(gentle music) - Hello, we are at the stunning Georgian Water Gardens of Studley Royal Park in North Yorkshire, where the place is a wash with inspirational scenery.

- Our eight artists today have just four hours to interpret a view that is brimming over with canals and waterfalls, with follies and even a moon pond.

- A moon pond, I don't know what a moon pond is.

Welcome to Sky Art's, Landscape Artist of the Year.

- [Woman] From Kent, sandy beaches, to the locks and castles of the Scottish Highlands.

- [Man] We've traveled across Britain searching for stunning scenery for the artists.

- This is almost as bad as my driving test.

I don't do well in exams.

(laughing) - It's like doing a formula one when you've only really been used to dual carries ways and maybe an odd motorway, you know.

- [Woman] From hundreds of artworks submitted, only eight competitors have been picked for each heat.

And today, six of our artists are professionals, Lucy Smallbone Greg Mason, Jessica Rose, Alexander Pemberton, Dorothy Morris, and Bridget Colin.

- Everyone else seemed really, really comfortable and really confident.

And I'm weeing myself a little bit inside, which is fine.

- They're joined by two amateur artists, Jiles Woodward, and Anne Go.

- Excited, hoping to get off soon, I want to get started.

- As usual, our artists will work under the watchful eyes of our judges.

Award-winning artists, Tai Shan Schierenberg, independent curator Kathleen Suriano and art historian Kate Brian.

- You can do it in four hours.

I should, well, I have to.

- You have to, you're right.

Go on then.

(laughing) - [Man] They're all competing for an extraordinary prize.

A £10,000 commission from the Imperial War Museum.

To mark the centenary of the First World War armistice, they'll create an artwork inspired by the landscape of a forgotten battlefield.

- [Woman] As well as the chosen eight competitors, we've invited 50 more artists to compete as wild cards.

- Is there actually a palette.

It's a shelf.

- [Woman] Just one of them will go through to the next stage of the competition.

So which of today's artists will win a place at the semifinal?

- You seem like you're taking me in your stride.

- I'm just dying inside.

(gentle music) - Before the challenge starts, our artists prepare for the damp conditions of the day.

- I have painted in all weathers.

So I'm fairly used to the rain.

I love painting outside.

- I'm hoping that it carries on raining as much as possible.

Preferably it turns into a storm, that'll be amazing.

- Acrylic takes about 20 to dry.

It's a very wet day, so it might take longer.

So that might be a problem.

So we'll just see how that goes.

- [Woman] All of the heat artists have been selected on the strength of a digital submission, and now the judges can examine the original artworks.

- Another wall to give us clues as to what we will see during the day.

Someone who likes water.

- We sometimes are a little bit worried about boats.

They can look a bit twee, and I think this one's great because it's clearly a working boat.

So, you know, it's really characterful.

- And I think they've also reveled in the way in which they've painted the water.

- It's really evocative.

- But we are particularly keen on including urban landscapes, because there's so much part of where people really live.

- It's almost like a high street Mondrian.

There's all these boxes and squares and things.

It's kind of rather poignant.

- This slightly calls into question a landscape, doesn't it, it's an interior.

- But what an interior it is because it's like the building is collapsing and the landscape's gonna come in at any moment.

- There is an incredible exercise in light, the way your eye is drawn past all the detritus, towards that brilliant bright light.

- Yeah, is landscape where our eyes are led through space.

And you know, it is landscape.

- A little etching here.

- And there's very little there.

And yet you get a sense of the surface of the water and it's really beautifully rendered.

- This picture's full of light.

It's full of texture, it's full of complexity.

The scene's actually old fashioned, simple.

But somehow with the quality of the work, they've elevated the whole thing.

- Now this is intriguing because its board here it's really peeled right off.

- Which gives us this great distance because you've got the reality of the gouge out trees right in the foreground.

And it's got this immense distance, right across the open field, through the city, which doesn't feel English.

- [Woman 2] I think there's something really sensitive and nuanced about the way they put color down, the way they've thought about the composition.

