Still Life Challenge, and the big unknown - this is the information I was armed with when I boarded the train for Oxford, leaving my family with their list of things to do, and my daughter to have her second birthday without me there! (I had climbed Ben Nevis the previous year for charity and never been allowed to forget it!) We had been asked to select personal items that meant something to you, and arrange them to form a Still Life that would be painted in a medium of our choice. I cannot even begin to tell you how many items I collected from around the house! My sons first shoe, my daughters first rosette, won in her first Pony Club competition, my sons shiny football trophy (well, one of them, he has so many!), an item of horse tack, an old Singer sewing machine harking back to my Fashion degree and hedonistic student days! But I decided that all that was a bit cliche and corny, so I  focussed on my reason for painting. My motivation, why was I doing it? 
I had a bit of a career crisis in my mid forties (who doesn't!) which felt like a gradual awakening from a dream where you feel like you are wading through treacle, trying to escape from impending doom! Fashion! It's great! When you are young, carefree, and quite frankly don't give a shit about the planet, or half the people who live on it. Let's face it - it's great to cheer you up on a Monday morning when you see someone hobbling into work in the latest crippling shoe design, or wearing a wacky item of clothing. But I was in management towards the end of my career, and saw all too well how the industry railed against every principle I had come to hold dear. Screwing the factory for one more penny, knowing that would have an impact on the employees; shouting on an email about how unacceptable it was that a shipment was late! Who cares about a sodding Tsunami! Not the shareholders in head office that's for sure!
So, disheartened and disillusioned by the corporate aspect of my life long career, I went back to being hands on. The sewing machine came out and Alison's Wonderland was born. I made clocks, bags, doorstops, chalkboards, decorated flower pots, made jewellery and sold them at craft fairs and via my website (which I designed and set up too).

For my leaving present from work I had a one on one lesson in Oil Painting from my old art tutor Will Kemp. I hadn't painted seriously since the few lessons me and a colleague had booked as an after work stress reliever, and we had worked in acrylics during those sessions, but I wanted to try oils, so Will came armed with the necessary equipment and we sat in my kitchen while he got me to practice mixing and getting the feel of the paint on canvas. It surprised me how little you needed to go so far! And it didn't dry quickly! Great! I could mix all my colours, do the school run, make tea and then come back to my painting while the kids were in bed. This was the medium for me!
The first painting I did in oils was my cockerel 'Marmaduke'. It was the turning point for me. I posted the painting online and immediately got my first commission, an Antiguan Sunset. From there, my second commission, Bamburgh Castle, and then dogs and horses. I never looked back.
So getting back to my Still Life, the ceramic chicken was for me, a symbol of getting back to nature, my role as a mother, and it is a container for one of lives mysteries - the egg! The birth of something new! The tape measure signified my journey, and I focussed on certain numbers on it - the ages that I made life changing decisions. The paint brush - my new found purpose, and the green ghost! They didn't like that did they? The little green ghost was given to me by my lifelong friend Lorraine Pickles. I wanted something to symbolise what friendship and support was to me - and that reflected my sense of humour and fun. Something that showed that art is about getting back to reality, recognising the joy in everyday things, and events, having fun (you're only here once!). Mmmm, if I could work that into a painting and poke fun at the snobbery of art without anyone being offended then great! I arranged the objects so that it looked a bit like Alton Towers does The Archers…the little green ghost was going to slide down the paintbrush onto the back of the chicken…Weeeeee! 

Well that backfired didn't it! Daphne took great umbrage at that painting - there was no place for 'comedy' as she took it, in the competition and I found out the hard way! I had tried to be too clever!
The first Challenge of week 3 in the competition was a disaster for me. That plus the fact that I was missing my daughters birthday to be there - I was an emotional wreck by the time we got to sit and draw giant chess pieces on the lawns of Blenheim Palace!

