Landscape Artist of the Year - Season 10 Episode 7 - Portsmouth
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00:00Hello, and welcome to Portsmouth, home of the Royal Navy.
00:07Today we're at the city's historic dockyard, where six Heat winners and the Wildcard winner
00:12are lined up in front of Victorian megaship HMS Warrior.
00:16Batten down the hatches, it's the semi-final of Landscape Artist of the Year.
00:22For our 10th anniversary, we've once again built our pods, primed our canvases, and faced
00:28a typically British summer, with 48 talented landscape artists from across the UK and Ireland.
00:36Over six Heats, our artists were confronted with everything from gritty urban cityscapes
00:42and feats of Victorian engineering to sweeping mountain vistas.
00:47This is possibly one of the most daunting landscapes in Britain.
00:50Now seven artists remain.
00:52I don't really know what I'm feeling right now, there's too many emotions.
00:56But only three can go through to the final and be one step closer to this year's £10,000
01:02prize commission for the Courtauld Gallery in London.
01:06The winner will be travelling to the south of France, a region that has inspired some
01:10of the greats of art history, painters like Monet, Van Gogh and Cezanne.
01:17As always, the task of picking the winner falls to our judges.
01:22Kathleen Soriano, Kate Bryan and Tai-Shan Shirenberg.
01:27I'm waiting for that next stage, because at the moment it's tipped slightly into something
01:31very conventional.
01:32And we don't like that because it's boring!
01:37So as the pressure mounts, who has got what it takes to hold their nerve and paint a semi-final
01:44winning masterpiece?
01:45I don't like to say I'm confident that I'll finish, but I'm hopeful that I'll finish!
02:14Moving on, today's challenge are our six heat winners.
02:16How are you feeling about today?
02:18I'm feeling excellent!
02:19Well, I'm hoping the blue sky is going to come out.
02:22I'd quite like it to stay pretty flat like this, actually.
02:25Podcaster Molly Lemon, a printmaker who works and lives in Gloucestershire.
02:31Susan Isaac, a professional artist based in Nottinghamshire.
02:36And Ciaran Guckian, a web designer turned full-time artist from Dublin.
02:41To be in the semi-final is amazing.
02:43I never expected to even get into the competition, but to get into the semis is a great feeling.
02:48Also competing in the semi-final, Ben McGregor from Surrey, who runs a bespoke furniture
02:54company, Barnsley-based artist Sarah Stoker, and Claire Rose, a professional painter from
03:02West Wales.
03:03Is this the sort of stuff you usually paint?
03:05Absolutely not, no.
03:06What about you?
03:07It's much more like trees and organic stuff, and there's literally not a tree inside.
03:14Our six heat winners aren't the only ones to have made it to the semi-final.
03:19At each heat, we were joined by 50 wildcard artists, who this year pulled out all the
03:24stops to be noticed by the judges.
03:26Are you both left-handed?
03:28No, just me.
03:30A wildcard winner was selected at each location.
03:33Congratulations, you're our wildcard winner today.
03:36It's you, you're our wildcard winner.
03:52But the judges could only put one through to the semi-final.
03:55I think we all agreed that you're a rather marvellous painter.
04:00Really?
04:01And they chose Rose Duffden.
04:05I think Rose really stood out in amongst all the wildcards that we've had.
04:09She's got this really fresh, light touch.
04:11It's very feathery, you know, reminds you a little bit of the impressionist.
04:14And of course, you have to really step up, take your courage in your hands as the chosen
04:20wildcard to go into one of the pods.
04:22She's up against the best of the best.
04:24It means a lot to be in the semi-final.
04:26I just did not expect to win.
04:28It feels really surreal.
04:29I've watched Landscape Artists of the Year every season, so being part of the show feels
04:34like a bit of a dream.
04:36Being in the pod feels very different to being a wildcard.
04:39This feels a bit more intense.
04:44But even if you've been in a pod before, it might not be plain sailing.
04:49I think I need help.
04:51It's quite overwhelming.
04:53I think today I need to just keep calm.
04:55I remember panicking quite a lot last time.
04:58So I think I just need to keep focused.
05:20Attention artists, you have four hours to complete your landscapes and your time starts now.
05:28We've brought our semi-finalists to Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard, home to some of the UK's
05:35most iconic ships and a busy working harbour.
05:39In front of them looms the magnificent HMS Warrior, flanked by Portsmouth's Spinnaker
05:45Tower, modern day tower blocks and the busy and blustery waterway.
05:52We're in Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard.
05:54There's an enormous ship.
05:56We've got HMS Warrior.
05:57I mean, that really is the star of the show.
05:59I don't know if the artists fully appreciate quite how much things are going to change today.
06:03It's not our first radio.
06:04We've dealt with the tide before on Landscape Artist of the Year, but today is quite spectacular.
06:09I mean, the ship is going to be raising by a matter of metres.
06:12And if they weren't trying to get in all of those beautiful struts on the pier, they're
06:16going to be gone in a matter of hours.
06:18So we really need the artists to tackle not just what's in front of them, but what might
06:23be changing dramatically in front of them.
06:26Where are the artists going to go with this?
06:27Are we going to get something which is all about the ship that takes us back in time?