- That has got a magical fairytale quality to it.

- [Woman] This has a really eerie fairytale quality.

- It emanates light.

So we understand the light from the pool.

We've seen that, but it's interesting, the trees are radioactive aren't they?

- It's very blocky, but somehow there're still managing to create a lot of story with that color, and because of it just being so strange, it just holds you.

- What intrigues me is, how does the person with this vision mix with the English landscape in the rain?

That's going to be interesting to see.

A view of the Thames.

- It does look like it's been painted about 50 years ago.

- I was just say, it's really old fashioned, doesn't it?

- But beautiful and painted in this very sort of modern, British kind of color palette.

- Yeah, I think this artist really knows the color.

So you see these lovely rose blocks.

And then you've got another coral block over there and this beautiful line of blue on the Thames.

- Last, but by no means least, English landscape.

- Yeah, it's a beautiful sort of green, early morning.

There's so many greens in the landscape and you can get very boring and samey, and here as your eye wanders through the lane and up the hill at the back, there's different things happening.

- I hope we get them trying to cover distance today.

'Cause I think they do it in quite a successful way.

- [Man] Protected from the worst of the weather by their pods, the artists have just four hours to capture this scene.

- I was really nervous, I haven't started painting yet.

So it might go horribly wrong in a bit.

- It's just the waiting to get started.

I'm desperate to get going.

- Artists, I hope you are ready.

- You have four hours to interpret this landscape starting now.

- While some of our artists grapple with what's in front of them, others go and search of their own view.

- I wanna go out there and then take some pictures.

So that's what I'm up to.

- The view our artists face today is of Studley Royal Gardens in North Yorkshire.

Here are once wild and rugged valley was transformed into an elegant Georgian water garden, complete with neoclassical sculptures, temples and follies.

- I think in terms of a location, if you want shape and form, you've got it.

If you want sort of abundant greenery, you've got it.

And if you want movement, there's water.

So basically they can't complain.

- But look at it.

The shapes are there, but it's all really low.

And we had that weather, the rain, and we're possibly gonna get sun and reflection on the water this afternoon.

So as usual, a lot of change.

- Good, let's make it hard for them.

- A lot of drama.

(gentle music) - [Woman] One of our artists has been drawn to a more secluded part of the garden.

- I'm going to sit on the very wet ground and sketch for as long as my wet feet can cope.

- Jessica Rose worked as a journalist before giving it all up to pursue her dream of being a professional print maker.

Her submission piece is an etching of a lock near her home in London.

Jessica, while the rain's held off for a moment, I want to ask why you've decided to come and sit here?

- Well, I've always been a bit of a rebel.

The pods are placed in front of very specific bits of scenery and they just didn't quite do it for me.

And I did spot out the corner of my eye, this rather fabulous rustic bridge.

I am a bit of a secret goth.

- So this suits you perfectly.

I think so I'm going to actually do a bit of a challenge today.

Do a lino cut to bring out the beautiful geometric details.

I'll probably use watercolor as well to add some color.

If I'm going to actually do it on two pieces of paper, merge them together, which is very odd.

It's a new process, I've not seen anyone else do this.

- Will you have time to do that?

- That's a very good question.

I'm not sure.

I won't hold you up any longer.

- Thank you.

- You need to get on with it.

- Thank you very much.

- Good luck.

- Thank you.

- [Man] Our artists have come equipped with the usual brushes, rollers and chalks, and one of them has brought along a vase.

- I wasn't sure if I'm needed a prop, a crutch.

So this was brought along.

The way I'm seeing this, it's quite severe and I'm struggling to link to any one part of it.

- Alexander Pemberton is a professional artist from London and an art obsessive, who often has several works underway at the same time.

He loves to paint near his home in Greenwich, which is where he captured the muted view in his submission, Painting.

Alex, now I have to quickly discuss this.

You brought a vase as a focal point.

- It may be a horrible mistake, but it was always gonna be using that with an element in the background.

It's a different color and it's the clear, crisp shape.

It was a way of introducing a kind of random element that wasn't connected to the landscape.

