with that prehistoric quality.
09:08Yes.
09:09So other things will move.
09:10The clouds will move.
09:11The grass, the shapes will change with the light.
09:14But the solidness of the stones is the important bit.
09:25So the plan is I'm just focusing on one area where the landscape behind is coming through.
09:30My eye is really drawn to that.
09:32And I think I can get that down now in the next, you know, half an hour.
09:36And then, yeah, I should be feeling better after that.
09:39Dubliner Ciaran Guckian embarked on a career as a full-time artist just a year ago.
09:45He entered the competition with a portrayal of a ravine in County Wicklow.
09:49And faced with a comparable landscape at Avon Gorge, impressed the judges with his narrative
09:55and subdued tones.
09:57I'm lost in the story that sits around it.
10:00The observation of light and colour, I think, is really impressive.
10:07Faced with a very different proposition in Portsmouth, Ciaran's approach was just as
10:11successful, earning him a place in today's final.
10:15He's really conjured this beautiful sky behind it that really feels like it's moving.
10:21And there's a kind of fluidity to the clouds that are so believable.
10:24Ciaran, I was really excited when I knew we were coming here for our 10th anniversary.
10:28But then the more I thought about it, the more I thought it's actually really hard
10:32for an artist because it's so represented, you know, from table mats to tea trays.
10:38How do you stop it from becoming a cliché?
10:41I guess just by focusing in on a certain area that I'm interested in.
10:45And just, yeah, just zooming in a little bit on it.
10:48So I'm not doing the whole thing.
10:50I really, really like the way the landscape is in the background.
10:53I love that.
10:54It's like it's in the distance, but it's really punching through that whole.
10:57So, yeah, I really want to get some of the landscape in, to be honest,
11:00just to show where it's sitting.
11:03A little views through.
11:04Yeah, yeah.
11:12I've decided to do a view inside the stones rather than sort of set back
11:18looking at them.
11:19For me, it's just about trying to create as interesting an image as possible.
11:24A semi-finalist in 2020, Ben McGregor has spent the last few years
11:29developing the impressionistic style displayed
11:32in his submission of a Wiltshire country lane.
11:36At Hampton Court Palace, his imaginative semi-abstract painting
11:41saw him through as heat winner.
11:43It feels weird and organic and psychedelic,
11:46but it's very well thought through and structured.
11:50In Portsmouth, although Ben avoided the main view of HMS Warrior,
11:54his characteristic mark-making again enchanted the judges.
11:59You believe his passion for this pier and the structs there,
12:02where he gets into that decaying concrete.
12:04I could look at that all day.
12:07Ben, I'm looking at the stones and I'm looking at your composition
12:11and I realise you've made this up.
12:13Well, I haven't quite.
12:14It was from our trip round this morning.
12:17Ah, OK.
12:18So, for me, I really wanted to do something
12:20that was much more sort of inside...
12:22Yes, it feels like...
12:23..the stones themselves, where you could really feel
12:25kind of the magnificence of them, really.
12:28I mean, they are wonderful, but their size is difficult to comprehend
12:33unless you go in... Inside, exactly.
12:35Yes, it suddenly becomes overwhelming and church-like and sacred.
12:38It's kind of interesting that that's what you're looking for,
12:41this sort of enclosedness of it all.
12:43And now, like the moss and the lichen,
12:45you're sort of working your way across the surface.
12:47Yeah.
12:48Very slowly.
12:49Very slowly.
12:50Sort of rock by rock.
13:06I think the artists this morning started in shock and awe
13:09that they're at Stonehenge
13:10and they were wandering through these ancient objects.
13:13I mean, it's just extraordinary seeing their faces.
13:15But I think they're all feeling quite a bit like me
13:17and they're quite zen.
13:18Yeah.
13:19And I just think we're so lucky today.
13:21I know.
13:22We've got three such distinct styles.
13:23One thing that's interesting, though, that does unite them
13:25is no-one has given us the zoomed-out expanse of Stonehenge,
13:29the touristic silhouette... Yeah.
13:31..in the landscape.
13:32And I think that's partly because they quickly understood
13:35that to do that whole view is the chocolate box.
13:38It's a jigsaw puzzle. You don't need to do that.