06:30Or are we going to have something very much about today, about Portsmouth's Historic
06:33Dockyard, which is very much now a tourist destination?
06:38I'm loving the view today.
06:39It's really cool.
06:40It's an amazing ship.
06:41A lot of history in it.
06:42It's quite a complex thing, you know, especially a rigged ship like that.
06:45So lots of things to think about.
06:48So today's view looks really quite complicated, quite draftsmanly.
06:55So I'll have to work hard at creating a decent drawing to begin with.
06:59And the rigging, it's an awful lot of rigging there to contemplate.
07:11It's a really difficult composition, this one, because it's quite flat in some ways,
07:16but there's lots of verticals and lots of shooting perspectives.
07:19I'm trying to really impart the scale and the enormity of this place
07:24and trying to get that sense of here in my painting.
07:31Claire Rose is a professional artist from St Dogmiles in West Wales.
07:35Her ability to master composition and scale impressed the judges in Snowdonia.
07:43Claire, I can't quite work out what you're painting.
07:46I've been looking at you drawing your lines.
07:49I understand the rigging and the triangles,
07:52but I can't understand which section you're going for.
07:54So I've gone for quite a broad view of the docklands.
07:58I've got the big ship on the left,
08:02and I'm trying to get this sense of scale with the masts
08:05and then this lovely diagonal to this little tiny boat on the right.
08:09So the one at the front?
08:10This little boat here.
08:11I'm trying to get the scale in.
08:14Oh, I see.
08:15Oh, the ship's going that way.
08:16Yes.
08:17And that's the pier.
08:18I haven't quite got these angles right.
08:20I mean, you put the pier quite low down, haven't you?
08:22Yes, the horizon's quite low because that gives me the scale.
08:25And is that partly you also anticipating that the water's going to rise up?
08:29Yes.
08:30So we won't see the supports of the pier underneath?
08:34That's a really good point.
08:43So I'm definitely shying away from the enormous ship.
08:47I've placed my canvas very neatly in front of it,
08:50so I can't see it at all.
08:52I'm more drawn to the decaying docks and the textures,
08:56the water, rather than the actual ship itself.
09:00I'm hoping I can show the judges
09:02perhaps something slightly different to everyone else.
09:05Ben McGregor is no stranger to the pressures
09:08of a landscape artist of the year semi-final,
09:11as he previously made it to this stage in the competition in 2021.
09:16He's confidently returned this year to paint Hampton Court Palace
09:19and stood out from the crowd with his playful, surreal painting style.
09:26Morning, Ben.
09:27Morning.
09:28What do you make of this view?
09:30Tiny little ship view.
09:34The view is epic. The ship's epic.
09:36This building here is epic.
09:38Yeah.
09:39So I've gone for something that's, like, completely un-epic.
09:43What have you gone for?
09:45I love everything around this pier bit here.
09:47The struts of the pier.
09:49I love this sort of decaying concrete
09:51and I love the way the water sort of flows
09:53around this kind of island of steel.
09:55I love artists. Like, we've given you this
09:57and you've been like, look at that weird little bit over there.
09:59I love that piece.
10:01Obviously, the tide's an issue today
10:03and I suspect you're going to lose all of those struts.
10:05Yes.
10:06So have you got photographs?
10:08I've got a picture in my mind about how I want the painting to look now.
10:12I'm sort of confident that once the water comes in...
10:16And also, it'll give me a chance to perhaps play
10:18with abstraction a little bit.
10:27That's better.
10:29So composition-wise today,
10:31I'm kind of zoomed in a bit on the two masts
10:33just to try and get those shapes,
10:35which are kind of interesting.
10:37And also I want to get those kind of blocks
10:39of apartments in the background.
10:41Kieran Guckian joined us in Bristol
10:44where he painted its world-famous suspension bridge.
10:47The judges were impressed by the strong narrative
10:50he was able to convey
10:52whilst only committing a sliver of the bridge to canvas.
10:57Kieran, in Bristol you found a story that was not obvious.
11:01What's the story today?
11:03Erm...
11:05I guess I'm trying to focus in on those two masts
11:08and the buildings in the background.
11:10At the moment, it's not quite clear
11:13that we're looking at the masts of a ship.
11:15It's interesting that we've given you
11:17this massive bit of history
11:19but you're combining it with modern.
11:21Yeah.
11:22Is that the story that you picked up?
11:24Yeah.
11:25Or is it about making paintings first and foremost?
11:27Or is it both?
11:28I like a bit of a story.
11:30I mean, this is a really historic place, obviously.
11:32Yeah.
11:33A very historic ship.
11:34So I like the way that there's kind of...
11:36I wouldn't call them brutal buildings, brutalists,
11:39but they're modern.
11:40So I think they're kind of interesting in the background.
11:42I think they're quite revolting, but...
11:44Yeah.
11:45But I can see as a...
11:46Shape-wise, they're good.
11:47Shape-wise, they're great.
11:48Yeah, shape-wise, they're good.
11:49Yeah, I can see that.
11:50Well, it sounds fantastically organic
11:52and also sort of slightly hit or miss in an interesting way.
11:56Well, hopefully it'll be hit, not miss.
