(light music) - Domes, for centuries they've been inspiring artists around the world.

The Taj Mahal in India, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and Florence's great renaissance basilica.

- And today, we can add to that list a great big white tent on the River Thames.

Symbolically designed around the concept of time, Greenwich's Millennium Dome is 365 meters across, 52 meters high and has 12 very pointy steel masts.

- The concept of time couldn't be more important to the three artists who'll be painting today.

They have just four hours to complete their last masterpiece of the competition.

- It's time for the final of Landscape Artist of the Year.

- [Joan] Thousands of hopefuls applied, but just 36 gifted artists were selected to take part in this year's competition.

- Hopefully, I can pull it out the bag.

- Taking inspiration from some of the UK's most spectacular and enchanting scenery, they were challenged to create their own individual landscape masterpieces.

What are the challenges of painting outside?

- My hair getting in my way.

(contestant laughs) - [Joan] Along the way, three artists outshone the rest.

- Ophelia Redpath.

(crowd applauds) - Claire Lord.

- Shelagh Casebourne.

(crowd applauds) - Feeling completely stunned.

What just happened there?

I have no idea.

- Slightly gobsmacked about having won through to the final.

- I am so thrilled I'm still pinching myself.

I just can't quite believe it.

- [Stephen] These three artists now face one last contest.

I mean, it is the final.

Are you more nervous today?

- I think I'm as panic stricken as I have been every other stage really.

- [Kathleen] I'm wondering if you've been developing a four-hour style.

- I seriously think I have.

- [Kate] There's about an eighth of the canvas totally bald.

- I'm still not sure what I'm gonna put in that.

- Oh my goodness, you don't know.

- [Joan] Our finalists are one landscape away from a sensational prize, a 10,000 pound commission to paint the stunning vistas of Snowdonia, creating an artwork to celebrate the anniversary of the National Trust first ever land donation.

- [Stephen] But it's not just today's painting subject to scrutiny.

There are also the commissions, landscapes our artists have completed in their own time.

- It would be nice to try and include something which had symbolic purpose.

Dragons and lions, bring them on.

- [Joan] To be crowned winner, they'll need to impress our three judges, Kathleen Soriano, Kate Bryan and Tai Shan Schierenberg.

- [Tai] All you're thinking about is... - Color and tone and negative spaces.

- Like some Zen master.

- So who will take the ultimate artistic accolade and triumph?

This year's Landscape Artist of the Year is... (light music) (light music) In London's Docklands, today, three artists face their final challenge.

(light music) Competing are two professionals, Claire Lord and Ophelia Redpath.

- [Ophelia] If I did win, I would just be amazed and delighted.

Even just the fact I'm in the final is just extraordinary.

(light music) - [Claire] For me, actually being in the final is quite life-changing in terms of my practice as an artist.

(light music) - [Stephen] Painting alongside them is one amateur artist, Shelagh Casebourne.

- [Shelagh] Having got this far, it does seem like it's within touching distance.

I'm feeling quite competitive, I won't lie.

(light music) - Well, it's all a bit overwhelming, isn't it really?

It's crazily detailed.

- So many straight lines and exact angles, and the dome.

- You hope that something's gonna grab you and I'm waiting for that to happen.

- We've got three fabulous finalists each approaching painting in a completely different way.

We're putting them in front of this crazy landscape and I wanna see their version of it.

(light music) - [Joan] The view of that crazy landscape is from Trinity Buoy Wharf on the banks of the Thames, the historic home of the engineers who for centuries kept the water safe for river goers.

But our artist's route to victory today is fraught with difficulty as they navigate the view towards the sleek skyline of Canary Wharf and the Millennium Dome, one of the capital's most iconic and unusual landmarks.

- The view today is really fun, but it's a challenge.

It's a lot of sky, it's very panoramic and I think the biggest challenge is what to choose.

They have to be great editors, they have to make a really intelligent compositional choice.

The decisions they make in the first hour of the day are gonna basically decide whether or not they win.

This is the final, we had to make it hard.

(light music) - The Dome is literally directly in front of us.

I think it's wonderful.

I think it's also very difficult.

Because it's so huge, I don't know how we get the sense of scale.

- 90% sure I'm gonna go that way towards the boat with the turquoise and orange on the back.