So it gave me a handle.

- Now, can you recognize elements in here that you know, I know how it makes that color?

Are you at that stage yet?

(laughing) - No, no.

- No, okay.

- Especially a lot of green, I get into denial about it in a way.

- Yeah.

And let you get on with constructing that painting.

- [Woman] As the rain returns, 50 wild card artists make their way to the Studley Gardens, moon pond.

- Just a little bit, I think it's broke.

- The environment we're in today.

It's quite a challenge.

- I'm not used to working outside.

- You're not used to working outside?

- Never done it before.

- You've never done it before.

You picked a right day for it.

- I'm trying to tape this onto the easel.

There you go.

- Well like the glass pallette, it's very fancy, yeah.

Is it from IKEA, is it actually a palette?

- It's a shelf.

- It's a shelf.

- [Woman] The artist who most impresses our judges will get the chance alongside our other wild card winners, to gain a place at the semi-final.

- Oh, that's gonna collapse as well.

Sorry, can I just.

- You know why it is, is because of the wind's blowing it?

- No, it isn't, don't blame the wind.

(rain pouring) - I would say that I'm not a kind of straight painter and I'm a bit more of a storyteller.

I like to alter things.

Normally I paint sort of places that you couldn't really exist in, or they're on fire.

- Since finishing her masters at the Slade School of Fine Art, Lucy Smallbone balances her time between teaching and being a professional painter, her vivid submission of a swimming pool turned toxic ruin was inspired by her time on a prestigious scholarship to Chernobyl, the site of a nuclear disaster.

- Everyone else applied to go to Rome.

And then I was the only new one who applied to go to Chernobyl.

I like the idea that it's slightly inaccessible, so you can be in a landscape, but still not truly be a part of it.

- There you did the Chernobyl influence thing.

- Yes.

- Fantastic, these are great drawings.

- Thanks.

- Is that from here, I haven't.

- Yeah, I'm a bit unsure at the moment.

So I thought I'd do some small testers.

- Okay, so, well this will help you find your composition, presumably.

You've done all these this morning?

- I've done like loads of drawings from like pictures that I've seen.

So then I kind of get to know the place first.

- Okay, and we'll see some of your fantastic coloring as well then.

- Yeah, I'm sort of unsure what to do, but I might start with green then.

- Okay.

- See what happens.

- Well, that's a good start.

Surrounded by lots of green.

- I know.

- Right, lovely.

Look forward to seeing what happens today.

- I really love the view.

We had a sort of gust of wind and that water had a fantastic pattern on it a few minutes ago.

- [Woman] Dorothy Morris is a professional artist from South Wales.

Her submission painting was inspired by seasonal trips with her husband, a fisherman, and it took her around 25 hours to complete.

- So how are you finding this wall of green?

(laughing) - Well, I'm sort of trying to catch the pattern quality of it.

- Okay.

- There's a lot of stripes here, to be honest, I'm not quite sure how to describe that water.

I mean, it's very pretty, but it it's sort of black and green and white light, so that that's gonna be a challenge.

- No I'm told the sun might come out later.

Is that something you?

- If I get a shaft on light, yeah, it'd be quite nice to sort have some sort of light through this murkiness.

- So later on, you're hoping later on then you can incorporate that.

- Yeah, I took some photos when there was a bit of sunlight, so I'm just trying to sort of all the big blocks of color down.

And then I'll sit back and really look at the textures of the trees.

- You have any support here today?

- My husband has gone off to Harrogate.

We drove up through a Harrogate and he said, that looks really nice.

He dropped me off and he said, I'll see you later.

So he is sick to death to see me painting.

- Anyone else in your family know you're here?

- No, I kept it a top secret.

- Oh really?

From my sons, just in case this painting doesn't turn out.

- You could pretend it never happened.

- Sun has come out.

- Quick, quick, quick.

- I'll go capture this quickly though.

I gotta have some more light.

(gentle music) - [Man] An hour in and our artists are well underway with their challenge.

- I've been fasting around to try and get it right.

