- 11 hours ago
Portrait Artist of the Year - Season 12 Episode 9 -
Mary Berry
Mary Berry
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FunTranscript
00:00Hello today we're joined by eight remarkable artists who excelled at the
00:14heats and beat the unrelenting four-hour time limit will they once again rise to
00:19the occasion or will they crumble it's the semi-final of portrait artist of
00:25the year over eight thrilling weeks 72 brave artists have created unforgettable
00:34portraits of some of our best-loved personalities
00:44welcome thank you they're gonna take four hours it's four hours yeah you've got
00:49somewhere to be no no not anymore no I have a restless soul so you better be
00:54quick is all I'm saying turn your easels oh my gosh they are fantastic oh I did
01:05the thing I said wow it was as well three of you that's a lot in it one of me's
01:09too much if I may say so you've made me look kind of miserable with inventive
01:15techniques and dynamic painting styles eight artists earned their place in the
01:20next round crazy I didn't expect that at all it meant a lot and it's quite
01:26overwhelming at stake is a ten thousand pound commission to paint award-winning
01:31mathematician and broadcaster professor Hannah Fry for the Royal Society to
01:36celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first women elected to its fellowship
01:40professor Kathleen Lonsdale and professor Marjorie Stevenson observing their every move are our judges
01:49well it's been you really racing ahead here you're on a mission yeah I'm on a mission to enjoy myself
01:56enjoy yourself but only three can go through I'm having a great time I just wish it was like six hours or
02:04something so the artists must maintain their focus I am definitely feeling a pressure I'm just uh trying
02:10to stay calm and not let it kind of make me tighten after all and deliver a portrait deserving of a place
02:16in the final so you're kind of down the end here yeah everyone rolled over you'd be the one who fell out the
02:23the artists who triumphed in their heats to claim a spot in the semi-final are
02:41London-based gallery production and studio manager Chloe Barnes Courtney Bay a creative marketer residing in Surrey
02:51Nigerian artist Uthman Wahab living in Kent and Lauren Ross an art tutor and painter from Edinburgh
03:00I'm so excited to be in the semi-finals I honestly never expected it so yeah I'm really excited to see
03:07you who the sitter is and what the day brings joining them in today's semi-final are Paulina
03:14Kritniewska a painter living between London and Poland from Wiltshire full-time artist Edie Bound
03:21librarian Vincent Stokes from Birmingham and full-time artist Katie Jones from Somerset I
03:29just want to crack on and hopefully do a painting of someone that looks like a person that's my main hate
03:38today we've gone for quite a different feel with the set this year I think what we're giving them
03:54actually is an opportunity to navigate the space and bend it to their will right what do you think
03:59a Baker for sure but it's quite traditional isn't it it looks like going to be like a middle-aged person
04:06to be you know with the rolling pin oh my gosh there's a lot of objects but there is a lot of
04:12room to play do we get like him baked goods in the break today I'm looking for the holy grail and what I'd
04:25love is an artist you can get a really good likeness but at the same time has enough of the quirk or
04:31something slightly unusual that makes me feel like we're moving things on a little bit we want blood
04:39sweat and tears we want our semi-finalists to show us their range of their artistic skills we want them
04:44to show us that they understand what makes great art what makes great portraiture it's a lot to ask but
04:50it's a semi-final I think the artists are gonna have a shock when they see our sister today this
04:59is somebody who everybody knows and not only everybody knows but everybody loves and so you've
05:04got a national treasure you've got to do them justice artists congratulations on making it this
05:11far in the competition and as it's the semi-final we thought we'd invite along a true television icon
05:17to be your sitter today known for her culinary expertise as well as for inspiring millions in the
05:24kitchen as a judge on the great British bake-off please welcome Dame Mary Berry
05:30I'm very excited for your dress for the park
05:47very nervous yeah is that you're lucky this is my lucky for ya
05:55ah darling lovely to meet you come on then there you go
06:07wow welcome well we have to start with who's this this is Freddie hello Freddie quite
