Portrait Artist of the Year
£10,000 portrait commission, paint a sheep, Blue Mountains residency, VAA Art Open...
Hi there, it’s a wordy one this week so cue up some relaxing sounds and let’s begin…
Painters fall into two camps - those who can paint with a TV crew on their shoulder and those who’ve already stopped reading this sentence. If you’re in the former camp The Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Series 10 competition is open for entries. Us latter campers will cheer you on from our sofas.
Open to UK based artists with a self-portrait created within the last 5 years. The winner will be awarded a £10,000 prize commission. Filming will begin at Battersea Arts Centre in April 2023. It’s free to enter and closes on 24th February 2023.
Last year’s winner was fellow DJCAD alumni Calum Stevenson. Here’s Calum’s £10,000 prize commission of violinist Nicola Benedetti. The video interview below follows Calum’s journey from heeding tutors’ advice to ‘apply for everything that comes your way’ to getting used to painting in front of the cameras.
Speaking of portraits, the Scottish Portrait Award winners have just been announced, view this year’s winners and online exhibition.
New Competitions
Newly opened on MoMa & elsewhere…
BigCi Environmental Awards - 2 winners will each receive AU$4,000 and 4 week residency at BigCi for work responding to environmental issues & relevance to location in Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia. $35 fee, AU & Int. (4 Nov)
Splash 24: The Best of Watercolor - $2,000 1st prize, $45 entry, UK & Int. (15 Nov)
Become a Sheep Artist - 35 x £1,000 awards for Scottish based artists to transform fibre-glass sheep with their artwork for Royal Highland Show trail. (11 Dec)
VAA Art Open - £2,000 1st prize, London solo show, UK & Int (1st phase 12th Dec)
The Almenara Art Prize - $22,000 worth of prizes, representational painting from portrait to landscape & still life, $42 entry fee, UK & Int. (30 Jun)
UK Art Competitions - 13 open
Photo Competitions - 6 open
Kids Competitions
Newly opened on MoMa & elsewhere…
Draw a Dodo Competition - win a Dodo Pad & Slipcover, all ages UK & Int. (19 Oct)
NSPCC World Mental Health Competition - draw what makes you happy for chance to see your art on a Lidl billboard, ages 5-12, UK only (10 Nov)
Toyota Dream Car Contest - share your wildest and most imaginative car design for chance to win an iPad & $10k for school, ages 8-15, UK only (23 Dec)
Go Ape Design a Christmas Card - win a class trip to Go Ape, ages 4-11, UK (16 Dec)
Children’s Art Competitions - 12 open
Art Podcasts
Inside Frieze – what can it tell us about art, money and power in 2022? Enjoyed this podcast with Nosheen Iqbal and art critic Jonathan Jones.
The Great Women Artists a podcast by Katy Hessel - recent interviews include Amy Sherald, Tracy Emin & Marina Abramović.
Odds & Ends
20 years in the making, Michael Harding’s new watercolour range gets a test run by Evie Hatch. Receive a free Michael Harding Watercolour Set worth £45 when you spend over £100 on any Michael Harding products at Jacksons.
Illustration Isolation: Life Drawing Online - free weekly online class (20 Oct, 6pm CT)
DALL-E 2 - the new AI art generator, is now open for everyone to use.
Art Opportunities
New arts jobs this week in England, Scotland, Wales, NI, Ireland & UK wide.
Art opportunities worldwide from Art Deadline, Art Rabbit & ArtistOpenCalls.
Yup. The two year backstory.
See you next week,
Grant