And I haven't left myself a lot of time to do the actual printmaking.

- I can't quite decide what I want to paint at the minute.

So I thought I would do multiple.

And if everything goes wrong, then at least you have maybe one that's okay.

- It all goes back to the choice of the using the vase idea.

It depends whether that's gonna hold together.

- [Woman] We're at Studley Royal Gardens in North Yorkshire, where our eight heat artists are an hour into their four hour challenge.

- The only thing I'm really worried about is how I'm gonna approach the landscape that I'm facing right now.

How am I gonna break it down to say something meaningful and different?

- Greg Mason is a professional painter from Exeter and reached the semi-finals of Portrait Artist of the Year in 2017.

This year he's focusing his attention on landscapes and his submission piece was painted in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Now your submission was a landscape scene from inside a building, which had been damaged by a rupture, an earthquake.

- It was.

- And this is a very, very formal setting, isn't it?

And there's no damage here at all.

My submission was the damage that nature did on something manmade, this is completely the opposite.

This is man damaging what was already here.

And what I'm trying to do is make a piece which explores what I'm being told to look at, but also rebels a little bit against that.

- So you are being told to look at still water, swans, the beautiful Palladian temple.

- What I've done is I've gone inside the temple and I've taken some images looking out.

- And that's here, isn't that?

- That's here, juxtaposed with this side, which is the symmetrical view that is supposed to be perfect and harmonious.

- And you've really got four hours.

- Yeah, I'll get there.

- Will you?

- Yes.

- Great.

- I've been practicing my greens.

You see, doing urban landscapes generally, I don't do that much green and there's a lot of green.

- Charles Woodward is an art teacher and amateur artist from Nottingham.

He loves gritty landscapes and was drawn to this view of Sherwood on a Sunday afternoon for his submission.

- Hello Jiles.

- Okay.

- No shop fronts here, no lamp posts.

- Nope.

- Is it a bit too pretty for you, you're okay?

- Well, I first got here this morning, I was a bit like, oh God, I'm kind of interested in sort of abstract shapes.

- Yeah.

- In landscapes.

- I mean, you've got lots of blocks here.

And there's line and there's actually a decent bit of shape.

- Absolutely, yeah.

- Are you used to working outdoors?

- This is probably the first time.

- Oh, is it, oh, well done.

Well, no pressure.

'Cause it's just like loads of other painters there competing with you the wild cards and loads of people.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But yeah, great, great.

First day to try it.

- Give it a go.

- Yeah, no, absolutely.

- So the view they're painting today, it's a lot of green green on green, on green, on green, but there is a contrast, I mean the lawns, there are different green.

- Okay, still green.

- Some interesting shapes in there.

And the reflections are.

- Green, yeah, okay.

- I mean it is this sort of quintessentially romantic garden.

So when you are painting it, are you fighting against that romance?

Is that the idea?

Is that what you're looking for?

Very interesting because beauty and romance is frowned upon, kind of feels a little bit sort of there isn't it?

And we've got a bunch of artists here, we asked them they would think of themselves as contemporary artists.

And contemporary isn't beautiful and romantic.

So we've really set them a difficult task.

But one I'm quite pleased with.

- Good.

- Not because I'm a sadist, but because instead of responding as geographers, making a record of what's in front of them, here, we've gotta look at this and think, okay, what can I find that will make an interesting painting?

I think we're gonna see tears before bedtime, green tears.

- I'm really experimental with my art.

So I think that's probably like my downfall and also like the most positive part about it as well.

- [Woman] Bridget Colin is a professional artist and part-time waitress from Manchester.

She works in a variety of mediums and her submission painting, a view of Prague, was created using oils, acrylics, pasts, charcoal, and ink.

- Your board has got a drawing on it and a little list of reminders.

So actually, when did you write these reminders down?

- I started drawing and then I was trying to remind myself of all the things I told myself in my head.

And I was like, just write them down.

'Cause I always write notes as I'm painting.

- Oh really?

- Yeah.

- Kind of keeping tabs on yourself.

As it progressively.