11:58No, no.
12:05After the first hour, I'm feeling really anxious
12:07and I've gone very quickly.
12:08Really, really fast.
12:09I've got such a lot to do.
12:11I'm done there.
12:13Now I've worked out exactly what I'm painting.
12:15The anxieties of how it's going to kind of progress
12:18have kind of lifted slightly.
12:21I'm still blocking in, which is bad.
12:23I spent a lot of time on the background of the clouds,
12:25which is good,
12:26but now I'm going to focus on the ship
12:28and just the foreground,
12:29especially down the bottom with the keys.
12:31I was leaving that to see in which the tide would come in,
12:33but I'm probably just going to tackle it now.
12:37SIX HOURS LATER
12:47Lined up in the shadow of Victorian megaship HMS Warrior,
12:51our seven semi-finalists have been busy
12:53battling with their landscapes and the elements
12:56for the last hour.
12:57It's so windy.
13:02I've chosen an orange ground today
13:05because I knew I was going to be working with blues
13:07and I knew it was going to be a good sort of counterbalance to that
13:10and, to some extent,
13:12because the buildings around a lot of them are brick
13:15and there's flint on the beaches,
13:17so I wanted it to reflect in some way
13:20the ground of the geography here.
13:24We first met Susan Isaac in 2022
13:27when she joined us at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
13:30This year she returned to her part in King's Cross
13:33and took a risk by waiting until the very end
13:35of the four-hour challenge
13:37before adding in the sky.
13:39The gamble paid off
13:41and the judges praised her for capturing
13:43the history and atmosphere of the location.
13:46Susan.
13:47Yes.
13:48That looks fantastic already.
13:50Oh, my goodness.
13:51Interestingly, in King's Cross,
13:53your yellow ground lent the painting a mood
13:56that when you put your sky in later,
13:59the mood didn't alter.
14:01The painting became more complete.
14:03And in a funny way, with the orange ground here,
14:05there is a certain brooding mood to it now.
14:08When you put the sky in,
14:10is it again finding an equivalence to that?
14:12I'm hoping so.
14:13I knew we were going to have blue
14:15because we're Portsmouth,
14:17so I'm thinking orange complementing the blue,
14:19but also it's a cloudier day,
14:21it's slightly more sanguine,
14:23so at the same time,
14:25I want it to have some kind of bright equivalent.
14:27So the ground was chosen knowing the view?
14:31OK.
14:32I just like the way you set up the situation
14:34before you actually start the painting.
14:41I'm a printmaker and I specialise in wood engraving.
14:44So I'll roll the ink on with my rollers
14:46and then that will sit on the surface.
14:48Anything I've engraved won't print
14:50because it will be a void in the wood.
14:52And I'm looking into a mirror today
14:54because when you print, it prints backwards.
14:57My work's small because I work on end grain wood,
15:00so it's limited by the size of the tree.
15:03Printmaker and podcaster Molly Lemon
15:06creates small woodblock prints
15:08with a big impact.
15:10At her heat on Bristol's harbourside,
15:12she produced a work that packed a punch,
15:14managing to capture everything
15:16the view had to offer.
15:18So beautiful.
15:20Thank you very much.
15:21What made you go for this shape?
15:23I mean, that's such an unusual shape.
15:25Yeah, so it's a round of boxwood,
15:27so this is the shape of the tree,
15:30all the lines.
15:31And I'm used to organic shapes,
15:33so I wanted the block to be a juxtaposition
15:35to what I was engraving.
15:37And what does that mean for when you put it on the page?
15:40Will we end up with that?
15:41Because that's also quite a historic
15:43printmaking format as well, isn't it?
15:45Yeah, I mean, it's tricky.
15:47It's really hard to register a round block
15:49because it can twist.
15:51So I'm quite stressed.
15:52I love the sort of organic shape.
15:54I love the fact that it's wonky
15:56and it's not quite sort of perfect.
15:58It makes it sing.
16:08That is some amazing ship, isn't it?
16:10Oh, it's a pile of ship.
16:12It's all straight lines.
16:14And they can be very useful.
16:16They can be useful.
16:17In terms of structure and composition.
16:19If you can use something like the mast
16:21to sort of draw in rhythm and structure,
16:23that's a very good way to go.
16:25You're the artist.
16:27There's a lot of stuff to work with
16:29in terms of narrative.
16:31But this, in terms of picture-making,
16:33is very important.
16:35Because you know I don't like vessels.
16:37You don't like vessels.
16:38But this is not a cutesy little boat.
16:40No, it isn't.
16:41This is a man o' war.
16:42This is a devastatingly large
16:44Victorian killing machine.
16:46It is.
16:47Which, it being tidal,
16:49this massive thing is going to grow in size
16:51because as the tide rises,
16:53there's going to be more and more of it.
16:56I can't imagine this thing getting any larger, actually.
16:58But it will rise.
17:05Wow.
17:06All right, we're coming.
17:17The colours I use in my work
17:19are quite bright.
17:20And pinks and purples.
17:22I usually do use what is there
17:24and just exaggerate it slightly
17:26and make it feel a bit more joyful.
17:28Oh, no.
17:30So somewhere between
17:32it being a good representation
17:34and also you get the sense of the day.