13:40What I really hope is that Susan goes full solstice mania,
13:44like something really dramatic and crazy.
13:46I'm totally expecting that.
13:47Ben's going to go spiritual and folkloric
13:49and then Ciaran's going to be filmic and weird and uncanny
13:52and something's going to happen.
13:54I'm really excited.
13:55I think this is just one of the most thrilling locations
13:57we've ever been to.
13:58I'm really over the moon.
13:59Well, it's ten years.
14:00Yeah.
14:01You've got to celebrate.
14:02It's got to be the most important British landscape
14:04and I think we've given it.
14:05But as the artists reach the end of their first hour,
14:08it's not ley lines but sight lines that are their main concern.
14:14It's a bit tricky because the people have arrived
14:16so some of my view is actually blocked a little bit,
14:19so I'm kind of waiting for gaps and then getting them in
14:22and then, yeah, hopefully do it.
14:25I'm fairly happy with the composition.
14:28I think it's got a sense of something of the history
14:31and the weightiness of the stones.
14:33Colour will be happening soon, hopefully.
14:36Yes.
14:39I'm going up close to the stones
14:41and the sort of the textural elements of them.
14:45I just can't get rid of the nerves
14:47but I'm just going to sort of do my best
14:49to make this the best picture I possibly can.
15:03In Wiltshire, our three finalists have been charged
15:07with depicting Stonehenge,
15:09one of the world's most recognisable
15:11and enigmatic ancient monuments.
15:17And as characters of all kinds arrive on this hallowed ground,
15:21it's the megaliths that continue to captivate.
15:27Susan.
15:28They feel like individuals, don't they?
15:30Yeah, very much.
15:31I mean, that's the thing.
15:32I think it's also because they're quite separate
15:34but they're part of a whole.
15:35It's almost like a cluster of...
15:37Like a community.
15:38Yeah, that come together.
15:39But I can see you've done that thing of elevating it.
15:42You have pushed it all up to the top, haven't you?
15:44Yeah.
15:45For me, because the stones are the important thing
15:47rather than the sky, I wanted them to have precedence
15:50so the sky will surround them in a gentle way
15:53and a complimentary way, hopefully.
16:01A lot of people come here and say
16:03it's smaller than they expected,
16:05but there's something pretty magical about it.
16:08Well, we have had the advantage
16:10of being allowed into the magic circle
16:12and suddenly its sort of prehistoric magnificence
16:15is really palpable, isn't it?
16:17Yeah.
16:18I mean, it really is a special place.
16:20It feels like a temple.
16:22Yes.
16:23And then suddenly we're on the outside
16:25and there's thousands of people
16:28and then suddenly we're on the outside
16:30and there's thousands of tourists.
16:32Yeah.
16:33So to find a way into it that feels profound
16:36and captures that sense of prehistory and spirituality...
16:42Yeah, it's a big one.
16:43Also, the site.
16:44I mean, it's very difficult
16:46because it is situated in absolute emptiness.
16:49So you then just have these very flat stones.
16:52The sun isn't...
16:53You know, I'm always talking about making paintings
16:55use contrast, use colour, use light and dark.
16:57And none of this is happening today.
16:59So the stuff you're working with
17:01is the stones, their story and their texture.
17:04So it's a very different way of dealing with landscape.
17:07It's a danger, something like this,
17:09that, you know, this is a special place
17:11and it has a spooky-dooky quality to it
17:13that I want to show you that's, you know...
17:15So is there a trap that's potentially there
17:17or are they too good for that?
17:19They're too good for that.
17:20Yeah.
17:21I'm not.
17:22I'd have a massive druid, long flowing hair, sun.
17:25LAUGHTER
17:36Ben, this has got a lovely strange quality to it.
17:39Maybe it's to do with your approach,
17:41which is stone by stone.
17:43Yeah.
17:44Talk to me about that.
17:45It's a technique that I've developed
17:47where I can push the paint in
17:49so I can get these really interesting brush marks
17:52that kind of look quite rocky.
17:54And obviously you don't want to keep painting over that
17:56because it would kind of ruin the lovely mark-making.
17:58Yeah, 100%.
17:59It's like one pass and that's it.
18:01Yeah.
18:02Woo!