- And they're really basic notes.

- Can I just read that out, keep it loose and wobbly, careful drawing, and then in big capital letters, swans.

- Yes.

- In case they go away and you forget them?

- This swans are important.

I want them to do some nice flying or something like that I can snap.

- And sorry, can I ask Bridget, is this view, I mean it's a very classical English garden view.

- Yeah.

- Is it one you would've picked yourself?

- No, definitely not.

- Is it interesting though?

Is there stuff that you can get your teeth into?

- Yeah, of course it's interesting, it's beautiful.

It's just hard to paint.

I quite good with paint, gloomy, industrial looking things.

Not sort of like bright should be beautiful National Trust sites, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

I'm like focusing on what my strengths are.

- Oh no, you're being very optimistic about this sherpy landscape, I like that.

As the sun emerges, things are looking up for our wild cards.

- Now I'm glad it's warmed up and hopefully something'll have come of today.

I've had it under the table.

I've had it all over the players, upside down on the grass.

- No, it's lovely darling.

Bit despairing to begin with.

- And with the judges looking on, our artists turned the mixed weather to their advantage.

- With it raining on it, I started getting this speckled look.

So it's like, okay, well go with the flow.

- This painting is definitely here.

You've captured all the forms, but you could also be somewhere like in Tahiti.

- [Woman 3] Well, that's quite an optimistic way of looking at it.

- A lot of the paintings are in a bit of a state of disrepair.

oil paint doesn't mix with water.

People working in acrylic have had a problem where acrylic is water based, it hasn't dried.

It's been running off.

There's some fantastic effects actually.

- It's always adjusting, adjusting, adjusting the whole time.

You think you've seen something correctly and you put it down, but then you look again and you see you haven't seen it at all.

It's quite complicated, more complicated than I thought.

- Anne Go is an amateur artist.

And at 80, is our oldest competitor.

She recently moved to Yorkshire, where she loves the landscape, and her submission painting of Hebden bridge was completed over a series of weeks with a local painting group.

- You're off to a flying start.

- Well, I like to get the canvas covered.

- Right, and why?

Because you just don't like sitting, looking at that scary empty canvas.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Did you come with this lovely.

What color is that?

- No, I brought it with me.

- So is that your normal under color?

- Yes, I like the glimpse that sometimes come through.

It's better than a dark white canvas.

- Yeah.

- Gives some warmth.

- We thought your submission was fantastically sort of English, all that abundant greenery.

- It was actually the view from my grandson's primary school playground.

So when they come out to play, they see that view.

- Oh, wonderful.

- Aren't they lucky?

- So how are you feeling about today?

- I love the shapes of the different area.

- You seem pretty comfortable.

You're not worried about the time.

- No, not really.

You can do it in four hours.

- I should, well, I have to.

- You have to, you're right.

Go on then.

(laughing) - [Man] Almost halfway through the competition and our landscapes are beginning to take shape.

- Really, it's just gonna be head down till the finish line to get it all done.

- It's what this sometimes called the ugly stage.

When you first get all the paint on the canvas, it's not very pretty.

- I've done a few little paintings.

I wanna do this big piece.

If this goes awfully, then I'll panic.

- [Woman] Here in North Yorkshire, our artists are midway through their challenge.

- I've had to do a very rough and ready carve of the block.

I did put a little water bird there and I accidentally cut his head off.

- I did the wrong color palette.

So just trying to work away through it, but yeah.

- Halfway through the day, some intriguing stuff going on.

Lucy is very interesting, to me it looks almost like a panic attack rendered in green at the moment.

She's got that beautiful sketchbook where she's come up with some very interesting ideas.

Now she's tackling I think her main piece and she's got bogged down in the green.

Greg is painting two landscapes.

- I think he's made a big mistake.

- Oh dear.

- I just don't think they work together and it's not a clear representation 'cause he's not using.

- I think in a funny way it is.

'Cause he's trying to sort of bring a concept of the place rather than it's physical reality.

- Yeah.

