5 tips I learnt from competing on Portrait Artist of the Year Australia 2025
The cat is out of the bag. I was a participant on the TV show Portrait Artist of the Year Australia 2025! It was an incredible, surreal experience and one that I gained a lot of life lessons from. So I thought I would share them with you. Here’s what I learnt from competing on the first Australian portrait artist of the year competition:
1. Painting with other artists is one of the loveliest experiences an artist can have.
The nicest part of being on Portrait Artist of the Year Australia was meeting the other artists and painting along side them. It is such a BUZZ to be in a room with everyone tackling the same puzzle of how to paint their sitter and then getting to see how everyone solved that puzzle at the end. The other artists on the show were all so genuinely nice and supportive, as were the producers too. Katrina (who also painted Margaret Pomeranz alongside me) was so delightful and encouraging. Jamie (who also painted Margaret Pomeranz alongside me) was so chilled and such a down to earth guy. I highly encourage any artists to join a painting group. I organised regular portrait painting sessions here in Murwillumbah in preparation for my PAOTY heat. But I have continued these sessions every month since then as I just enjoy the experience so, so much.
Portrait artist of the year contestants from episdoe 2.
2. There are infinite ways to paint someone’s portrait and it’s not just about likeness.
I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t know much about portraiture before going on Australian Portrait Artist of the Year. But when you bring a bunch of artists together and get them to paint the same sitter, you very quickly realise there are more ways than one to paint a portrait. All of our portraits on PAOTY were so different! The things that I focused on in my portrait were not the same that others focused on in theirs. That made me look at our sitter in a totally different light which is brilliant, because that is what art is all about! Helping others to see from a different perspective. Since Portrait Artist of the Year, I have set aside time each week to look at the great masters and see how they tackled the great puzzle of portrait painting. I am learning SO MUCH! And it has opened up a whole new world of portraiture to me. I really appreciate PAOTY for being the spark that ignited this whole new world of art for me.
Film critic Margaret Pomeranz with my 4 hour portrait study of her from Portrait Artist of the Year Australia
3. Painting is relaxing.
Despite all the cameras, the nerves and competing against BRILLIANT artists, I learnt that painting under pressure feels exactly the same as painting in my studio at home with all the time in the world. During my PAOTY heat, once I got into the flow state of painting, I calmed down and all the imposter syndrome chatter faded away. It was just about putting paint on canvas and I had done that a thousand times before. It was like riding a bike.
4. If you get your highlight and shadow values painted in first, it’s much easier to paint a portrait!
Since practicing for and being on PAOTY Australia, I’ve learnt a LOT of new painting skills. My natural default painting mode is to start with the detail and end with the detail, painting everything in one pass. But these days I am trying to fight that tendency and to focus on getting accurate values blocked in at the start BEFORE I switch to detail mode. This has made painting a whole lot easier. It has also introduced some lovely elements to my painting (when you have lovely wet oil paint as a base on your canvas in the correct values and hues it makes for lovely blendy-blendy moments and a nice contrast of soft edges and hard edges). I have also been painting thicker, bolder and with bigger brushes, adding a whole new level to my skill set from what I brought to Portrait Artist of the Year Australia.
5. Painting with a time limit is one of the best ways to improve your painting
I learnt this from a David Dibble workshop just before I went on Portrait Artist of the Year Australia. David encouraged me to practice small painting studies for 45 minutes and even 20 minutes! I didn’t get to try these much before I went on PAOTY but I have been doing them a lot lately and they really are a great exercise, particularly if you’re like me and focus too soon on detail rather than painting in the big shapes, big values first. Before I went on PAOTY, finishing any painting in 4 hours seemed like crazy talk! But now I have loosened up my style, 4 hours feels like a pretty normal painting session for me.
All the best to all the Australian PAOTY 2025 contestants! I can't wait to watch each episode as it airs and I hope you can glean as many great art lessons from the show as I did.
Anne
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