Bath-based portrait artist Lindy Wright recently appeared on the Sky Arts TV series Portrait Artist of the Year. Joanna Lewis headed down to meet Lindy at her studio at Bath Artists’ Studios in Comfortable Place.
As the cameras rolled, Lindy’s re-emergence as an artist marked a significant personal milestone. Prior to her appearance on the show, Lindy hadn’t painted for two years. Following the death of her son, who lived in Singapore at the time, her life had taken on a new priority, spending time with her family and trying to come to terms with the sudden loss of her son.
“At the time, it felt impossible to immerse myself in my work,” Lindy says. “But then last December I was contacted by the production team at Sky Arts and they asked me if I would like to participate in the show. My immediate thought was ‘God no, it seems terrifying!’ But then I thought about it for a bit, and I thought, well, you know, maybe this is an opportunity I should seize.”
Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year is a televised series which sees selected artists given just four hours to paint a surprise celebrity sitter. While the celebrity sitter gets to choose their favourite work of art to take home, it is the panel of judges that makes the final decision as to which artist will go on to compete at the semi-finals. From the semi-finals, just three artists are selected to go through to the finals for the chance of winning a £10,000 commission for a major British institution, along with £500 of art materials.
Image shown to the left: Lindy’s self-portrait submission piece for Sky Arts TV series Portrait Artist of the Year
To be selected to appear on the show, Lindy had to submit a self-portrait, which she completed in January this year, with filming taking place in April.
Her submission piece was inspired by Sir Joshua Reynolds’ self-portrait, which is currently in the National Portrait Gallery. Her submission has a gentle nod to her son, William, with the Cassiopeia constellation featured in the top right, famed for its “W” shape.
“I was painting in January and we happened to have very clear nights,” Lindy explains. “I kept noticing the Cassiopeia, so I thought I would include it, I suppose it’s a sort of memorial portrait, but also an expression of how I was feeling. I was thinking about him [William] on the other side of the hemisphere, and I’m looking into the light, and he’s over my shoulder, so it shows two different hemispheres.”
An intense experience
Lindy says that while she worried appearing on the TV show would be a stressful experience, she didn’t really have time to feel stressed. “It was very intense,” Lindy explains. “It’s a very new experience to be scrutinised so closely while you’re trying to make so many decisions so quickly. So much can go wrong.”
Lindy’s celebrity sitter was Si King of the TV show The Hairy Bikers.
“He was very engaging and friendly. When I met him, he had also quite recently had a bereavement [TV partner Dave Myers], so I felt it didn’t seem quite right to paint him as the very jolly man that we are used to. I wanted to show a more serious side of him.”
While Lindy had just four hours to complete the portrait, she said she spent almost the first hour trying to find the right image that she felt portrayed Si.
“Normally, I would draw somebody first, perhaps get it wrong, and then start again. There’s no real science in it. But I said to myself, ‘don’t start too quickly’ because if I get it wrong, I’m going to have to start again. That is worse than making a slow start.”
Her strategy paid off, with Si selecting her work to take home with him. “I was thrilled that Si selected my work. It meant that the portrait meant something to him, that it was important enough for him to choose it.”
People are so individual, and that’s the kind of thing that I like to try and capture
Ceramics to portraits
Lindy, who studied at the Royal College of Art, originally moved to Bath from north London in 2014. It was only when she moved to Bath that she started her journey as a portrait painter, having previously focused on ceramics and teaching design and technology at secondary school.
“The thing is, with ceramics you need so much equipment,” Lindy explains. “But, with painting, you just need paint and time, that’s all. So, I thought, I’ll give portrait painting a go. I just find people’s faces so intriguing, how they hold themselves, how they look at you, or look at something. People are so individual, and that’s the kind of thing that I like to try and capture. I don’t really feel that kind of engagement with a landscape or still life.”
Lindy is known in Bath for her series of oil portraits of chefs. Her portraits include chefs Richard Bertinet, Sam Moody, Rob Clayton, Rachel Demuth, Michael Nizzero, Dave Pynt, Laurent Couvreur and Dave Giddings. The latter was selected from nearly 2,000 entries by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters to appear in a major national portrait exhibition at Mall Galleries, London, in 2017.
“The best thing about painting chefs is that they are really focused, creative people, which makes them intriguing subjects,” Lindy enthuses.
After the thrill of Portrait Artist of the Year, what’s next for Lindy?
Following her two-year painting hiatus, she has picked up her paintbrushes with a renewed vigour, focusing on painting portraits of her family.
“The nice thing about painting people who are not commissioned is that you can try things that you haven’t done before,” Lindy explains.
Lindy says she has been experimenting with painting on different formats, such as on unprimed board using thin washes of paint to create the look of watercolours. One of her most recent portraits of her granddaughter, called Making a Wish, was selected for the Bath Society of Artists’ Open Exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery, and is now on display until Saturday, 10 January.
“The TV show has completely reinvigorated me,” Lindy says. “Once you start, your mind is constantly thinking of the next work of art to do, and so, it begins to spiral. Things begin to make more sense.
“For now, however, I’m happy to focus on painting my family. It gives me a lot of freedom. I love having my grandchildren around, and I want to paint them. It’s as simple as that. When you paint someone you love, you have a different attitude to the painting. You want to make it about them. It’s about creating a legacy.”
View Lindy’s work on her Instagram page, @lindywrightartist. Read more features about art in Bath here.
Save Bath Artists’ Studios
Lindy, along with more than 60 other artists in Bath, works from workshops at Bath Artists’ Studios, a space that is now under threat, with the lease set to end in early 2027.
For nearly 30 years, the studios have formed a vital part of the city’s cultural landscape, not only providing affordable workshops for some of Bath’s most established and up-and-coming artists, but also a year-round programme of workshops, classes, and community outreach for thousands of people of all ages, along with a popular public gallery.
The building in Comfortable Place – just opposite the Royal Victoria Park children’s play area – sits on prime land just a short walk from the city centre, and is owned by the St John’s Foundation.
With Bath Artists’ Studios having been served notice that their lease is to end, the artists are desperately trying to find a new place.
“I live in a one-bedroom flat, so actually wouldn’t be able to work without access to the studios,” Lindy says. “There are a lot of people here in the same position. Bath Artists’ Studios is a charity, which is quite a difficult status to get, and we could be at risk of losing that status if we don’t find new premises.”
However, with affordable workspace in Bath increasingly hard to find, Bath Artists’ Studios are struggling to find a new location.
“Artists are being priced out and cultural spaces are being lost, yet creative communities like ours are essential,” Lindy says. “It’s very expensive to move, so we need to find a suitable, affordable place where we can settle. Time is running out.”
Visit bathartistsstudios.org/save-the-studios to learn how you can get involved and help