He's got a long way to go though, because effectively, he's got two different kinds of lights to render, two different kinds of pallets.

But no, I like it, two for the price of one.

- So we got Jessica scraping away.

- I think she's stretched for time actually.

- Lino cut is quite a brutal thing, you're right.

She said she was gonna underlay the Lino print.

So it sounds beautiful and having said that, we can't tell till they actually pull a print.

- Anne's clearly really well practiced being outside.

She's very happy, she's totally in her element.

The underpainting of this bronze color really warmed the painting and little of flashes are coming through.

- The way she's handled the water and things, with very few marks, she's suggested a lot of space, reflection, light.

We move into the second half of the day.

Game of two halves all to play for.

- God.

- I've kind of left the temple.

It's just a bit fiddly.

- I'm not looking what everybody else is doing.

I just don't wanna look.

- I've got paint on my board, which is great.

I just wanna sit and chat rather than paint.

I guess I gotta do some painting.

- One of our artists is taking a highly original approach to today's landscape.

Greg, you telling us a story here.

- Yeah, there's a bit of narrative going on.

- There really is.

- When you walk through a landscape, you have multiple experience of it.

You don't just see it from one place.

You see it from a whole different series of vistas.

So the reason for the Diptic is to break that up.

But secondly, I kind of wanted to rebel against the fact we're all told to look from outside.

- You're a contrarian.

- It's true.

- If you were to paint here today.

- Yeah.

- Would you just be painting this view?

- Totally.

- So that's what you have to do.

And this is what you wanna do.

- You've sussed me.

(laughing) - That's one for the judges, one for yourself.

- Yeah.

- Fair enough.

- Good luck grandma.

- My two granddaughters, Alexia and Leila.

- They made this for you.

- They made it for me, yes.

- That's lovely.

Do you know that you are the oldest competitor?

- Doesn't really surprise me.

Looking at the young faces around me.

- I know, I'm just marginally older than you so we don't let it get us down, are you fit?

- Apart from arthritis in the hip, which is becoming more and more disabling, I'm fine otherwise, yes, yes.

- You have a new hip, I've got a new hip.

- Have you, I'm hoping to get one.

- It's great.

- So tell me, what you do with your retirement?

- I thought, what did I always want to do when I never had the time?

And one was to play the organ, one was to play with other musicians and another ones to paint more so, so far, it's working out.

- Well, I think some of that serenity is conveyed in your painting.

- Well thank you very much.

- Because, you are not in a hurry.

You're not in a hurry anymore.

- No, I'm not.

- It's lovely to find someone enjoying their retirement.

- I hope one day you all get round to retiring and enjoy yours.

- I think I will, I think I will Anne.

- [Man] The 160 acre gardens inspiring our artists today were an unexpected retirement project for local MP, John Azelby in the 18th century.

He had a talent for economics that saw him rise up the political ranks to become chancellor of the exchequer.

But his political career was cut short when he was caught up in a financial scandal known as the South Sea Bubble.

- The scheme went wrong, it completely imploded.

And he was set up, some would say, by much grander politicians, he felt completely and utterly devastated.

And he took the full brunt of political and legal blame for it.

- [Man] Azelby was imprisoned and then exiled from parliament.

He returned to Studley Royal and threw himself into the challenge of creating these gardens.

- He spent good 12 months in the tower and came back to his yard estates I think to rebuild himself.

When you stand back and look at actually what he created, it was immense, the work was incredible.

- He wanted people in London to be talking about his name.

He was still a person on everybody's lips in Westminster.

And in this particular case, for his creative genius of the garden.

- [Man] John Azelby's striking ethereal water gardens are still admired today.

- These are great masterpieces of art.

The very fact that John's garden has survived is a unique opportunity for future generations to look back in time.

- [Woman] Back in the pods, the artists are nearing the end of their third hour.

And one of them is starting all over again.

- Something's gone wrong, I don't know what.

I'm debating whether to wipe this off, then I can kind of turps it out without destroying the tiny bit that I like.

- Jessica.

- Hi there.

- What's happening is a print about to be made?