17:38Wildcard winner Rose Dufton
17:40works as a freelance print designer
17:42for fashion brands,
17:44while also working part-time at a film lab.
17:46Her bold, pink hues
17:48caught the judge's eyes
17:50when she painted the Clifton Suspension Bridge
17:53from a nearby park.
17:57Hello, Rose.
17:58Hi, Kit.
17:59Congratulations. Welcome to the pod.
18:02You graduated from the Wildcard.
18:04Step up.
18:05Graduated straight into this enormous ship.
18:07Yeah.
18:08How are you feeling?
18:10I am feeling a bit intimidated.
18:12When we saw you in Bristol,
18:14you worked on this pink ground.
18:16It's quite flat in its colour tones.
18:18Talk to me about that choice.
18:20Is it something you're really happy with
18:22or is it something that demands it?
18:24I would normally work on a pink ground.
18:26I just think it adds a bit of warmth
18:28and the way that I paint it is quite transparent
18:30so you do get to see the tone.
18:32Yeah, it buzzes quite a lot.
18:34Yeah. I'm going to try and capture
18:36the mood of the day.
18:38And it's blue skies at the moment.
18:40I mean, it's all over the place.
18:42It's windy, it's chilly,
18:44then the sun comes out and it's lovely.
18:46You've been painting in this blue sky.
18:48Yeah.
18:49So are you trying to manifest the day that you want?
18:51Yeah.
18:55I love the colours here.
18:57There's some beautiful tones in the concrete
18:59so I'm just trying to capture
19:01the depth of them.
19:03I really wanted to show
19:05the scale of where we're at
19:07and I'm hoping with the scale
19:09of the concrete it will
19:11give the ship more presence than if it was
19:13bigger in my painting.
19:15Sarah Stoker runs a pottery business
19:17when she's not busy painting.
19:20She works in alcohol inks
19:22which she used to great effect in her heat
19:24at an abandoned slate quarry
19:26in North Wales.
19:28Sarah, sorry, I didn't mean
19:30to interrupt you.
19:32Well, you've got a lot of gear, haven't you, Sarah?
19:34I mean, there's about 400 pens
19:36and bottles
19:38and brushes.
19:40I didn't know what you were going to present me with
19:42so I bought everything.
19:44This concrete that takes up two thirds
19:46of your painting
19:48The tide's going to come in.
19:50I know, I'm just debating whether to
19:52bring the water forward.
19:54I haven't made my mind up yet.
19:56That's where I've left that bit there.
19:58I think what we should do is as the water comes up
20:00just keep bringing it up.
20:02It's like a real-time record.
20:04Talk me through your foregrounding so much.
20:06I just really like the composition of it
20:08and I really like the texture of the concrete too.
20:10And I'm hoping it gives
20:12a feeling of the place,
20:14the scale of it with all the concrete here.
20:18So I'm hoping to just firm everything up
20:20and make everything feel a bit more solid
20:22because it's feeling a little bit wishy-washy
20:24at the moment.
20:26In the next two hours I'm going to try
20:28and get some careful drawing in
20:30and sort of solidify the composition
20:32and make everything feel a bit more solid.
20:34I've just got to get that pier right.
20:36I can't even work out where the sun is.
20:38Oh, there.
20:40It's very confusing, isn't it?
20:42I don't know what to do.
20:44I don't know what to do.
20:47It's very confusing.
20:49I thought it was over there.
20:51I'm feeling OK.
20:53The painting itself is sort of coming together enough.
20:55In an ideal world I would probably need more time.
20:57We'll just have to see.
20:59Yeah, it's quite a lot to do.
21:09For the last two hours
21:11our seven semi-finalists have been busy
21:13capturing Portsmouth's famous historic dockyard.
21:17Are you coming to take our artists away?
21:19LAUGHTER
21:21We're halfway through.
21:23I'm starting to do, like, textural representation
21:25of the sea.
21:27The paints are drying quite quickly,
21:29actually, so that's really
21:31problematic.
21:33At the minute I'm just
21:35using isopropyl alcohol
21:37and when you apply it
21:39to the surface
21:41it moves paint out of the way
21:43so I'm just splashing some tiny little bits on
21:45just to put some texture on the concrete.
21:47I'm really glad at the moment
21:49I went for the big scale
21:51but it could all change.
21:53Calm down.
21:55There's some wonky bits of painting in it.
21:57I need to straighten those.
21:59I need to put the rigging in
22:01but that will go in right at the end.
22:03It's a purely practical thing
22:05because it goes over the top of everything else
22:07so the dark rigging against the sky
22:09will come last.
22:11Rose,
22:13the paints that you use,
22:15they're very transparent.
22:17They're almost like watercolour, aren't they?
22:19Yeah, I like building it up in layers.
22:21But then the material has a certain sort of limit to it.
22:23Do you ever get caught where you think
22:25I need to do a bit more but I'm going to kill the painting?
22:27Yeah, I guess that's the balance
22:29and trying to think,
22:31do I actually need to go back into it
22:33or can I leave it as it is and am I just being picky?
22:35OK, and that's where you are now.
22:37That's where I'm at.
22:43So it's the semi-final.
