Landscape Artist of the Year 2023-My Wildcard adventure.
Well that was one of the best trips we have been on ! I entered “Landscape Artist of the year” 2023 and was choosen as one of the wildcard artist. My friend suggested it to me and I love the Sky Arts programme and said why not give it a go!I really didnt think I would get the call but surprisingly I did as a wildcard. If you havent seen the show its a art competition for landscape artist where ther is 8 main artist for the show that paint a particular scene and along side there is 50 wildcard artist. The artist paint and three judges choose a winner from the main artists and from the wildcard artist to go forward to the next heath.
It was a chance to go away with my husband for a break ,which we never do. It was also a chance to get out of my comfort zone and try something new. The place we where staying was a beautiful Scotish harbour village, Stonehaven in Abredeen. We flew out on a small plane to Abredeen on the Wednesday and got the train to Stonehaven. Very exciting and so nice to be going to somewhere new.An artist friend of mine Elaine Watters was going separately and she was a wildcard on the second day of shotting just up the road at Dunnottar castle.
Myself and my husband stayed in a lovely airb&b and had a little walk around the village .The weather was a bit unclement but we hoped for a brighter dryer day as we were up early for the filming. We arrived at the meeting point at the harbour with all the other wildcards,signed in and got our canvases stamped and we made our way to the area to step up. We had four hours to paint the beautiful harbour while the cameras filmed us. The nerves did get to me at one stage as my new easel wasnt very strong so I ended up having to sit on the ground.The film crew then asked me for a quick interview which total shook me up as I had not done very much painting to speak of at the stage. The rain stayed away for most of the time I had a umbrella thankfully.
I gathered myself and stuck to my guns and painted my little painting of these small boats moared in the dock framed by the old stone houses of the village. The colour of the boat reflected in the ripples was what attracted me .There is alot distractions with the crew and the public walking in around the artists. I had to try finishing it to some standard and got some nice comments from passers by and one of the judges admired it saying it was a “charming painting”. I was happy enough but I wasnt in it to win ,it was for the experiance.The winners where very impressive and I was delighted for them after all we encouraged each other throughout the day. The atmosphere was so lovely, the crew and artists where all so friendly.
We went for a few drinks with some of the artists and had a wonderful evening we have kept in touch still over the last few months.The next day we went for a lovely lunch and a coast walk that took us along up to the next filming destination Dunnottar Castle. The sun shone on this spectacular fortress out on a cliff edge. We were the spectators that day as we watched the other artists paint.That day was special as it was our time away to relaxed and unwind .My husband Gerard really enjoyed the trip and is so encouraging to me as always. I highly recommend grabbing opportunities when they come up and they can turn out to be something different and exciting.
To some up it was so good and it doesnt matter to me about the competition aspect I was there to learn and push myself .The programme airs over the next few weeks so you may see my face or not but I definitly had a ball.I have a nice little painting to remember our trip to Stonehaven.The producers encouraged us to enter again the following year which I have done yesterday! Another adventure awaits hopefully.