18:03Tricky.
18:04So is there anything you've learnt from being with us?
18:06Things about time, nerves, stress?
18:08Personally, that's sort of the whole reason
18:10I do landscapes is because of the show.
18:12I didn't...
18:13Before watching it, I hadn't ever sort of...
18:15Aw!
18:16..even sort of thought about doing it.
18:18The programme itself has been so much a part
18:20of how I paint
18:21and how I've sort of tried to develop myself
18:23Well, you're welcome.
18:26We take full credit.
18:39Kieran, you're doing your weird stuff again.
18:41Am I?
18:42Yeah, I just love the fact that you've found a way
18:44of finding an atypical view.
18:45I think that's always remarkable about your work.
18:47And your tonal range is always very low.
18:50Here, tonal range is really narrow, isn't it?
18:52Yeah.
18:53Is that what you like, maybe?
18:54I do like that, yeah.
18:55Because it's kind of a bit of a challenge
18:57not to go, you know, too high or low against each other.
19:01Also, your work always has an underlying menace
19:05or darkness or narrative.
19:07And, I mean, this place is, of course, full of narrative.
19:10Yeah.
19:11Is it something you're doing consciously?
19:13I think I'm just responding.
19:14There's something about this place.
19:16Like, it's clearly ancient.
19:17Yes.
19:18You know, I hope it'll just kind of naturally come through.
19:20Yeah, yeah.
19:21Anyway.
19:23Predating even the pyramids,
19:25Stonehenge is one of the world's most important archaeological sites.
19:30It's constructed mainly from two types of stones.
19:33The smaller inner rocks are called bluestones
19:36and the larger outer slabs, sarsen stones.
19:40The sarsen stones came from the Marlborough Downs,
19:43about 20 miles away.
19:45And the bluestones, they came from the Preseli Hills
19:48in Pembrokeshire in Wales, which is 180 miles away.
19:52For reasons that we don't completely understand,
19:54the people who moved to Stonehenge
19:56felt the power of the stones was so important
19:59that they dragged them over land all that distance.
20:03Though archaeologists have learned much about their origins,
20:06the stone's exact purpose remains less clear.
20:10We know it started off as a cremation site, a burial site,
20:14and it's a solar and lunar temple.
20:18We know that there was particular activities around winter
20:21when there was large sacrifice of animals and big feasting activities.
20:25So it looks like the winter solstice was particularly important.
20:30As new discoveries are made,
20:32it was revealed recently the altar stone came from north-east Scotland,
20:36our understanding of Stonehenge as an enduring site
20:39of spiritual and seasonal celebration continues to evolve.
20:44It's absolutely unique in terms of world monuments and world heritage.
20:48There's nowhere else that looks like it.
20:50It's instantly recognisable.
20:52You have to come here, really, to experience it.
21:00As the artists reach the end of their second hour,
21:03the crowds are now out in force.
21:09So many people.
21:14Because the stones are, like, the centrepiece of the whole painting,
21:18they need to be kind of absolutely right first off.
21:22So, yeah, just...
21:24Just got to keep going.
21:30The stones are a puzzle.
21:32I'm trying to work out a way of differentiating them.
21:36That's quite tricky at the moment because it's not at all defined.
21:40So that's what I'm most worried about, I guess.
21:44I think the biggest challenge is the light.
21:47I'm trying to look back at the first drawing I did
21:50and just make sure I keep, like, what was quite dark, dark,
21:54and not lose that feeling that I had this morning.
21:58Amid thousands of visitors,
22:00three artists, Kieran, Susan and Ben,
22:04are depicting the ancient megalithic site of Stonehenge.
22:09And halfway through the competition,
22:11cracks are beginning to show.
22:13It's a bit of a challenge.
22:15It's a bit of a challenge.
22:17It's a bit of a challenge.
22:19It's a bit of a challenge.
22:21It's a bit of a challenge.
22:23It's a bit of a challenge.
22:25It's a bit of a challenge.
22:27The cracks are beginning to show.
22:29The textures of the rocks are working really well.
22:32But I find doing a painting
22:34under these kind of circumstances is really draining.
22:37So keeping my head in the game is probably my biggest challenge.
22:42I have been building out a certain amount of colour
22:46and hopefully depth.