06:15excited to be here I'll be well considering that that was about 20 minutes of applause I think
06:20Freddie handled it pretty well well I think it was for Freddie it was so welcome this is your home
06:26for the day do you have a space for a portrait of yourself on your wall of space will be named space
06:32will be made right Mary we asked you to bring along an object that has some significance for you what
06:38did you bring along with you I thought one of two things actually William our son sadly is no longer
06:46with us he he died in a car crash and so anything of Williams means a lot to me so I bought a box when
06:52he was 10 in his woodwork class he made a box for shoe cleaning and when you lift the lid he wrote happy
07:01birthday and the date and then he also made a valentine card and he drew three elephants and the biggest one
07:10he called his brother Thomas and then there was William and then there was Annabelle I thought it was so sweet put it in a frame and
07:17I've kept that yeah we were so lucky to have him and he was 19 when he died and I have nothing but good memories of him
07:25quite right and in your portrait would you like Freddie would you like the object it's really up to you but it would be nice to have Freddie in he's a good chat he's a lovely dog and he loves everybody and he's fairly
07:38and he's fairly biddable unless a rabbit comes by nobody's got a rabbit to have that because he does like chasing a rabbit
07:46artists you have all the ingredients here to create a masterpiece so it's time to put your skills to the test
07:56you have four hours on your marks get set paint
08:02do you mind looking at the dog I'm gonna wait until he looks up at you ready
08:15there we go such a poser we should be able to face forward but look at me that would be really great
08:25with the prospect of a double portrait on their hands our semi-finalists waste no time
08:39Mary Berry has a presence right so I think that's why I went for this square canvas
09:08which maybe wouldn't have been my natural approach it just didn't seem right to confine her to this
09:14Courtney Bay is a creative marketer for a charity she demonstrated a strong relationship with her heat
09:22sitter ballet dancer Rhys Clark and her dynamic portrait cemented her place in the next stage
09:28Courtney you put a lot of paint down very quickly in comparison to the heat you've chosen quite a
09:36conventional pose mm-hmm we're expecting to see Mary lying on the floor doing something interesting
09:42I want to share that I can still do something that is traditional but mainly Mary doesn't lend
09:48herself to anything but this but you've undermined that quite traditional pose by having the dog sort
09:53of yeah appearing but not appearing I don't like doing animals oh I see because they're automatically
10:02sweet and we all draw our eyes at the animal and we go oh and there's no real way to cut through an
10:07animal oh man come a bit too low down you've gone what too low down gone too low what you mean Katie well
10:31because the composition that I wanted to have was the hand oh I see but I feel happy that I've got
10:37them both looking the same way have you just realized about the hand no I realized almost instantly right
10:43Katie Jones is a professional artist she gained her place in the semi-final with a sensitive portrait of
10:52broadcaster James May why have you gone landscape it just gives a sense of space and I quite like that you
11:00do yeah we gonna see a stark white background today yes a lot of color up there you know well from where
11:05I'm sad I can't see any of the background but in your photo oh yeah actually I think you've actually
11:14helped me out here all right if I don't be a first if I add in that background yes it's quite well it's
11:20quite well okay yeah so thanks for that yeah no problem yeah if you win I want to cut just saying
11:25that on the record the medium of choosing today is oil paints and I might end up using acrylic and
11:43or bar with it it depends on the kind of texture and the kind of vibrancy I want to achieve so I'll
11:50get my design right then we call it a day Nigerian artist Uthman Wahab took an instinctive approach
11:58when he painted political journalist and presenter Beth Rigby his resulting insightful portrait secured
12:05his semi-final spot well when you really racing ahead here you're on a mission yeah I'm on a mission to
12:14enjoy myself to enjoy yourself not to wait if I win is gonna be a bonus a bonus yeah and that's
12:20interesting and you've gone pretty big I mean you did the same with Beth is this your sort of go-to
12:24scale naturally I do bigger scale this is like one of the smallest you know so it's still not like my