And here was an exercise in tone and perspective! Giant chess pieces on a giant chess board. We were all sat in specific places around 4 chess boards and had 30 minuted to draw what we saw in front of us. We had charcoal, chalk, a pencil and tonal paper - oh and the sun in our eyes! But we don't get many sunny days in Britain so I'm not moaning about that!
I love the quick draw challenges - getting your eye in early is the key to it - and really looking at the relationships between objects in terms of position and how they relate tonally.
I saw that with about 5 minutes to go, my relationship between my chess piece and the checks on the board were wrong! I quickly made an attempt to alter it and kept my fingers crossed. You really never knew if it was going to be picked on for being wrong, or praised for an attempt to get it right! Luckily Daphne plumped for the latter approach and gave me a good critique - but in hindsight she was probably being kind, and trying to allow me to leave with at least half a feather in my cap.

The artists by now were all tired, but excited by our last challenge of the day. We knew it was going to involve the amazing Blenheim Palace but had no idea what they had in mind. So as we were led through the archway into the area where we would sit, with the enormous gates and landscape behind us, and in front the architectural splendour (nightmare) of the Palace itself. We had specific places to sit, and I was right in the middle. The first thing that struck me was the sweep up to the Palace and the symmetry of the building, the orangey yellow sandstone and the intricate detail in the mouldings, statues and shapes. This was going to be a massive challenge. I could have chosen to pick out one area, but that for me wasn't what Blenheim was about. It was that view of the splendiferous facade that struck me and that was what I was going to paint - even if it killed me! I wanted the drama to be in the sweep through the foreground, which I wanted to take up 2/3rds of the painting, to the building itself. That was my first mistake - If that was what I had intended, then nothing could have been further from the truth in the final piece. I should have paid more attention to the time and allotted more than 5 minutes to that area of the painting! I wanted the reality of that first view of the palace to be reflected in my painting. Not a tower, or an arch - the whole thing! My second mistake! I got so bogged down in how one window sat next to the one next to that and the one below that and so on, that after about an hour I had lost the will to live! At one point the Duke of Marlborough (RIP) came out to see how we were doing. I asked him (respectfully) how his window cleaner coped with all the windows. His reply was to ask our producer "Where on earth did you got these people from". Well at least he was honest! Hahaha!

As the time ticked on and the 30 minutes call finally came, I sort of gave up. I inwardly admitted defeat and just fiddled, not really making any difference to the painting at all. In hindsight I could have got the brush and scribbled all over the canvas and made a difference…it would have been an improvement on the nothingness that I had when the Time's Up call came. But when all is said and done, I hadn't been in the frame of mind to give it my best shot, and so it was no surprise to me when my name was called to leave the show. Of course now, watching it back I wish I had pushed the niggling guilt demons away and concentrated on doing my level best. But it just proves to me that you can't churn out a masterpiece when your head is not in gear. Painting is from the heart, and if your heart isn't in it your painting won't be either! 
I hope that if you have managed to watch The Big Painting Challenge, you have enjoyed my participation in it. I am back in my studio getting ready for a very exciting joint exhibition with the other contestants, and I will tell you more about that very soon.
Next week, I will be watching from my sofa, with a big glass of wine in my hand and an objective view of everyones response to the challenges set before them!

