Portrait Artist of the Year 2025

In addition to the final celebrity sitter, finalists are required to make a portrait of a loved one - in this case, I painted my housemate and best friend, Matt. In this blog post and in my desire to teach people about monoprinting, I wanted to discuss this portrait, including the process, challenges and certain decisions I made before painting Brian Cox in the last leg of the competition. Matt, Housemate 2025 Mixed-media (monotype, watercolour and pastel) on Hahnemühle paper

So, the final is here, and if you've already watched the episode, you'd know that I am honoured to have been named the winner of this year's Portrait Artist of the Year competition! I've made a separate post about the commission piece I made of my housemate and best friend, Matt, which you can read here . Before getting into the thick of my portrait of Brian Cox, I wanted to talk a bit about making a monotype for the finals. Like my other posts, I've broken up my blog into th

For the semi-finals, the heat winners and I walked into the main hall of the Battersea Arts Centre; what was once a segmented stage was now a beautiful set that reflected English heritage, a love of baking and grand floral arrangements. When we were speculating on who our sitter would be, our guesses were pretty unanimous, and from my many years of watching Bake Off, I was excited to have Mary Berry walk on the platform and sit down in front of me. Like my blog post about the

Nearly 7 months after the filming, I am finally able to share my experience of the heats of PAOTY 2025. And before I get into the details of my heat portrait (and spoilers), I am excit ed to share that I've advanced to the semi-finals of the competition! I thought I'd break up the post into three sections: the prep aration , my experience of the day , and my final portrait and afterthoughts . The Preparation As a monoprinter, I need access to an etching press to print my plat

In my first post discussing the application to Portrait Artist of the Year 2025, I mentioned that I wanted to dedicate a separate entry to talk about the self-portrait I created and submitted for this year's competition. Outside Battersea Arts Centre, April 2025 I've spent many years developing my practice, thinking about how and why I work as a creative and individual and what this means for my art. I am a process lead person and during the last 10+ years, I've trialled diff