Artist to appear on screen as she battles for title

Kim Whitby, 47, has been nominated for Sky Art’s Landscape Artist of the Year and the channel will show the programme, in which she competed against several other artists, at 8pm on November 15 on Sky Arts.

Sadly it cannot be revealed if Kim won but she had a wonderful time filming it.

Kim said: ‘It has been such an exciting summer for me.

‘I paint outside very often and always work first hand from my subject matter.

‘I like landscape which includes townscape and any unique or special environment. I especially like historic sites.

‘Usually I work alone so Stowe’s wildcard area (which is where Kim was sent on the programme) was a great place to meet and work alongside other artists.

‘It was a really fun experience at Stowe, meeting the film crew, judges and presenters.’

Hundreds of entries were received for the competition.

They were whittled down to 48 artists who went on to take part in six heats over the summer at three National Trust locations – Scotney Castle, Kent; Wray Castle, Windermere, and Stowe in Buckinghamshire.

Both series of the competition have been presented by television personality and comedian Frank Skinner, alongside presenter and journalist Joan Bakewell, a leading figure in the arts for nearly six decades.

The judges are artist Tai Shan Schierenberg and independent curators Kate Bryan and Kathleen Soriano.

This isn’t even the beginning of Kim’s success, as she was also the winner of Pintar Rapido in July, a national outdoor painting competition.

Last year’s Landscape Artist of the Year was the best-performing, non-scripted series of all time and the second-biggest series ever for Sky Arts, with viewing figures growing over the course of the series.

To find out more about Kim go to kimwhitby.com.