22:45You've really set them quite a task
22:47today with that ship.
22:49And they're all doing incredibly well.
22:51Such good compositional choices.
22:53We were evil and then they were geniuses.
22:55A lot of them are plein air artists
22:57so they're used to things changing
22:59so I think they buckled up and got on with it.
23:01Sarah, is she making concrete progress?
23:03Oh, Sarah's just made such
23:05an intelligent choice.
23:07To give that much of the foreground
23:09over to the concrete slope
23:11is so audacious.
23:13And I think she's going to get away with it
23:15because she really does have the perspective right.
23:17You feel like you believe the ship
23:19within this contained space that she's given it.
23:21It feels like a picture that's in two sections.
23:23There's the top half, which is the ship,
23:25and then this huge, dirty
23:27expanse of concrete below.
23:29And the two are really dissonant
23:31but I think we know from the work that she did
23:33in the heat that it's when she gets
23:35all that layering on top and there's a sort of
23:37a screed over the whole thing
23:39that might pull it all together.
23:41Molly, how's she doing?
23:43I think Molly's brilliant. I wish I could keep
23:45those blocks of wood. They are so stunning.
23:47It's all about the shape. I mean, it's just so
23:49sophisticated because it gives it this real intensity
23:51but also it gives you these organic
23:53qualities.
23:55What a genius idea to use that shape.
23:57I mean, printmaking
23:59is so complex already.
24:01She's suffering a bit. She's quite angry with us
24:03having given her so many straight lines
24:05and rigging and masking.
24:07They're thrilled with the challenge.
24:09No, there was not much air-punching when they saw it this morning.
24:11I just spoke to Ben.
24:13He says, I'm still battling
24:15but he's not battling the battleship.
24:17Completely avoided it. Ben made such a good choice
24:19though. He found the thing that interested him
24:21which was like decaying concrete
24:23pier. Fabulous. I mean, grim.
24:25He creates such good-looking paintings
24:27that I know it'll all hold together.
24:29Is it a smart choice to not paint the ship in that
24:31you can compare the way everyone else
24:33has dealt with the ship and then he's in his own
24:35category? I won't know until the end of the day
24:37because that is exactly the view
24:39I would have painted if I were a painter
24:41because that's what interests me. The detritus
24:43of modern day life. I'm not interested
24:45in the minutiae of a rigging
24:47on a large ship. You know, that's
24:49not going to keep me going. We could have it
24:51moved if you want. I think, can you get that sorted?
24:53Yeah, yeah, don't worry. Before the end of the day.
24:55Claire.
24:57The sky.
24:59She's given us a beautiful
25:01sky. Is it beautiful or is it just me?
25:03No, it is beautiful.
25:05I thought when Claire started this morning,
25:07the composition was just fantastic.
25:09And as more paint and colours gone on,
25:11the contrasts of those
25:13strong lines giving us this direction
25:15sort of went and it's become more
25:17conventional. So I think I'm waiting for
25:19that next stage.
25:21Kieran's, I'm personally finding it
25:23harder to engage with. I don't know why.
25:25It feels a bit dark. I think Kieran's
25:27was really good early on this morning.
25:29It was sort of sketched in really, really beautifully
25:31and I think what we've got at the moment is
25:33something that's missing the rigging.
25:35And I think that when he goes in with those black
25:37lines, that's when it will all start
25:39to come together again. I think that's what we need.
25:41Susan, working hard
25:43on her knees all day. I mean, hats off to her
25:45for just being able to hold that pose for four hours.
25:47But so full of drama.
25:49It's such a fantastic bit of drawing. And now
25:51we're getting to that stage again which
25:53we saw in King's Cross where the sky
25:55has got to go in. And
25:57I don't know whether it's got the same
25:59transition we expected or didn't expect.
26:01I don't think it's got the same tension. So it's kind of
26:03interesting. But does that mean at this moment
26:05if you hadn't ever had that experience
26:07at King's Cross, you might be saying
26:09you're not sure about it. I think I'd be saying
26:11wow, that's an awful lot of harsh orange
26:13and that's going to be a difficult picture at the end of the day
26:15to look at.
26:17Rose has given us colour.
26:19So much colour she's put in there
26:21and a boat.
26:23That's not the ship. How do you feel
26:25about that? I'm just fascinated
26:27by how certain choices make
26:29something feel very contemporary.
26:31And with Rose it's colour, isn't it?
26:33The whole thing feels really fresh.
26:35I think the other thing for me as well, it's not
26:37just about the colour choice, but I think it's like
26:39the language is flat and reduced
26:41but not stylised. You feel like you're looking
26:43at a pretty picture, but when you
26:45look up close they're just like flat blocks
26:47of paint. Pretty though is not a word
26:49you normally give a positive
26:51value to. But I don't know if it's
26:53like, it's not sickly or twee.
26:55Rose is completely different
26:57to anyone else. She's much more like
26:59a sort of modern day impressionist.
27:01I am worried about it being too pretty
27:03actually in comparison to the others. The others have got
27:05raw energy to them.
27:07Hers is very, very delicate.
27:09There's a lot of artists there that I'm
27:11loving their work today. It's tense.
