Ep 1. Episode 1

Portrait Artist of the Year is a British television series that premiered in 2013. It is a competition that focuses on painting portraits and is open to amateur and professional artists of all ages. Each episode features a group of artists who compete against each other to see who will become the Portrait Artist of the Year.

The first episode of season one of Portrait Artist of the Year is set in the National Portrait Gallery in London. This episode features six competitors who are tasked with creating a portrait of one of three famous sitters: Alan Cumming, Richard Dawkins, or Joan Bakewell. The three sitters are chosen for their complexity and the challengers are tested to capture the psychological and emotional nuances of their subjects.

Each competitor is given four hours to complete their portrait. They have access to oil or acrylic paints, canvas, and brushes. The artists are allowed to bring in their own equipment, but there are also shared resources that they can use. To make things more challenging, the artists work in a large studio with cameras and onlookers watching their every move. This puts pressure on the artists to create something impressive in a short amount of time.

The first artist to be introduced is Jennifer McRae. She is a full-time artist who has been working for over 30 years. Jennifer is inspired by her surroundings and likes to paint landscapes but is keen to test her portraiture skills on the show. She explains that painting portraits is challenging due to having to capture a subject's character and emotions for others to see.

The second artist introduced is Nick Lord. Nick is a practicing doctor and only paints in his spare time. He has only been painting for two years but has developed his skills quickly. Nick says he is fascinated with faces, which is why he decided to try his hand at portrait painting.

The third artist is Eleanor Watson. Eleanor is an illustrator and graphic designer who has been painting for eight years. She is excited about the test but is worried about how she will handle the time pressure since she is used to working on projects over a longer span.

The fourth artist is Karl Smith. Karl is a freelance artist who has been painting on and off for the last 20 years. Karl is excited to paint Alan Cumming as he is a big fan of the actor and finds his face to be interesting to paint.

The fifth artist is Tania Olivier. Tania has been painting for the last ten years and loves nothing more than painting portraits. Tania is excited about this competition and has been practicing painting quickly in preparation for the four-hour time frame.

The final artist is Christian Hook, a professional portrait artist who has been painting portraits for over 12 years. Christian has won several awards for his work, and in 2014 he won the competition Artist of the Year in the UK. Christian says that he is not intimidated by the competition but is excited to be challenged.

Throughout the competition, the artists work frantically, trying to capture the essence of their sitters. They each experience different challenges, from mixing the paint too thick, to not having enough time to finish the portrait.

When the time is up, the judges examine the six portraits and give their critiques. Each judge has a different perspective and is looking for something unique in each portrait. The judges are looking for accuracy, likeness, technique, and originality. They also consider the difficult task set by painting a sitter such as Joan Bakewell.

The suspense builds as the judges deliberate which artist to send home in the first elimination round. This episode concludes with the judges revealing which artist will move to the next round and which artist will be eliminated.

Overall, episode one of Portrait Artist of the Year season one is an exciting and fast-paced introduction to this creative competition. The artists are talented and passionate, and the challenges they face are intriguing. Portrait Artist of the Year is a show that will appeal to anyone who is interested in art, and those who are fascinated with the art of capturing a person's likeness on canvas.