What have Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid and gift company Heathcote & Ivory’s PR consultant and copywriter – and part-time artist – Emma Hill got in common? The answer is that they both appeared on Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year last week (18 October), with Susanna as one of three sitters, and Emma at her easel, one of three artists trying to capture her likeness.
“It was a nerve wracking but amazing experience working to a deadline and for the camera,” Emma told GiftsandHome.net. “I loved painting Susanna Reid who was a dream sitter and great to work with. The team and fellow artists were wonderful.”
With both women wearing blue tops, there was an immediate rapport, with Emma asking Susanna to “hold the same pose if possible”, which she was happy to agree to. As she began her painting, Emma commented that: “Susanna has a beautiful warmth to her colouring, and her personality feels that way too.” She said that she would initially be putting down some colour marks on her canvas and would be building Susanna’s face into them, telling presenter Stephen Mangan: “It’s quite an emotional experience. I’m hoping to create something different, a piece of art. I want to create a portrait that does Susanna justice.”
Susanna said she was hoping that, as someone who appears on TV, the artists would be able to capture the real her. “I’m not performing. I’m sitting very still, so I wonder what they’ll find,” she mused. When the artists finally turned their paintings around, Susanna was delighted with all three, telling Emma: “This is wonderful.You’ve managed to create a whole person from what you’ve called ‘marks’. It’s lovely, thank you!”
Although Emma’s portrait didn’t make it to the semi-final, one of the judges, painter Tai-Shan Schierenberg, compared Emma’s portrait of Susanna to her own self-portrait which was shown at the beginning of the programme, and took her 15 hours. “I think Emma’s mark making works in an impressionist way,” he commented.
Portrait of the Artist of the Year recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. The programme is co-presented by Dame Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan, with art curator Kathleen Soriano and art historian and curator Kate Bryan on the judging panel with Tai-Shan.
Visit emmahillartist.com and Instagram @emmahhill.
Top: Emma Hill with her portrait of Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid.