27:13I don't want anyone to muck it up.
27:15I don't know what's going to go first.
27:17My nerves or my hairdo.
27:26I think I'm slightly behind I'd say.
27:28Just in my head, but I'll feel
27:30happier once the ship
27:32is in a bit more and
27:34I've got those buildings defined a bit better.
27:36There's a good bit of detail so
27:38I'm trying to not get obsessed with the detail and just
27:40get the main structures in.
27:42Just making sure everything is there
27:44and then I can spend the last hour just doing
27:46detail.
27:50I plan to do
27:52like four layers today and I think
27:54I've done four already.
27:56At the moment my print is quite rusty
27:58coloured pink and grey and I'm just
28:00going to add a blue so I've got
28:02a gradient of blue here and some
28:04for the water and some for the sky so I can get
28:06two layers done at once.
28:08I'm hoping that will bring the ship out so it doesn't
28:10get lost amongst all the ink.
28:12I think I've got three or four more
28:14layers to go. I'm just going
28:16to be doing a lot of engraving and printing
28:18and engraving and printing and then hopefully
28:20what I have in my mind will
28:22appear. I've made quite a lot
28:24of mistakes but I'm not going to tell
28:26the judges and I hope they don't notice.
28:38Celebrating 500
28:40years of naval history, Portsmouth
28:42Historic Dockyard is home to
28:44some of the most famous British ships
28:46ever launched, including
28:48Nelson's flagship HMS Victory
28:50and HMS Warrior.
28:52Unveiled in 1860
28:54Warrior was the largest
28:56and most powerful warship of its day
28:58able to outrun and
29:00outgun every other
29:02seagoing vessel.
29:04HMS Warrior was the first
29:06iron-hulled warship.
29:08She was built in response
29:10to a French ship that had been
29:12recently launched in 1859
29:14and it was
29:16very much the British trying to be in
29:18the lead in terms of naval
29:20supremacy. So
29:22this was quite a change
29:24in terms of ship design and
29:26a really intimidating vessel to have
29:28in the fleet.
29:30Powered by sails
29:32the size of 13 tennis
29:34courts and a steam engine fuelled
29:36by 10 boilers, Warrior's
29:38onboard facilities were equally
29:40as advanced as its propulsion system.
29:42For 20 years the enormous
29:44ship patrolled the English Channel
29:46with its weapons trained on the French coastline.
29:48Napoleon III
29:50called it the Black Snake
29:52but the ship's formidable armour
29:54and firepower were never put to the
29:56test as new ships
29:58powered entirely by steam
30:00rendered its mighty sails obsolete.
30:02It was retired
30:04from service in 1883
30:06without ever firing
30:08a shot in anger.
30:16Susan, tell me
30:20about the sky. Do you think you're going to do more?
30:22I might pretty well leave it like that.
30:24I mean, I think that's very effective but it's weird
30:26isn't it? Because you've effectively got two
30:28types of sky present.
30:30It's not realistic, is it?
30:32No, both of those colours are up there
30:34but not necessarily in the right order.
30:36Yeah, that sounds like a walk of life sketch.
30:38Exactly so.
30:42Right, it's bloody
30:44rigging now, isn't it?
30:46Claire, I've just come at that crucial
30:48point, which
30:50you must be dreading all day long.
30:52Yeah, so I'm putting the rigging in
30:54and it's not my favourite thing.
30:56I'm so sorry.
31:02I need to probably bring back the sky
31:04into some of the rigging a bit
31:06and just kind of redefine some of those masts.
31:08I could do another hour.
31:10I'm going to get what I'm going to get done
31:12hopefully it's enough.
31:14It feels like I'm at the place where I should stop
31:16which is usually a good place
31:18to stop and especially with
31:20not that long left, I think I could
31:22make some mistakes that I can't fix.
31:26I feel quite stressed.
31:28I've got another layer to add.
31:30It's either got to turn the piece around
31:32or it's not really going to help
31:34and I don't know which way it's going to go.
31:36It's just getting worse.
31:38It's going so badly.
31:42Our artists are nearing the end of their four-hour challenge.
31:44So who will have done enough
31:46to win a place in the final?
31:48It's been quite difficult
31:50the last hour or so
31:52because the tides come right in
31:54and all the angles have changed.
31:56I'm so worried about that bit.
31:58Hello!
32:00So the tide's coming in.
32:02There's a lot of changes in light
32:04because of cloud and sun.
32:06I don't think any of the changes
32:08are affecting my painting much.
32:10It's just my ability
32:12to paint that's affecting
32:14the painting at the moment.
32:20So it just comes out
32:22with the water coming up.
32:24It adds drama.
32:26Well, he's on!
32:28Oh, my God.
32:30Stephen in the sea.
32:32Does anyone have a phone number for King Canute?
32:34Artists, you have five minutes left.
32:36Five minutes.
32:38Five minutes.
32:40Ah!
32:42Please hurry up.
32:48This is a horrible thing
32:50to have to do.
32:52I hope nobody that knows things about ships
32:54ever looks at this.
32:58Oh, my God.
33:00I hope I've done enough.
33:02Artists, your semi-final challenge
33:04is over.
33:06Stop doing and step away
33:08from your artworks!