12:32do you feel charged but do you feel like contained no because I just agree to this moment and it's fine
12:40you're a great believer in face yeah do you always wear gloves when you think yeah so it's a very inky
13:00process that I'm doing and so you've taken off your shoes you're taking it very very seriously yeah so in
13:07my studio I don't normally wear my shoes I know I have music blasting and kind of dancing around and
13:12painting at the same time so I thought I'd just do the same here Chloe Barnes is a mono printer who
13:18paints with etching ink on aluminium the judges praised her inventive mark making in capturing
13:24broadcaster Clara Ampho who loved the portrait so much she kept it today just as in the heats Chloe
13:31will present her work on a plate instead of paper morning Chloe what's the plan I'm second bit bigger
13:39this time so I really wanted to push myself I really like the way you position Mary's head you
13:44know it's not where you might traditionally expect it's not in the center in fact it's down yeah so
13:48Freddie's kind of looking off towards the right and is that because Freddie's gonna make it in the
13:52picture that he's gonna make it double portrait double portrait I mean it's Dame Mary Berry she
13:57bought her doll you can't ignore it the artists have been concentrating on their portraits for nearly an
14:06hour this is sort of like the boring stuff before I can play I will definitely work in more detail in
14:18some parts but I just sort of have to balance it out because then that wouldn't feel like my style
14:22I'm really happy that got the drawing done in the first hour because that was my plan and now I feel
14:34like I can just get into the flow of it and just paint which is the fun bit I've been able to put almost
14:45all the objects she came with today the plants the box and of course the dog so literally it's all are
14:54in this little canvas for the past hour our eight semi-finalists have been racing the clock to capture
15:09the unmistakable charm of culinary legend Dame Mary Berry
15:13how's it going for you it's um quite a lot of pressure but um I'm very excited that it's both of
15:28you good you're doing the dog yes definitely you've even got a little dog around your neck I do have my
15:34little dog around my neck yeah I just love I love dogs but I want to kind of capture you interacting
15:39is really my aim so it's quite exciting that I get the chance to do that with you both
15:47artist Edie bound created a striking portrait of rock star young blood and won over the judges with
15:54her lightness of touch securing her spots in the semi-final Edie you've chosen a photograph of Mary
16:02where although she's smiling beatifically her eyes are closed I mean it felt like a bit of a risk but it
16:09felt more like a moment I think the dog kind of tells you a lot about Mary so even if her eyes are closed
16:15or she's looking down at him unless the back of something the dog is looking at us so we are having a
16:20relationship with the dog yeah sort of Mary vicariously is having so it's a you're setting
16:25up a very complex psychological drama yeah I know you've got him he knows exactly what's going on I
16:31see
16:31I'm still kind of working on my composition and making sure everything's right proportion but I
16:48know that it's well worth spending the time on this stage because if it's not right then there's
16:53not really any point in doing the other steps after now is to just get a little bit more down and make
16:59decisions faster at the heats art teacher and painter Lauren Ross captured DJ Melvin Odoom with a
17:08portrait the judges praised for its storytelling and vibrancy earning her a well-deserved place in the
17:14semi-final Lauren I love this fantastic yellow color that you've gone in with I can see there
17:22that that palette knife is loaded yeah it is I'm getting ready to do the background now and you're
17:26obviously quite important for you to get in some of the set I mean I can see the flowers are in there
17:30Freddie of course I really like painting hair so he's got plenty of hair and I definitely want to try
17:36and get the card in somewhere you've gone larger than we've seen before yeah is it strategically larger
17:41I kind of wanted to show my range but also I thought the direct gaze in this one listen I think as an
17:47underpainting this is spectacular thank you very good looking so really nice stuff
17:51so a much loved TV personality with a sweet little dog perched on her lap what are you after
18:05something saccharine and cuddly in a portrait today that's what you know so well she wants to be seen