22:48I think it's working, but I hope that I'll still be happy at the end.
22:57Look at this.
22:58I know.
22:59Crazy.
23:00Yeah.
23:015,000 years.
23:02Yeah, yeah.
23:03Roughly.
23:04It's mad.
23:05And can you tell whether you're in good form or not with the brush?
23:08Kind of.
23:09Like, some days, yeah.
23:10Some days you'll just have a terrible day.
23:11Oh, please.
23:12Please don't have a terrible day.
23:13Today won't be a terrible day.
23:14Please.
23:15It's just, I think if I'm enjoying what I'm painting, it'll be fine.
23:16Yeah.
23:17Yeah.
23:18That's a good attitude.
23:19Yeah.
23:21Well, these Stones have seen some things over the years,
23:23but they've never seen a final of Landscape Artist of the Year.
23:27No.
23:28They've been hugely inspirational, I think.
23:30Having said that, I think all three artists are going through
23:33a bit of a dodgy patch.
23:34Oh, really?
23:35Hmm.
23:36Oh, you don't...
23:37Well, I think they've all found their own little ways through,
23:40and they're all three very, very different.
23:43So I think they're doing fine.
23:45I think they're doing fine.
23:48I know what you mean, but I think Ty's right.
23:50I don't think any of them are doing the wrong thing,
23:52but it's just that stage of the day where the paintings
23:54are all shifting slightly.
23:56So Susan's painting is throbbing with her usual intensity.
24:01How's she getting on?
24:02Yeah, I mean, Susan started with an orange that we've seen before,
24:05and I thought her compositional choices in the beginning
24:08were very good, and I liked the way the black was going on.
24:11It's got this immediacy.
24:12I can feel the weight and the history of those Stones.
24:14But she's starting to respond to what's in front of her
24:17rather than what she felt when she went into the Stones this morning
24:20and gone away from that initial sort of roughness,
24:23and so I miss that.
24:24I mean, I will say, where's these extraordinary, powerful skies?
24:27Instead of a sky, she's given us this kind of foreground,
24:31and I'm confused.
24:32I'm like, how are you going to make this the drama?
24:36Ben has given us stones hovering in isolation at the moment.
24:41I keep on thinking about an Isaac Asimov book cover from the 1970s
24:46where you've got these strange monolithic forms
24:49as if you're in space and they're all going to go whoosh.
24:53The problem, I think, is because he hasn't put the grass in.
24:56So once that comes in, I think we'll be back down to earth again.
24:59But it's amazing watching the way his paint moves on that smooth surface.
25:03And that compositional device is he wanted the viewer
25:06to be surrounded by the Stones and drawn in.
25:09But at the moment, it does look strangely graphic.
25:12Cairns is the only one that you look at
25:14and might need to be told that it's Stonehenge.
25:17Isn't he brilliant?
25:18He always finds the corner that makes it unreadable.
25:21The weird little good bit.
25:23Like, his paint application isn't in and of itself interesting,
25:27like Susan's and like Ben's,
25:29but it's the way that he conjures a picture that it makes it feel arresting.
25:33I also think that he's more interested in what he sees through the gaps.
25:37And that dark presence of that large stone,
25:40I think that's going to become more and more textured as time goes by.
25:43I think when he's done that, you'll be able to read it more.
25:46The balance is off at the moment.
25:48So, yeah, you won't be judging solely on the work they produced today.
25:51We've got the semi-final, we've got the heats, we've got the submission.
25:54And, of course, they've all been asked in the last couple of weeks
25:57to go away and paint a commission.
25:59The commissions can change everything
26:01because ultimately what we're always doing
26:03is sort of taking all these puzzle pieces together
26:05and trying to get a real sense of who the artist was last time we saw them,
26:09who they were today and who they're going to be in the future.
26:12And that's how you find the winner.
26:14And, yeah, I mean, it's all to play for.
26:18For their commissions, each of our finalists was tasked
26:21with producing a landscape close to their home
26:24to showcase what they can achieve
26:26outside the rigours of a four-hour competition.
26:30Ben, who lives in Surrey, has decided on a lake in Walton-upon-Thames.