So this week was the Portrait week! The programme was to feature 3 challenges:- A self portrait, a quick draw challenge, and a portrait of "Someone Famous". 
This is all we knew before arriving at a disused warehouse in London. We had 10 days from filming the last episode to think about the challenges that lay ahead. 
During those 10 days life pretty much went back to normal for me. I had a family and pets to look after, a freelance project to complete, and some practice and preparation to try and cram in! 
We knew we would be asked to paint in oils, which I was quite happy about, as they are my medium of choice when painting portraits anyway. However, anyone that paints in oils will tell you they take an age to dry! So the technique that we would be using was Alla Prima (all in one go!). This meant that the glazes and layers that I usually lay down to create depth and luminosity would have to be sacrificed for a more immediate method. I did some research and found some really striking paintings by contemporary artists that used blocks of colour to describe contours and light/shade, so after a little bit of practice and strict discipline I found that I could achieve a good likeness and the look that I was after.
I wanted my Self Portrait to be an honest depiction of how I see myself, so I wanted a warts and all approach, enhancing the bags under my eyes, the size of my nose (its big, but it's not THAT big!). To create visual interest, I chose to use a 'prop' that had relevance to my background in textiles, so I chose a scarf that reflected the colours of my skin and hair. This should enable me to limit my palette and give a more cohesive look to my final piece. 
During my practice run, I found the hardest thing was getting enough down in the time given. 3 hours is not long when you are also under the press of adding ad hock narrative to your painting's progress and trying to convince the judges of your ability and determination to make it work, plus any dramatic disasters en route to a masterpiece! I worked quietly and steadily and was quite relieved that I didn't have too many interruptions…
As the "Times Up" call came I had painted everything except my background which was still the Yellow Ochre base that I had put down in Acrylics! This to me was a mistake - even if I had quickly painted a colour already on my palette it would have been better than the huge expanse of canvas to the left of my face! But once you are told to down brushes you live with the knowledge that it will be used as a big negative when you stand in front of the judges for the critique. Sure enough it was the one thing that the judges felt let the painting down - however, thankfully the edit of that particular episode failed to show Daphne slating that aspect! Instead she said my painting didn't do me justice and that I was prettier in real life! "Thanks Daphne" I simpered (they showed that bit!!) and shuffled back to my stool. Lachlan's comments reflected his understanding of what I was trying to portray through my observations…worried expression (it was a worrying experience, plus I feel that as a Mum I am always worrying about something!) and my use of colour! Thumbs Up! Hooray!
After sitting on the stools for what seemed like eternity we were dismissed until they were ready to film the Quick Draw Challenge!

Oh the stools! INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE!! Who the hell designed the stations for the artists for this programme? It was the constant gripe of us all - the stools were wooden and flat and by the end of a gruelling 12 hours of filming we were all crippled! We all moaned that much that by the following week they had added padding to them, but it didn't really make much difference. If they go forward with another series any of you out there wanting to take part make sure you mention the stools! Or take a cushion! Also the tables were so small you couldn't possibly fit everything on them so we all had boxes of paint, brushes, rags and screwed up discarded paint soaked kitchen roll all around us! It was very difficult to try and do your best in those circumstances. 
What's that I hear? A bad workman bla bla bla! All I can say is that it's a good job none of us were suffering from piles! (well I don't think we were…Anthea?)

The next challenge was the Quick Draw from a life model. I quite quickly got a good likeness and using a Conte Crayon I built up tone and shading to get a feel of proportion and light. Our model was very striking and looked a bit like she should have been part of a Steam Punk production. Long silver hair, and straw boater with a ribbon and a beautifully cut shirt. I really enjoyed this one and I think it played to my strengths. I put her arm in last and in the rush got the proportion totally wrong - with no time for corrections I had to take the criticism on the chin! Some of the contestants were more successful at this than others. I was surprised to see that quite a few of them had chosen a full length study which in the time given was really hard to pull off, when the brief was to capture a likeness - not just a quick study in proportions!

So on with the final challenge - to paint a celebrity! We had no idea who it was going to be so we were all surprised when Rudolph Walker aka "Patrick Truman off Eastenders" walked from behind the screen and made himself comfy in a large leather armchair! 
After a few appreciative murmurs it was on with the show! I quickly covered the base of my canvas with yellow ochre acrylic and set about plotting my composition. I wanted to make it look like Rudolph was relaxing whilst maybe watching himself on TV - well I don't know - he might be lucky enough to have SkyPlus! The armchair bothered me - only because I knew that if I didn't get it right - perspective, proportion etc, then I would get him to look relaxed within it. Mistake! I took so long getting the damned armchair right that I hadn't left enough time for poor Patr…Rudolph! With 10 minutes to go I had his body in but not his head - hell I have never been fortunate enough to paint black skin, and I hadn't given myself enough time to get it wrong!
I started inwardly panicking but outwardly telling the microphone that was shoved unceremoniously into my face, that this was a deliberate ply to keep him looking fresh and not overworked. Unfortunately for me, at this exact moment, Claire (Parker) was having 'amateur dramatics' to quote Lachlan, about adding, or not adding a blue background to her portrait, so I guess a last minute panic to paint the celebrity you are there to paint didn't make good telly! That said, I wasn't too disappointed with my painting. It isn't painterly, which is a shame, but it is considered. Patrick wasn't disappointed with it either, (though he does have rather good acting skills!) and that for me is all that counts!