18:12you know happy it is a cliche minefield cliche minefield it's a semi-final we're really testing our artists
18:18by laying a track yes we want to see artists grappling with that because Mary is also a 90
18:26year old person who's lived a full life touched by tragedy she's sharp there's a steediness to her
18:31that is also there and the artists need to tease it out and some of them have gone headlong into
18:38cliche right it could be early days but if they don't balance that it will be very one-dimensional
18:46and it will be disappointing so the object stays curious because the story behind it is heartbreaking
18:52it's full of meaning yeah and it's important to Mary yeah it's not all soggy bottoms and apple
19:00turnovers no there is a proper life has been left absolutely so we need to see that they can deal with
19:06something like this but it is it's a tough one today I really like this at this time I think it's very
19:23inspiring there's a lot of elements that I can play with I think the judges might expect me to do
19:28something interesting with my composition again just because I did that last time but I can't
19:33promise that professional artist Paulina Krytnievska forged a powerful connection with award-winning
19:40novelist to leaf Shafak the sensitive portrait she produced won over both her sitter and the judges
19:46well Paulina you've got a beautiful canvas I feel like this one is perfect for Mary I can see she's
19:56quite a traditional person and I feel like this aligns nicely like you know natural linen and that sort of
20:03traditional is does that make you feel more that you have to make something that's closer to a formal
20:07portrait yes I feel like this will reflect the sitter best yes well you've got a very noble dog head there in
20:13Freddie as well it's a real sort of conversation going on between those two I think what I want
20:20to capture here is the strength yeah but also a really nice relationship of them exciting yeah very
20:27so today I'm working with a range of mechanical pencils and rubbers and
20:44attractors a lot of dry media quite a limited range of materials but I will compensate for the limited range with my
20:52technical abilities so I think that will make up for my lack of color palette and
20:59lack of scale at the heats librarian Vincent Stokes drew writer and comedian Fatia El Goree who chose his work to
21:07take home with her the judges were impressed by the restraint he used to create a quiet and considered portrait
21:14portrait and Vincent taught me through the low in the frame Mary Berry why not just a big Mary
21:21and I think there's quite a few big Mary's around okay I'm thinking of spending the latter half of the day focusing solely on the
21:29objects so we have the lovely table and the box with the card in hopefully a rolling pin I had a plan for
21:37composition and as soon as I saw the set it all just run out the window so you mean you thought I've got
21:43this plan for whoever it is I can slot them into pretty much yeah that was my idea and then you were
21:47like oh no it's Barry it's back yes Barry I can't conceptualize Mary Barry change although I think some
21:57people are don't think so do that are they oh I've not really seen other people of course you're kind
22:03of down the end here you're kind of slightly yeah you know you're everyone rolled over you'd be the
22:08one who fell out the box wouldn't be the first time though wouldn't be the first time
22:12have you done dogs before yes I actually get commissioned quite a lot to paint dog portraits
22:28but I've never done one of a person with a dog I'm still looking forward to seeing because I haven't
22:33seen anything it's very it's very frustrating being this side I can't see what I think other
22:38sitters guess by reactions of the crowd yeah what paintings look like so we shall see the artists
22:46are nearly at the halfway point so as Mary prepares for a lunch break lunch did you hear that the artists
22:53assess their game plans getting Mary's face in is definitely the priority at the moment and I should
23:03be on track to kind of get that done and then start looking elsewhere soon my aim was to try and get
23:16everything but Mary painted before halfway through I'm speeding up to try and get as close to that as
23:23possible and that will put me at ease to then spend all the rest of time on Mary's face so that's the plan
23:28currently it all looks like it's going to plan so I'm not worried I'm not worried which is good and
23:38even if I was I wouldn't say so because you know as soon as you're thinking makes it so doesn't it
23:44it's the semi-final and for the past two hours our artists have been capturing baking legend
