42 years - at last

It’s now more than a month ago since our 42nd wedding anniversary, for which we’d planned a day out until we both tested positive and stayed at home instead. Anyhow, we rescheduled our plans and followed them through yesterday, when we finally got to see the exhibition we’d earmarked as soon as we heard it was on the programme for our favourite art gallery, Compton Verney.

Portrait Artist of the Year is a programme we’ve enjoyed watching for several years and hearing that Kathleen Soriano, one of the judges, was going to curate an exhibition here we knew it would be a must-see. Before I go any further, I’ll explain that my photographs are included as simple aide-memoires and where possible, I’ve included links to the artist and their work - it was impossible to take good photographs in the gallery!

The first, powerful image just inside the entrance confirmed that we’d made a good decision. How interesting to be able to see the brushstrokes and the fine detail that makes this portrait so special. Needless to say, this was a really popular exhibition, so it wasn’t easy to linger too long. We knew we could always come back later.

Just around the corner was another favourite: Christian Hook’s portrait of Amir Khan His work has always intrigued us and seeing it on the wall was a delight. We stood for as long as we dared, absorbing the brushstrokes and noticing small features that made all the difference. The thing is, there was always something just alongside that was equally eyecatching…and look, there’s a space in front of….let’s move on. We can always come back.

And so we worked our way around the first couple of rooms, mostly populated by prizewinners and commissions. Here’s Kim Cattrall , Samira Addo’s winning portrait, in striking contrast to a couple of charcoal drawings and more traditional portraits nearby. Hung alongside a couple of Samira’s other portraits painted during the competition, her personal style and distinctive use of colour made her work stand out. Fascinating.

We made our way across to the “other” part of the gallery and continued past familiar portraits including that of Jazzie B by Tom Mead - just too many favourites to include here.

There was one which we were excited to view closely, however. Kelvin Okafor’s self portrait was one of those works that intrigued us more than many. His hyper-realistic pencil drawing is remarkable and having seen him work on the Extraordinary Portraits series too, we’d been impressed by his gentle manner and thoughtful approach to his work. An interesting conversation with one of the gallery staff prompted further thoughts and opinions too. This is a work which provokes strong opinion it seems!

The gallery has a kind of transition space around the corner and this was used to display many of the self portraits used as entry pieces, the initial work submitted to the programme for consideration by the judges for progression to the televised rounds. Hung in a similar fashion to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, there was plenty to talk about here too. Is it possible to tell if a portrait has been painted from a photograph? In a mirror? What about those which are imaginatively staged? The hyper realistic ones? Those which are clearly saying something beyond “this is me”? Which ones would we choose as the work of potential winners?

The thought provoking challenges continued, for Kathleen had arranged the exhibit to prompt careful consideration. Here was a demonstration of how, once the three artists have completed their work, the sitter is given the choice of which one they’d like to keep. The selection made me smile too, for here was someone I’d seen a couple of days ago at Chelsea - one of those familiar faces (and distinctive style) but whose name I could not possibly say. Don Letts is a musician and these were the three portraits from which he’d selected one for his own collection. Which would we have chosen?

Coming to the end of the show now, we completed the round with Calum Stevenson’s recent portraits, though sadly, not the winning commission of Nicola Benedetti. Nevertheless his four small paintings completed during the show were great illustrations of what made him a winner.

And that was it. Or was it? Wasn’t there something we were going to return to? Well, yes there was. In the first room was a group of works by Curtis Holder, the teacher who had wowed me with his drawings using coloured pencils. I wanted a closer look at those, hopefully without the crowd who were there when we’d arrived.

Sure enough, there were just a handful of people in the room and we were able to get a close look at these amazing drawings. Simply drawn on paper, was there ever a more accessible way of making a portrait? And yet, such simple materials demand even greater skill in order to create a masterpiece, wouldn’t you agree?

His drawing of Bernadine Evaristo was breathtaking. One of those pieces which appear simple and yet were clearly far from it.

His commissioned work to create a portrait of Carlos Acosta for Birmingham Art Gallery was outstanding and really needs to be seen close up to appreciate the detail. An interesting story too.

Of course, I couldn’t be at Compton Verney without paying “my” Chinese vessel a visit. I kid myself that this really is “mine” and that the gallery are just taking care of it for me! It is outstanding in every way, incredibly old (Shang Dynasty, so maybe 1500BC?) and so incredibly lovely, I see something new on every visit. Another half hour enjoying a chat with the very knowledgeable staff member about Chinese artworks amongst other things and our morning was complete.

Time for a spot of lunch - amazing fish and chips at The Castle, Edgehill.

I’d say it was a day worth waiting for.