26:36It's such a tranquil place for me
26:39where I like to sort of go canoeing and have a stroll round the lake.
26:43So, yeah, it's a big part of my every day.
26:49I'm drawn to some really nice trees and also this island,
26:54which I think is going to be a key feature in the painting.
26:58Meanwhile, Susan has chosen a spot on her family's farm in Nottinghamshire.
27:05I've lived here with my husband for 30-odd years
27:08and brought up our three daughters.
27:10It's very important to us both.
27:14What draws me to this view is the dramatic pylon
27:18combined with the perspective lines of the landscape.
27:23In Dublin, Ciarán found inspiration right on his doorstep.
27:28What I've decided to paint for my commission is the trees in the garden.
27:31So, one is the tree down there,
27:33which our children always climbed when they were young,
27:36and the other trees are these pig trees,
27:38which my father-in-law gave us as little cuttings
27:41so that we could put them in the garden.
27:43So, I'm going to paint a tree,
27:45and I'm going to paint a tree,
27:47and I'm going to paint a tree,
27:49which my father-in-law gave us as little cuttings,
27:51so those trees are, you know, a bit of him that's still here.
27:56I'm really drawn to his fig leaf shape,
27:59but I'm also drawn to the branches in that dark area.
28:02They're going to be a bit subtle and a little bit of mystery,
28:05which I always like.
28:11Compositionally, this sketch is helping me kind of get an idea
28:16of what I want to do and perhaps the shape of the canvas.
28:19I want some kind of foreground foliage, maybe a tree,
28:23to try and create a lot of depth in the picture.
28:29What I'm learning from the sketch I'm doing at the moment
28:32is how much to be illustrative about the pylon I'm painting
28:37and how much to let abstraction take its course.
28:42So far, I've just been doing a couple of quick sketches
28:45to see if this view I'm thinking of doing will work.
28:50I was thinking of doing a diptych,
28:52because it feels like there's two parts.
28:57What I'm pleased about today is the cloudscape that I'm getting.
29:01Whether I'm going to be able to contrast that with the pylon,
29:04I might try to do that.
29:06Yeah, it'll be very exciting.
29:12What I'm aiming to achieve is just to capture the vitality of that tree.
29:16It's a beautiful tree, beautiful leaves, full of life.
29:21I'm hoping it's got sort of a surreal, abstract vibe to it
29:26and just that it's in keeping with my style, basically.
29:30I'm ready. I'm ready to go.
29:33The final paintings will be revealed to the judges
29:36at the end of today's challenge.
29:42MUSIC PLAYS
29:55You've been looking at close-up binoculars.
29:58Yes, the night at the opera.
30:00What are you checking out?
30:02So I'm looking at the stones to try and find the textures in them.
30:06Right.
30:07Scratching in certain marks that hopefully indicate
30:12something about the rock face of the stones.
30:15And birds. Look at them now. Look at them all coming in.
30:18It's terrific, isn't it?
30:19It's like they're having a sort of annual general meeting.
30:22Yes.
30:28Kieran, do you have a sense of what this picture is?
30:31Are you still slightly finding it?
30:33I'm still finding it a bit.
30:35I'm just going to keep going with the rocks
30:37and then I think I'll have to do some work on lighting.
30:40It's quite a dark picture.
30:41You tend to work dark to light anyway, don't you?
30:44I do, yeah. This morning it was really dark.
30:46It was more silhouetted.
30:47So I'm hoping to bring that up in time.
30:49And would you prefer it to stay cloudy like this?
30:51I want it to stay like this now, yeah.
30:53OK, I'll organise it.
31:00What brings you here today?
31:02Well, Ben's my son and we've come to support him, really.
31:06How's it going on?
31:07It's very well, I think.
31:08Sue paints as well.
31:09Do you?
31:10An illustrator.
31:11Right, so have you been giving any advice during the course of the day?
31:14No, not really.
31:16No, you've got a megaphone under there, you're just going to shout out.
31:19The rock on the right.
31:20I did ask him to look at the lichen on the stone.
31:23Yeah, the lichen is stunning, isn't it?
31:24It is.
31:25The variety and the colours.
31:26What would you like to connect to?
31:28Absolutely...
31:29I'll do the jokes, thanks very much.