- I am about to pull a print in high winds it feels like.

I'm just gonna ink up the block.

- Presumably this is the first time you've ever done this outdoors.

- It is, we are very furtive creatures, print makers.

We don't like to come outta our studios 'cause all our paper blows away.

So I'm gonna try and extract this ridiculous paper.

That is so fine.

That's not going anywhere near the press, is it?

I'd tell you what would you like to take two corners like we're making a bed.

It's hardly going to need any pressure.

Go.

- Are we peeling?

- We are.

And then we might flip it over, so it lands face up.

(screaming) Oh I can already see it's not quite what I wanted.

I need to up plate a little more.

- It's the first impression it's a work in progress.

- Yes, exactly, yes.

- Okay.

- [Woman] Over by the moon pond, the wild card challenge is drawing to a close and it's time for the judges to choose their winner.

- There's one watercolor artist I quite like, very sort of minimalistic almost.

It's got this kind of sort of elegance and a power to it.

- Down here on the edge is a woman sitting at a wooden easel.

It's not slick, but it's all very honest.

- I've had my eye on someone sitting up in the ridge.

It's got an exotic quality to it.

- We obviously really reacted to the sky sort of clearing.

- Yeah guys, I think we agree.

- We're all done darling.

Lovely painting.

- That's very kind.

- That's really got a lovely, it has got the whole mood of the whole day.

It's a lovely painting, and the sky is spectacular.

- Pretty shocked actually.

(laughing) Given the journey we've been through, being battered by the rain and the wind, canvases disappearing into lakes and things.

- [Woman] Amanda Bradbury will join the other wild card winners, all vying for a place at the semifinal.

- [Man] Back in the pods, the artists are nearing the end of their third hour.

- Hello Lucy.

- Hello.

- How's it going?

- It's okay.

- Has there been some drama?

- There has.

- Right, I missed it.

I'm really annoyed, what happened?

- No, I just didn't like it, so I got rid of it.

Oh that it, I just through turps on it.

It was like, everything was going really well.

And then it all went pretty badly, okay.

I'm feeling like.

- You're feeling all right.

- Yeah.

I just like started the day, I was like really easy, it's going really well.

And then it was like, oh no, no it's not.

I'm that now I, yeah.

I just have to keep on going.

- You seem like you're taking it in your stride.

- I'm just dying inside.

(laughing) Panic on the inside.

- Okay.

So you're like a duck that underneath is going like that.

- Yeah.

- Well on the positive side, you're providing us with some great drama.

- I know, yeah.

- The vows I've sort of just left because it's what it is.

- I'm happy with aspects of it.

- I'm feeling a mixture of everything, but mostly in need of a cup of tea to see me through the next stage.

- I'm gonna have to go a bit wilder with the trees to make them a bit more exciting.

I want to sort of jazz them up a bit or ruin them.

One way or the other.

- [Woman] At Studley Royal Gardens in North Yorkshire, our artists are nearing the end of their four hour challenge.

- I'm going back to tweak this sculpture one that I did.

- I might need to call my mom and ask her what she thinks.

But yeah.

- I'm definitely rushing and being a bit messy.

- A lot of very tense, panicky people around.

- Yes.

- You're sitting here admiring the view.

- Yes, I know.

- Artists, you have one minute left.

- Oh my gosh.

- This is a make or break moment.

- Am I lifting it with you.

- Please.

- As long as I'm not to blame.

- No, it's all my fault, don't worry.

- Artists, your time is up.

- Please step away from your canvas.

Our eight artists can do no more.

It's time to find out what the judges think.

I really like Lucy's solution to this vast landscape.

It took her a few goes to get it right, but I love the painting.

- She's revealed a sort of mood that was in the landscape by revealing this sculpture, this torso, - I totally applaud Greg's ambition today.

He's very cleverly fooled me.

I wasn't expecting him to peel away something at the end.

- The reveal.

- My favorite thing actually is the way that the center point here looms to nothing as evocatively and beautifully with perspective as this one looms towards that sculpture.