23:58Dame Mary Berry although some have been getting a bit of help from our audience do you want to paint
24:04you've got paint on your brush so you can go here okay it's a huge help thank you thank you that's great
24:14I'm living that brush from that I think it is yeah thank you I hope that doesn't count as cheating
24:22have you had a chance to have a look at the art on the back wall yet I have but they're all so
24:29different yeah okay well the man will give you an idea of what's in store for you later see Mary you
24:33must be used to the rhythm of the day like this I mean doing Bake Off all those years watching
24:38people at work and judging them I loved being a judge because you feel you can help people just
24:45like the judges here talk to all the artists and sort of bring the best out of them and add to their
24:51skills you want people to do well I want people to do well I want them to be proud and I don't want
24:57to cry yeah well we don't always manage with that semi-final day cooking up nicely are they rising to
25:15the challenge I think this is a bit of a tricky day because there's a set which they could really trip
25:23up with it we've got two sets of artists we've got the more traditional ones and then we got the
25:27more experimental artists so there's a weird Venn diagram that quite a lot of them are falling off
25:31the edges there are traps and the artists have to compromise I think Mary's the biggest trap of all
25:36don't you think because she's quite fragile and delicate but she's also strong so I mean some of
25:42these artists who are taking slightly more risks I fear for their lives if they don't get Mary Mary quite
25:47right don't mess with Mary too much yeah I think what Katie's really good at she keeps it very clean
25:53and it works very well with the lovely blue that Mary's got in the background Katie of all the
25:58traditionalists here is making the best painting somehow I think that coolness and the clearness
26:02makes it feel very modern Edie on the other hand with the closed eyes the most beautiful most sensitive
26:09pose I love it but of course that's not how we're used to seeing Mary for me it's still too sweet
26:15because Mary looks happy in it yeah I don't like portraits of people looking happy well I think
26:21maybe what will save it from being too sweet is that it is a bit wonky there's a kind of quirky
26:25qualities of all of the pictures that we've seen for me Dee and so I think she's a real contender for
26:29me today Courtney we saw what she did with Reese giving it an interesting twist yeah I think
26:36muscular painting is what Courtney is good at how do you bring muscular painting and the delicate Mary
26:42very together she's not giving us an attractive no but she's taken a very particular hold of the
26:49mouth and that has what's informed the painting Uthman spent a lot of the morning feeling his way
26:56through he was like that with Beth though it felt really sketchy and then suddenly all sort of came
27:01together it's a bit messy but I've got a confidence in him putting it all together I mean we did see
27:06the earthman do it before you're right maybe likeness is something he does at the end just to satisfy us
27:11and the great painting is what he does all day because he's clearly enjoying himself Chloe working
27:15on that large piece of metal yeah I think that it's a radiant material and it's a really radiant portrait
27:20my concern for Chloe is that she's already got quite a lot on there and I think she doesn't need much
27:25more we've never seen somebody work in this material in all the years we've done the show to set up a
27:31composition which has a dynamic to it which is not not sweet in any way I mean that's the sweet spot
27:36Lauren's painted everything but Mary so far I love what Lauren does and I love the way in which she
27:42makes the decisions about which things are going to be treated in the more abstract way and what I
27:46want to see come in now is just make Mary come alive it's like when a child eats their dinner and there's
27:51the sausages to last that's exactly what they've just done all the veggies that one last bite it's
27:55for all the bits that they love the most yeah exactly now Paulina is she setting your traditional
28:01sweet tooth on edge yeah it is it's the light coming through the hair I mean I think she could do an
28:07awful lot if she changed the hair is that interesting it's very backlit like a vision yeah because
28:13Paulina's got a great facility yeah and she's fantastic she's a cool artist you know so she's definitely
28:19someone who's gone a bit close to these traps that we've said yeah what saved the heat painting was