31:32I'll do the gags around here.
31:36But the contest entering its fourth hour is no laughing matter.
31:42I've left the sky to last and I don't know if that's the right thing to have done.
31:47My biggest worry now is getting the sky in there and it looking good.
31:54Got to finish these rocks in the front, the foreground, it isn't really done.
31:57It's hard to believe we're in the final hours, I don't know where that's gone.
32:01But it's gone, so to deal with it.
32:10Put the sky in now and it's sort of gone as planned.
32:15The danger is you just keep working and you don't give yourself that break to see it afresh.
32:22It would be nice to sleep on it, but we can't do that.
32:32At Stonehenge, three artists, Kieran, Susan and Ben,
32:37are into the closing stages of their final challenge.
32:42But which of them will be anointed the high priest or priestess of landscape painting?
32:4815 minutes left, Kieran.
32:5015 minutes left?
32:51Yeah.
32:52OK.
32:53Do you want to spend the next 15 minutes chatting with me?
32:55Yes.
32:56Sure, yeah.
32:57I do need to get this done.
32:58Right.
32:59And then snap back.
33:00I'll let you get on that, there's very little time left.
33:02Cool, all right, thanks a mil.
33:07Ben, the stones have landed.
33:09Yeah, they're where they're supposed to be.
33:11And you've bleached out the background so we don't see any trees on the hill or anything else.
33:15Yeah, I mean, I would probably put clouds in, but there's no round here at the moment.
33:20I'm not sure I'd do that.
33:21Yeah, I mean, I would probably put clouds in, but there's no round here at the moment.
33:26OK.
33:27I like it with that.
33:28I think it especially works with regards to that light sort of coming through.
33:34You've captured that.
33:35That's beautiful.
33:37There's a beautiful sense about it, which is what an angel's all about.
33:40It's got a very primal feeling about it, hasn't it?
33:44If they'd said to me, where would you like to paint?
33:47I'd have said, can we do that?
33:49Wow.
33:52Artists, the henge is nigh.
33:55You have five minutes left. Five minutes.
33:59Wow.
34:01Just adding bits of texture and stuff like that.
34:04I'm sort of happy with how it's looking.
34:07Hopefully the judges will like it too.
34:11My biggest worry is that I will turn around and come back and think it's appalling.
34:15So, yeah, perhaps I won't look at it fresh from now on.
34:18It'll be what it'll be.
34:22MUSIC
34:27I've just got to tidy up the edges.
34:29Basically just try not to overwork it, is the main thing at this stage.
34:39Artists, for the last time, your time is up and your challenge is over.
34:44Please stop what you're doing and step away from your artworks.
34:48CHEERING
34:53It's been a really, really interesting and lovely day.
34:57I've done the best I could have done, so, you know, that's all I can ask for.
35:07Tired, excited. You kind of get this, like, whoa, when you're done.
35:10But I really enjoyed it. It was a brilliant place to paint.
35:12Amazing place to paint.
35:14Your experience has been magical.
35:18I'm sure nerves will start to kick in really badly
35:21once we're standing in front of the paintings.
35:29Today's winner won't just be bestowed
35:31with the title Landscape Artist of the Year,
35:33they'll also receive a £10,000 commission for London's Courtauld Gallery
35:38and travel to the south of France,
35:40a region that inspired some of the greats of late 19th-century painting.
35:51I think in the case of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists
35:55who went down to the south of France,
35:57it really stretched the way that they used the brush,
36:00the way that they used colour,
36:02and that was what really underpinned the fact
36:05that they transformed approaches to landscape painting during that period.
36:11We're hoping that the artist that takes on this commission
36:14will be somebody that is really deeply engaged with the landscape,
36:18that wants to do something fresh and original,
36:21because it's exactly those qualities
36:23that really run through the work of Monet and Van Gogh and Cézanne
36:27and the reason that their work is so enduring.
36:36I did really enjoy it. I did.
36:39With our artists ready themselves for what's to come,
36:42our judges now have the opportunity
36:44to see their three commission paintings for the first time.
36:49Oh, wow!
36:51Oh!
36:52That is extraordinary.
36:54Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
36:57MUSIC CONTINUES
37:07When you look at Susan's, I love the way the rows of the tussocks
37:11in the grass are sort of leading you in so beautifully.