Jessica did not make it easy today because she chose such thin paper.

- I'm gonna hold onto it because I'm just worried that the wind's gonna push it out of the mount.

- This goose here is just very briefly outlined and cut on the reflection.

The whole thing works so cleverly and I would've liked that a bit more in the bridge itself.

I was having a discussion with Bridget about how this landscape is very beautiful and sweet and romantic and the way she applied paint, there was a roughness to it.

- I think that she gives just a lovely sense of space.

I think actually my main problem with it is the color palette.

These colors don't sit in any kind of relationship to the wood.

- I just wonder whether Jiles actually needed more time because I think the fundamentals were so good.

You know, I really like the composition.

There's a lot of energy there, he's taken a nice slice.

- The glittering water and that sort of overgrown Asian jungle around the temple works very well.

- Anne did a painting which was very traditional, but very well conceived.

- Anne's painting, it had such a sense of the mood or the place.

This is what it's gonna look like when we've all left.

- I like Alex's subversiveness.

The fact that he knew he wanted to bring this and that was going to be the most important thing in the work for him today and also his position.

I mean, thinking very carefully about being down there and looking up.

- It feels very amateurish that sky.

- But he's starting to get close to what we picked him for.

- This is very unlike Dorothy's submission.

The paint handling is very different.

She's got great greens.

And there were a few people today that maybe didn't quite get the color palette right.

The color palette's right, but they were just, I think it's more about the mark making.

- [Woman] They now have the unenviable task of narrowing eight down to three.

- These two are just problematic colorwise.

- I can definitely let those last two go.

- These two are straight ahead.

- Artists, thank you for joining us here in North Yorkshire.

- It's been a privilege to watch you all work, but the time has come to reveal the three artists that the judges have shortlisted.

The first artist is Lucy Smallbone.

- The second artist is Greg Mason.

- And the third artist to make the short list is Anne Go.

(audience clapping) - Commiseration to all of you who haven't made it.

It's been really rewarding day.

- Obviously I'm a bit disappointed, obviously I want to be the best artist in the world, who doesn't?

But I think those, we were great paintings, so.

- The judges must now consider today's work alongside the artist's submissions to decide who goes through to the semi-final.

- Well, it's a fine selection, they couldn't be more diverse.

- I think we're really impressed with our spread today.

- I'm a bit worried.

- Yeah.

How you'd find one winner.

- Lucy here painted several paintings before she arrived at the one with the statue.

- What you see in both the submission and the painting today, she's walked through all that landscape, even if it's only in her mind.

And this is what she's pulled out from inside.

- I liked the way that Lucy was having a very personal sort of expressive response to what she was seeing.

And so it's just absolutely her unique take.

- So what kind of a journey has Anne taken?

- I love seeing this bronze coming through in the background, and I think what she did today might even be a little bit more appealing than the submission, just because it's slightly less finished.

- Her understanding of creating atmosphere through light, I think is extraordinary.

Then Greg, at the end with his two views.

- His paintings are all about moving from one space into another.

- It feels very intelligent and intellectual.

And I like that about it.

- You know, we were, all of us a little bit like, oh, what's he doing with this two picture business, but fundamentally it is one painting and it does work.

- Three so diverse artists.

I don't know how you're going to decide.

(gentle music) Lucy, Anne, Greg.

This is the point in the day when the judges choose one of you to go forward to the semifinal.

- But for the first time in the history of this show, the standard has been so high that they've been unable to choose a single winner.

So the two artists who will go forward from today's heat are Lucy Smallbone and Greg Mason.

(audience cheering) - Feeling really happy and relieved.

And excited to do something else like the next one.

- Oh my gosh.

- I'm not quite sure what just happened.

I think that Lucy and I just broke the mold.

I'm feeling on top of the world.

- Lucy and Greg crafted something which was entirely their own and really successful.

We just couldn't leave either one of them behind.

- We had two people who were so good in completely different ways, we want to see what they're gonna do next.

And also in the scheme of the semi-finalists that we're going to end up with, it would be wrong to lose either one of them.