33:32After a long day,
33:34it's finally time for the artists to relax.
33:36I'll definitely look back
33:38and think, oh, I should have done that
33:40or I could have added this.
33:42For one of these artists,
33:44there's a life-changing prize on the horizon.
33:48The winner will embark
33:50on a tour of the south of France,
33:52visiting the iconic landscapes
33:54that inspired renowned artists
33:56Monet, Cézanne and Van Gogh.
34:00They'll visit the mountains of Provence,
34:02the birthplace of Cézanne's
34:04deconstructed style which paved the way
34:06for 20th-century modernism.
34:10Antibes, where Monet found
34:12a new way of looking at light and colour
34:14which transformed his painting.
34:18And the countryside around Arles,
34:20where Van Gogh sought solace
34:22in the natural world.
34:26Our winner's landscape will be exhibited
34:28at the prestigious Courtauld Gallery
34:30in London, alongside its famous
34:32collection of Impressionist
34:34and Post-Impressionist masterpieces.
34:40For now,
34:42our judges need to choose which three
34:44artists will go through to the final.
34:48What a fine collection of paintings and a print.
34:52I mean, seven excellent
34:54semi-finalists.
34:56A sense of self-congratulation about that?
34:58That was a subtext, that is true.
35:00Well, I'll say it if you won't.
35:02Well done on picking seven terrific artists.
35:04So, we have to whittle
35:06these seven down to three.
35:08It's not going to be easy.
35:10So, Sarah,
35:12a painting of two halves, really.
35:14Did you like both halves equally?
35:16For me, it's one picture. Compositionally,
35:18she's done something very clever with the
35:20concrete leading you down to the water.
35:22I feel like she's really responding to the gravitas
35:24and the weight of this place.
35:26Composition's ingenious.
35:28I love her mark-making.
35:30I must say I'm quite surprised that it isn't
35:32as varied as it was in both
35:34the heat and her submission.
35:36So, I miss that a bit, but I think the way she's
35:38structured it is just fantastic,
35:40and some beautiful colour passages through it.
35:44Molly made a print.
35:46It's obviously tiny.
35:48How did you think that turned out?
35:50I love what Molly's done. You feel like you're looking
35:52at something ancient, but when you go up close,
35:54it feels really contemporary.
35:56It's extraordinary to take something so big
35:58and make it so small, but up until a point,
36:00I think maybe part of the reason I like it
36:02is because I kind of marvel at the technical
36:04quality of it, but I don't know if it goes
36:06that much further for me, because if we
36:08just blew that up, is it an arresting image?
36:10But does that matter?
36:12Why would you blow it up?
36:14No more than we would make one of these small.
36:16The thing is the thing.
36:18It's like those people who speak very quietly
36:20and you have to sort of lean in to hear what they're saying.
36:22Charismatic, isn't there, about something that small?
36:26That's a very good analogy.
36:28Ben, the only artist
36:30to completely ignore
36:32this unbelievably
36:34big ship right in front of our eyes.
36:36What did you like about his work?
36:38I think if you're an artist like Ben
36:40and you really find nothing of interest in this
36:42ship, then we really need to know that you
36:44feel interested in the scene that you gave us,
36:46that it's not just a substitute.
36:48You believe his passion for this kind of
36:50decaying concrete pier
36:52and the struts there.
36:54I worry about the sky slightly.
36:56I just feel like maybe it's neither one thing or the other.
36:58It looks a bit too much like the Simpsons sky for me,
37:00which is kind of like quite cute white clouds.
37:04Claire has given us this
37:06huge sky.
37:08It really is, for me, just a beautiful skyscape.
37:10I think she didn't overwork
37:12the rigging that I was worried that she would do,
37:14because she knew that it was going to be a key part
37:16of the composition.
37:18It's a bit abstract, what's happening on the left,
37:20but what I do get a feeling
37:22is a feeling of romance and nostalgia.
37:24I would almost just like her to trust herself
37:26enough to say, I don't need to put as much in.
37:28I can still make this a very kind of
37:30emotive, loaded picture.
37:34So Kieran's submission and heat-winning paintings
37:36were green, green, green.
37:38He didn't have any green to work with today.
37:40No, and actually he's
37:42reduced the palette even further.
37:44It's curious with Kieran. I feel like I'm looking at something
37:46so rusty that it's very, very
37:48unfinished. Most of our artists
37:50now have really managed to get under their belt
37:52four hours. They can finish something in four hours.
37:54This feels very light,
37:56expressionistic, fluid
37:58in the true Impressionist sense,
38:00capturing a fleeting moment.
38:02But then there are moments of solidity that I absolutely
38:04love. That thrust that he's got
38:06in the bottom section, that green
38:08of the water with the supports
38:10under the piers is so well observed.
38:12I'm very conflicted about this painting.
38:16You can't accuse Susan's
38:18painting of lacking drama,
38:20can you?
38:22It's like there's a war brewing.
38:24It's got this kind of historicism.
38:26It's certainly very dramatic. But for me,
38:28this painting lives off the relationship
38:30between this kind of cream colour
38:32behind the masting, but also
38:34in front of it. So you're not really sure
38:36where you are. Is the water behind
38:38her in front? Is the sky behind her in front?