28:24course bringing the object yeah and she's not playing with any of the elements today has anyone
28:29caught a glimpse of Vincent's artwork you've got elbow him away have you you've got to drag him off
28:34there Mary's Louise she's right down at the bottom and it's partly I think because he wants to include
28:39everything that's around it but I mean I don't know how it's going to work once everything else has gone
28:43in is it going to be enough what I loved about his heat drawing was the singularity of the
28:48line I find this drawing of Mary a bit softer but I get a sense the man knows what he's doing so we'll
28:54have to wait till the end or he doesn't want us to know what he's doing yeah exactly it's very
29:05frustrating being this side of all the portraits I'm dying to what's the other side they peek around
29:11to look at me and Freddie but they just keep going this one what's going on I'm trying to decide how I
29:23want the dog to be part of this composition should you don't look directly to me you know to be part
29:29of the gaze okay you should look away she's a constant sort of reality yes yes okay Katie it's exciting
29:43seeing the colors coming in yeah I mean I've just sketched in Freddie he's looking a bit sketchy to me
29:50um that's your idea of sketchy there'll be a lot of other people's idea of a very proficient painting
29:55I think compared to Mary he feels quite sketchy well listen I think he already feels like Freddie
30:00okay that certainly feels like Mary that's the danger now I've got time to mess it up and fiddle and
30:06over bake yeah yeah I'm sorry it's so difficult isn't it working with someone whose face is so well
30:23known it is really tough yeah and she's like beautiful and feminine and pink yeah it's tricky
30:29so I mean have you been wrestling with your own way in which you'd like to sort of stylize definitely
30:33yeah trying to find places to make it more whimsical is a bit trickier Lauren you painted
30:47everything but the face yeah it's the hardest part it's thinking about the mark making it's color
30:52mixing so I was leave it to last and now I'm a bit worried about time but she sort of warm up on the
30:57rest of the painting exactly yeah it's not like a child who'll leave the broccoli till the end because
31:02this is something they don't like doing is that what it basically is that I'm just being really
31:06childish with just half an hour to go it's tools up and heads down I am flitting all over the place
31:20now I'm making adjustments and changing anything that I feel needs changing
31:26I think I'm just going to polish up areas back to metal to add some highlights and a bit more depth
31:36and just and just leave it I'm happy with everything
31:39I'm working on the dog at the moment I'm not entirely happy with myself I mean I'm having a great time I just
31:52wish it was like six hours or something or two days the eight semi-finalists have only moments left of
32:08their four-hour challenge to make some final adjustments to their portraits of Dame Mary Berry
32:13since we've gone back to Mary's face yeah I wasn't going to do that and obviously because you've
32:21only got a little bit of time left if you make a mistake and the fair yeah I guess that's why I'm
32:25asking our question why on earth would you do that have you just put it in now you're rubbing it
32:30with the tiniest rubber I've ever seen yeah I don't want to talk about happier unhappy no I'm sorry
32:37artists and happiness okay I hate pink and red and I'm having a hard time with the jacket because
32:51of it so I'm coming back to work on it now in hopes that I can fix it I think I'm gonna go right to
33:00the last minute I still want to add folds into the jacket so it doesn't look too flat so there's lots
33:05of things on my to-do list there's a suggestion of the hair and I quickly put a suggestion of the
33:11finger in and a suggestion of the necklace the suggestion of the dog Mary's a suggestion somewhere
33:17in there artists you have five minutes left five minutes I am definitely feeling a pressure I'm just
33:28trying to stay calm and not let it kind of maybe tighten after all nothing can go wrong I'll just leave
33:37it and call it a day artists your semi-final challenge is over please stop what you're
33:48doing and step away from your artwork
33:50Mary Berry and her faithful companion Freddie have sat stoically for four hours and it's time to reward
34:17their patience you survived I've survived how was it it was absolutely wonderful but I'm just waiting
34:26for that reveal well luckily we're absolving you of judging duty today I know I'm really looking I can't
34:32wait for that turnaround you're about to be confronted by eight Mary berries I just need to warn you it's a
