Preston Portrait Challenge 2026
I am really happy to announce I won 1st prize at this year's Preston Portrait Challenge with my painting of sculptors Peter Hodgkinson and Thompson Dagnell.
I have included some photos from the day and the some very kind words from the judge, Peter Layzell, below.
"An outstanding piece of work, with the environmental space and the figures fully integrated into a coherent whole. Highly ambitious, despite being a relatively small painting. Brilliant draughtsmanship that identifies the unique qualities of the sitters' body language. Although the heads were tiny, the likenesses are strong and there is such an uncomplicated approach to the painting that all this is achieved with an unfussy economy. It is a masterclass in knowing what to leave out." - Peter Layzell
I always aim to get to the venue in time to get a good spot (close to the sitter) but somehow I never quite manage it. This year was no different, so as usual I squeezed in at the side and tried not to block anyone else's view. As I use the sight size method to get my proportions accurate, standing quite far back means I will draw the sitters at a smaller scale than if I was sitting close by. Therefore, as I knew the heads of the sitters would be very small, I decided to go for a landscape format and try to paint both sitters in full figure, including some of the background too.
It seems this decision paid off as it was on of the things the judge mentioned he liked about the painting, and only a couple of other people went for the double portrait.
I focused on the closest sitter, Peter Hodgkinson, for most of the allotted time and only painted the far sitter, Thompson Dagnell, right at the end - hence the looseness (and in my defence, he did get up and disappear for a while to extend his parking just as I was starting to paint him).
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