38:40She plays around with the picture plane,
38:42so it feels very intense.
38:44Do you think that's deliberate? I think she's very
38:46deliberate in all of her choices. I mean, it's
38:48crude, but it's also very, very clever.
38:52Well, you look at Susan's and then you look
38:54at Rose. Talk about two people
38:56seeing a scene in a different way.
38:58What do you make of Rose's? I think Rose's sense
39:00of colour is really beautiful in the way she
39:02uses her acrylic in such a transparent
39:04manner that it has a feel of watercolour.
39:06And it's the whole thing glows.
39:08I think it's a very attractive picture,
39:10but it inhabits a weird
39:12place. I don't think she knows it's quite,
39:14by nature, quite an abstract painter. She responds
39:16to the way paint goes down and colour goes down.
39:18But then she has drawn
39:20the mast very carefully and the riggings,
39:22but not enough to be completely
39:24there. So it's a strange place.
39:26So I think a young artist
39:28still in the process of working out their language.
39:30I think it's very beautiful, but
39:32yeah, it's not quite complete for me.
39:34Well, it's a beautiful, sunny day.
39:36We're by the water and we're thinking,
39:38we're sending the artist to the south of France.
39:40They might be encountering such weather
39:42as this, and you've got to think about what kind of artist
39:44would be able to do justice to that.
39:46Not just following the impressionist footsteps,
39:48but actually do something really original with landscape painting.
39:56Artists, congratulations to all of you
39:58on getting through to the
40:00semi-final. It's been an absolute privilege
40:02watching you all work today.
40:04But as you know, and according
40:06to the rules of Landscape Artist of the Year,
40:08only three of you
40:10can go forward to this year's
40:12final. The first
40:14artist the judges have selected
40:16to compete in the final
40:18is...
40:22Ben McGregor.
40:24APPLAUSE
40:38The second artist
40:40is...
40:44Kieran Guckian.
40:56The third artist
40:58joining us at the final is...
41:04Susan Isaac.
41:06APPLAUSE
41:16Those of you who didn't make it through to the final,
41:18you should be immensely proud of yourself.
41:20Thank you for all your hard work today
41:22and at the heats. Thank you.
41:24APPLAUSE
41:30It's wild. It's amazing.
41:32I can't believe I'm a finalist.
41:34I'm really shocked. I wasn't expecting it.
41:36Congratulations.
41:38Thanks so much. See you in a couple of weeks.
41:40The other work was really strong,
41:42really amazing people, so delighted, yeah.
41:44I'm absolutely
41:46astonished to be a finalist.
41:48I was really not expecting to hear my name called out then.
41:54It's been a massive confidence boost.
41:56I hadn't dared to think I would get this far,
41:58so it's absolutely delightful.
42:00Wow. Just...
42:02Words can't describe.
42:04I am, like, absolutely buzzing.
42:06Really happy to be in the top three
42:08because the standard this year
42:10was so unbelievably high.
42:14What a final three.
42:16I think all three of them were very instinctive.
42:18They look at a landscape, they frame it,
42:20they put a composition together
42:22that comes out of nowhere.
42:24I think it's brilliant.
42:26I think it's brilliant.
42:28They put a composition together
42:30that comes out of their bones
42:32and somehow translates itself onto the canvas.
42:34I don't even really understand how Susan does what she does.
42:36I mean, it's amazing, the forcefulness
42:38and the fierceness
42:40and the really strong bravado,
42:42expressionistic qualities.
42:44I think Ciarán's language is interesting.
42:46It fits in what we consider traditional,
42:48but he bends the view he takes
42:50and he bends the colours
42:52and he does some very strange, subtle things
42:54which quietly move him
42:56into a different category,
42:58all of his own.
43:00Ben really delivered today
43:02because he showed us a different kind of mark-making.
43:04So he shows us within this language that he's created,
43:06he's got great range.
43:08And it was beautiful to look at,
43:10even though what he chose was really grotty.
43:12We definitely went for bravery today, didn't we?
43:14Yes.
43:16And I think each of our artists today
43:18are bringing us something which is slightly off,
43:20slightly different, and you have to remember
43:22that's what the Impressionists did.
43:24They brought a strength to the task.
43:28If you want to find out more about the competition
43:30and the work of the artists featured,
43:32visit our website.
43:42Next time, it's the final
43:44and we are on hallowed ground.
43:46I'm kind of drawn to the drum-banging druids
43:48because that's kind of cool.
43:50As Ciarán, Susan and Ben
43:52embark on the world's most enigmatic ancient monument,
43:54Stonehenge.
43:56Colour will be happening soon,
43:58hopefully.
44:00So who's sacrifice
44:02on the altar of art?
44:04I'm feeling tonnes of pressure right now.
44:06We'll see them anointed
44:08high priest or priestess
44:10of our 10th anniversary competition.
44:12The winner
44:14of Landscape Artist of the Year is...
44:22Famous names
44:24facing the same iconic interviewer.
44:26The new Sky original series
44:28David Frost vs
44:30debuts rare or never-before-seen
44:32footage.
44:34All episodes are available now
44:36on Sky Documentaries.