37:14There's intensity, but there's also always movement in her work.
37:17And the way she uses paint to tell different stories.
37:19You can feel the electricity coming off that pylon,
37:21with the light around it.
37:23But we haven't seen her create this much space
37:26I think my commissioned piece conveyed what I wanted it to.
37:32Have we done enough to win?
37:34I have no idea. I will wait and see.
37:41We talked before about Ben making work
37:43that looks like a weaving or a tapestry.
37:45And the texture in this is just sublime.
37:47And the way that he pushes and pulls,
37:49he disrupts his own rules, doesn't he?
37:51The birch does that, these lily pads do that in the foreground.
37:54And those trees are extraordinary.
37:56I mean, they just are so alive.
37:58The limbs work, the bunches of leaves work.
38:00And I've never seen trees rendered like this.
38:03So it's a completely new language.
38:07So with the commission, I wanted there to be a lot of space
38:10to look through and a lot of depth and texture,
38:13which was quite challenging, actually.
38:15But I was sort of happy with the result in the end.
38:19And Kieran, I think, because we know he can do the figurative really well,
38:22but he's just gone bigger and bolder and richer.
38:26Yeah.
38:27And the variation of greens across that foliage, it's so effective.
38:30And it's so narrative-driven.
38:32You feel like someone's just sort of had a cigarette
38:34and stormed out of the scene.
38:36There's been a fight or something.
38:38It feels loaded with energy to me.
38:40And to do it as a diptych, I mean, that's clever as well, isn't it?
38:46I like when you can do a painting that, you know,
38:49has some sort of mystery or something that makes you think,
38:52you know, what's around the corner.
38:54I like the way the tree turned out.
38:56Yeah, I wanted it kind of moody.
39:01Now, in the shadow of Stonehenge,
39:03it's time for the final act of our 10th anniversary competition.
39:10So today's pictures, placed beside the commissions,
39:13the first thing I noticed when we put them all together
39:16is how they're all keen to show us that they can work on a bigger scale.
39:19It's so satisfying, isn't it?
39:21We really get a sense of three distinct artists
39:23who all know who they are, they've found a language,
39:25but within that language,
39:27there's lots of different ways of exploiting their talents.
39:30Yeah, and all of them, they've all done something very special with today.
39:34Susan applies a lot of paint.
39:36Do you think that would become predictable after a while?
39:39They're two very different paintings.
39:41Yes, the way the paint goes on the palette,
39:43to a certain extent, a lot of use of black,
39:45they are very similar, but that sort of distant light
39:48is very different to the stones today,
39:51which are sort of obdurate, they are old, they are ancient.
39:54So it's a very different feel she gets from this very narrow language.
39:58I think Susan has found her style,
40:00and actually I don't think she should be marked down
40:03because it's so particular.
40:05You know, we can recognise a van Gogh.
40:07That doesn't mean it's a bad thing.
40:10Ben seems to be interested in surfaces, grass, water.
40:14He seems to really enjoy getting involved with that.
40:17You know, it's very easy with an artist like Ben
40:20that he descends into an obsession with the patterns,
40:23but the pattern is very, very secondary here.
40:25It doesn't overwhelm, and that's a really hard balance.
40:28But the wonderful thing about the painting today
40:30is that it's truly ancient.
40:32You can feel the texture of those stones,
40:34even though it looks very, very modern.
40:36Is today's painting too illustrative?
40:39I feel like today's painting has more of a graphic quality,
40:42but I actually admire him for doing that
40:44because he's showing us that he's got a different reference point.
40:47There's nothing graphic in the commission.
40:49I mean, it's all so loose.
40:51Whereas this has got these, like, sharp lines,
40:53which give it a real bang.
40:54I mean, you stop in your tracks and you look at this painting.
40:57So, Kieran, does the thought of sending someone
40:59who uses such limited palette to the south of France...
41:01We do, yeah.
41:02..does that come into your minds?
41:03It does in a way, but I don't think it's that we're looking
41:05for an artist to be so literal as to be an impressionist
41:07in the south of France.
41:08And this colour palette that he uses
41:11creates these sort of quite intense scenes.
41:14I think he's got an extraordinary talent.