34:38peculiar thing it is but it's a wonderful thing right artists can I ask you please to turn your easels
34:45I'm overwhelmed they're all so different how amazing colourful fun and lots of Freddy's lots of Freddy's
35:14lots of Freddy's each one has something special about here should we have a closer look right
35:20Vincent's been hunched over his artwork all day I was really worried about you you about that much away
35:30I rather like the idea that I'm looking calm and I can see will's little Valentine card in days
35:37indeed indeed it's lovely thank you Vincent no problem Alina I think that you enjoyed doing the dog more than me
35:47that's not true well no but you like dogs don't you I do he looks very content leaning on me I think he's
35:56looking at the audience out there you know thinking perhaps somebody will take me for a run it tells the
36:02story thank you Pally thank you Lauren well you've got the Valentine in the background with a little
36:11heart in three elephants and Freddy I think he looks a bit bored there don't you Freddy but you've
36:17certainly got my look quite cheerful thank you Lauren thank you thank you Chloe oh I think that is really
36:26so different from anything I've ever seen I was wondering what was happening because suddenly you've
36:31got a roller out but it's so different I like it thank you you use so much paint it seemed to go
36:43everywhere yeah it's really rather fun it looks as though I'm in charge there which I like to be
36:49thank you thank you Courtney wow it's very bold now Freddy's he's gone off to the side but why not
37:01everybody else has got him uh you certainly got me and it's very flamboyant it is quite different
37:07isn't it really thank you Courtney edy you like dogs don't you love dogs I think you've done him well
37:17oh you've got me it's sort of looking and thinking everything's all right yeah thank you easy
37:22Katie you've done the eyes very well I think the eyelashes are even better than mine oh really
37:31and a good smile and you certainly got Freddy I think you've captured it jolly well thank you thank
37:38you right thank you Katie so normally our sitters get to choose one of three but there are eight
37:45portraits of you you get to take one home with you I have chosen one I think I look contented and
37:52happy and I've fallen in love with it I haven't got room for it but I'm going to make room and I think
38:00it'll be the talk of the town I have chosen the one that is painted on aluminium Chloe
38:07Dame Mary Berry has made her choice but now it's the judges who have a difficult decision who makes it to the final three
38:31so eight artists you all had high hopes for inevitably some deliver and some don't on the
38:40day would that be fair yeah I mean I think the semi-finals tough I think we've got a group of
38:43artists here some of whom got it just right some of them might be on the side of playing it a bit
38:47too safe and some of them on the side of maybe a little bit too risky I think Courtney pushed her
38:52own style slightly too heavily upon Mary you know Mary's very delicate and when you impose a more
38:58muscular style on top of that it doesn't work but I think if you want to paint like this you need to
39:03collaborate with the sitter but she did very well in the heat and instead she went for this quite
39:06conventional pose and she left herself no space to soften it in any way Katie has given us these stark
39:13white backgrounds slightly softened today by that stripe of green yeah I think this is something
39:19slightly different so it's exciting to see an artist who actually shows us more and pulls it
39:23off in the time I mean that's a proper bit of painting in a day Edie would have said today was a
39:29perfect sitter for her and she'd have been talking about the dog she's absolutely dog mad and this
39:34painting is pretty much all about the dog isn't it I love the bravery of an artist to be like Dame Mary
39:39Mary okay but Freddie it's really Freddie I think there's a slight likeness issue in the mouth it doesn't
39:45feel as pretty as Mary was but that said I think that she did something very ambitious what I like
39:50about Edie's double portrait is it's about a human's relationship with the dog and how close they are
39:55you get a sense that relationships between humans and dogs it's full of life Uthman talked about
40:01wanting to find the strength and the sadness that he saw in Mary I mean Uthman was having such a great
40:07time today I was absolutely convinced that he would pull Mary out of that face by the end of today
40:13but he didn't no I think with Uthman it's always a sort of a balancing act between what the painting
