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Painting Challenge final
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Message
Posted
Well there we are, we were right all along.
WHAT a surprise.
Well, she probably deserved it. They all did well with their portrait challenge - quite an inspired idea to get them to paint their parents, I have to give the BBC that. Some very successful portraits - I'd have liked to give a special prize to Alan, as the painter who'd learned most, perhaps equalled by Jennifer who finally let her blasted hair extensions go. And they did better than I'd have done on the Queen's House/Greenwich paintings, on a boat - the only thing I'd have wanted to do on a boat is to get off the thing, as fast as possible, before my breakfast made a repeat appearance.
Posted
I thought David did best on the day, but Suman did best overall and I really liked her portrait of her dad. I thought Jennifer's portrait of her mum was awful - no sense of light, shade and shadow and therefore no sense of three dimensions.
And so it is over, but did any of us learn anything new from it?
Posted
In fairness, on the day they all did very well. Painting on a boat and having to cope with mal de Mar and wind strong enough to blow easels over as well as the tension of a final? Who but our beloved Bubble Bath Company could have come up with that one? I pretty much agree that Alan did exceptionally well, Jennifer picked the wrong day for her experimental art and David also did well. As an artist, Suman has been consistently good and deserved to win, so well done to her. Hope they all enjoyed it and I'm rather sorry personally that it's over. I'm big enough to say well done all and I wish them all well for the future.
Posted
As predicted the final result was never really in doubt and in some respects I expect the judges did look at the overall standard of work throughout the competition rather than just the last couple of pieces.
So there we have it, Suman is the best amateur artist in Britain, the BBC has said so and we can't argue with them, can we?... Good luck to her in her quest for fame and perhaps fortune, undoubtedly winning this thing will open a few doors that would normally be nailed shut for the likes of me so we'll see. One of the judges at the end did say that she can now go on and make a living from painting (or similar words), well good luck on that one also. it ain't going to be easy that's for sure.
Posted
Now it's all over, interesting to know just where the terms amateur and professional actually apply in something like this. Multi thousands of people must enter these things on a genuine "I'll have a go" basis, but just how well vetted are the contestants and if they class themselves as artists, are they truly amateurs? Is anyone who can manage to paint and draw without actually working for a living a true amateur? If parents can afford to put their children through University and obtain art degrees etc, can the charges then be classed as the same as a nine to fiver painting in limited leisure time only. It's great that they do, but where does it leave the line in the sand that exists in reality? I've always wondered.
Posted
The interesting question for me - not that all the other issues raised here aren't interesting too! - is Splosh's 'did we learn anything new from it?'. I too had been wondering that - will what I do change in any way from having watched the programmes? (That this probably wasn't the aim of the series is neither here nor there.)
I know what I won't be doing - much easier to identify that - I won't be using strips cut out of paper to focus my eye on what's in front of me; that's sort of what eyes are for, I would have thought; even though that does give you an interesting perspective. I won't be employing any of the teaching aids introduced to us .... at this stage, I probably shouldn't need them. And I most certainly won't be painting on a boat, or using canvas in a high wind.
What I might have learned - and this isn't new, but perhaps it helps to be reminded of it - is that one can get stuck in a given genre, and if painting landscape is what you do, a given place; and that concentrating on one area of a painting (although this is just what the winner did, in one of her paintings) can cause you to lose the overall concept and make your work static. At the same time, the disciples of looseness do perhaps need to remember that loose (hallo, Jennifer!) isn't enough: one likes a painting to look like a painting, but not like a nasty accident involving a flood in your paintbox.
So anything new - for me, probably not. But even so, I might change a bit ..... probably over time; and probably imperceptibly - giving all the credit, if there's any to be given, to my own perspicacity.
Posted
Apparently Suman is appearing on our regional BBC News programme tonight to be interviewed about the Painting Challenge and her decision to give up work to go to Leeds Art College. I thought she was probably the pick of the bunch over the six programmes, or what I saw of them, but thought one of the guys whose name I cannot remember was better in the final as his Greenwich painting was much better.
Just hope Suman doesn't get side-tracked at Art College, a friends son who went said it had little to do with drawing and painting but was all about conceptual art and installations...whatever they may be!
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