41:16Does it scream south of France? No.
41:18But that kind of makes me want to send him even more,
41:20because I'm like, I want to see it through his eyes.
41:22Kieran uses the language that is traditional.
41:26He paints green leaves and they're drawn in the right way,
41:28but then he does something with it,
41:30and it is the narrative he finds.
41:32It is the weird framing.
41:33It's, you know, it's a painting of Stonehenge,
41:35but nobody recognised it as Stonehenge.
41:37So he's doing different things
41:39and it makes the whole endeavour feel very contemporary.
41:43Mmm.
41:45Tough, tough, tough.
41:46I mean, how exciting to have three such brilliant artists,
41:49but also what a nightmare if you're one of the judges,
41:52which apparently we are.
41:59Susan, Ben, Kieran,
42:01thank you for all your hard work this summer.
42:03It's been an absolute joy watching you all
42:05progress through the competition.
42:07You are all wonderfully talented artists,
42:11but the judges have made their final decision.
42:15The winner of Landscape Artist of the Year is...
42:29..Ben McGregor.
42:31CHEERING
42:34I just... I don't know.
42:37What did just happen? I just can't believe it.
42:40I'm in absolute shock.
42:43To win the whole show,
42:45bearing in mind how much it sort of means to me
42:47and how much it's sort of meant to my journey as an artist,
42:51I just couldn't think of anything bigger than this.
42:55You know, I thought Ben's work looked really interesting.
42:58I did glance over it during the day,
43:00and I did think, well, that looks good.
43:03So, yeah, I think they have made a good choice.
43:07This competition has been affirming for me.
43:10I kind of went full-time on this a year ago
43:12to make it to the final of Landscape Artist of the Year.
43:15Couldn't ask for a better kind of anniversary.
43:18It's been fantastic.
43:20What a great day, but what a terribly difficult decision.
43:23So difficult.
43:24I think the calibre of artists in this competition now
43:27and this sort of ten-year anniversary, I mean, yeah,
43:30it was really, really challenging.
43:32And I think they've each got a distinct language.
43:34I would say that I think Ben has a slightly broader range.
43:37I think he's got a bit more of a...
43:39He's got a bit more of a...
43:41He's got a bit more of a...
43:43He's got a bit more of a...
43:45He's got a bit more of a...
43:47He's got a bit more of a...
43:49He's got a slightly broader range with his language.
43:51I mean, he's a dream artist to send to the South of France.
43:53And what's nice, it's about light, but it's about texture.
43:55I've never seen an artist deal with landscape
43:57in a textural way before.
43:59It's really new, so I think I'm very excited
44:01about seeing what he's going to do.
44:03And I sort of feel like a lot of it is to do with the show,
44:06because, you know, he came to Landscape Paintings
44:08through the show, and I'm just...
44:10I'm really excited at the idea of seeing one of his works
44:12hanging in the Courtauld Gallery,
44:14because I think it's really going to start you in your tracks,
44:17because it's going to be in amongst
44:19those Impressionist paintings on the top floor.
44:21I'm going to feel really proud. Yeah, me too.
44:25I'm pretty obsessed with Impressionism.
44:28You know, I've spent hours just staring at Van Gogh's and Cezanne's,
44:32and so, for me, having a piece hanging in the Courtauld Gallery
44:36is about as prestigious as you could possibly get.
44:39I've always really, really tried to be, you know,
44:42the best possible painter I could be.
44:45It's been a lot of hard work and a lot of sort of self-doubt,
44:48so to have all that kind of validated is priceless.
44:54If you've been inspired to take part in the next series
44:57or would like to find out more about any of the artists,
45:00visit our website, skyartsartistoftheyear.tv.
45:08Next time, Ben travels to the south of France.
45:11The mountain has just appeared on the landscape.
45:14I mean, that is pretty incredible, isn't it?
45:16To follow in the brushstrokes of some of the greats of art history.
45:21Monet said that the sky is so blue, look at the sky,
45:25that you can dive in it.
45:28Before his painting's grand unveiling at the Courtauld Gallery in London.
45:33Shall we put you out of your misery? Go for it.
45:35Here we go.
45:38CHEERING
45:44MUSIC
46:14.