40:18was dictating to him and I think the painting won today in a funny way yeah that Mary looks like
40:24she's about to kick my head in Chloe works on this extraordinary surface and it's the painting Mary
40:31chose to take home I can understand why she chose this painting I mean look at Freddie but I think Chloe
40:36really paid attention I mean she was really wanting to make a strong likeness we're entering a different
40:42world and I think it's beautifully set up it's just such a great composition and all done in this
40:47weird green monochrome as a piece of art and I think it's spectacular Lauren left the face till last
40:55yeah partly out of nerves she said but the problem then if you leave it to the last moment is the
41:00language has got to fit in you know and it's an odd language it's a pop kind of flatness to it and it
41:06suits the way she's painted everything else you know Lauren is so interesting isn't she the way she
41:10combines these different styles really interesting way of applying paint fabulous composition but she
41:16should have got to that face sooner Paulina's portrait I'm looking at that thinking is it too
41:22soft is it too backlit is it for you all of those things objectively it's just a beautiful painting of
41:28Freddie for me it feels at odds with the Paulina that I've seen before who's just feels a bit more
41:33contemporary than this it's one of the best Freddies in the room isn't it but I think there's an
41:37issue with the likeness if you look at Freddie and he's pretty much spot on why's Mary not spot on
41:42I don't know Freddie was looking at it thinking am I that
41:44Vincent was hunched over that desk I saw rulers protractors pencils he could have been doing
41:51maths homework but this is what he was doing what did you make of it it's a crazy fairy tale isn't it
41:57where this tiny woman and her dog is overwhelmed by cooking stuff and remember his submission yes okay
42:05a man is overwhelmed by all the various things in his life this composition maybe is just a bit
42:10too straightforward but there's something really peculiar about the submission unfortunately I
42:14just don't think this has got a strong enough narrative quality I think he could have been a
42:17bit weirder right well I've just realized of course that the one advantage Bake Off has over us
42:22because at this point I'd be able to eat eight cakes but I can't we have eight artists we need three
42:30for the final please and if you can't make a decision Paul Hollywood's waiting outside
42:33some people just had a better day made better choices early on and were able to execute portrait
42:47avoiding the sort of saccharine I mean there's some things don't have enough weight this is too sweet
42:51sweet yeah I'm happy with those three yeah clear and strong that's got real sort of painterly quality
42:57to it that's got a sort of silent sort of color majesty to it no good choice and I'm dying to see
43:04their commission I'm sort of ready for the next chapter artists well done to all of you for making
43:11it this far in the competition thank you for your hard work it's been an absolute pleasure watching your
43:16talents at work however as you know only three of you can go through to the final and the judges
43:22have made their decision the first artist they have chosen is Katie Jones
43:31the second finalist is Lauren Ross
43:51and the third finalist is Chloe Barnes
44:06I can't believe I'm a finalist it's really exciting and I almost just can't believe it so I feel like
44:23what I'm doing is kind of a risk but it seems to be paying off I don't know what just happened but I
44:36wasn't expecting that at all there's so many great artists I know everyone probably says that but there
44:41were so that was a real shock I can't quite believe that I'm in the finalist about so for a moment I was
44:50thinking did I hear that right and then was I miss hearing the name so it's so exciting all three of
44:58these artists really developed their practice Chloe's developed a way of sort of making sure that the
45:03aluminium in the background is now part of the painting as a whole Katie's got a very particular
45:08style and today she was really pushing on what she could actually give us and then with Lauren we have
45:14beautiful tonalities a real understanding of composition just a luscious painting I also very
45:21very confident that all three of these artists can make fantastic commissions so that has me tingling
45:26fingertips if you'd like to know more about the competition and the work of the artists featured
45:31in it please go to sky arts artist of the year dot tv
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