It's about choosing what appeals to me most from this position.

And oh, I don't believe it.

The thing that I've chosen has just sailed off.

(Claire laughs) - Today's view is growing on me.

When I first saw it, it was just huge and the Millennium Dome right in front of us.

But I don't have to paint what's right in front of me, do I?

So I shall rebel.

(light music) - Artists, congratulations to you all on having got this far in the competition.

Now, you have just one final four-hour challenge ahead before one of you wins the 10,000 pound commission.

- As it's the final, the judges will be expecting some truly outstanding work, so we hope you're ready to set the Thames on fire.

Not literally of course.

Please do be careful with the Y spirit.

- [Joan] Good luck to each of you.

Your time starts now.

- [Claire] Thank you.

(light music) - Well, I had a look around again, but then I've come back to this because I think the reason I chose it wasn't just about the boat.

The thing that I've noticed is this rope and then the wall and then the wire and then the white.

And there's this little yellow square on the side of the building.

It's almost like bing!

It's actually the same color as the rope.

So it's the tiniest focal point that I've ever had in a painting.

Anyway, we'll see how we get on.

(light music) - [Stephen] Claire Lord is a professional artist from Stafford.

At her heat in West Wycombe Park, it was her combination of dynamic up-close composition and color on large scale canvas that enthralled the judges.

- She's raised this inconsequential section of the house into this monolithic being almost.

It is really beautifully done.

- [Stephen] In a semi-final at London's Olympic Park, Claire dared to go even bigger, earning herself a podium finish.

- Claire's really good on structure and composition.

And she goes right in there and finds those bold forms and that rich color.

- Claire, I'm supposed to come and talk to you, but I'd rather watch you paint.

The way that paint is going on, it's very yummy.

- [Claire] Goes on nicely.

I love drawing, which is helpful 'cause I just think-- - That is helpful for picture making.

- [Claire] Yeah.

- [Tai] Now, from your submission onwards, your work is very much about structure and creating barriers in a funny way across the picture plane.

As you're putting in the whole of the city there, the banking center, you don't think of that at all.

All you're thinking about is?

- Color and tone and shape, and negative spaces.

- [Tai] You're looking at the sky in-between all the time.

- [Claire] Yeah.

- Oh you painter you, like some Zen master.

(Claire laughs) (Tai laughs) (light music) - [Joan] As Claire explores the complexities of her composition... - [Ophelia] Ooh, ooh, that's brilliant.

- [Joan] One of our other artists is exploring in a more literal sense.

- For the moment, I'm just going round taking some snaps.

There's some really lovely old boats down here that I haven't seen before.

Obviously, the main view is important, but I'm interested in all these other aspects that are dotted around the place.

So I'm thinking of doing a composite picture where a few things are juxtaposed against each other.

- [Joan] Professional artist, Ophelia Redpath, hails from Royster near Cambridge.

She first impressed the judges winning her heat with a surrealist rendering of the West Reservoir in North London.

- It's fantastical, but in a way that could be possible and I think that's what I like about it.

- [Joan] At the semi-final, Ophelia's unique visual language saw her triumph once again at the Olympic Park.

- Ophelia is just one of the most distinctive artists we've ever had because she paints in quite an academic way and yet is totally magical.

She's a great storyteller.

- Ophelia, you're beginning to draw your design.

What selections are you making now?

- Obviously, the dome has to be the main player in this.

I'm going to scan the skyline to see which buildings want to accompany it onto this it's like a stage set almost.

What I'm looking for is bright colors because there are so many around.

- There's some splashes of yellow on the dome.

Does that appeal?

- [Ophelia] It does appeal.

- Do you think you have the artistic freedom to put color where there is no color?

- It might be a bit cheeky to do that, but all artists are cheeky in some form.

I might do it pink.

(Ophelia laughs) (Joan laughs) (light music) - This is an absolutely crucial stage.

I've gotta get the composition clear in my head because otherwise I'll be lost before I start.

I might go to a bigger board, I'm not sure.

We're gonna be on hour three and I haven't started.

(light music) - [Stephen] Former publisher, Shelagh Casebourne, is the only amateur artist to reach the final.

A seasoned plein air painter, she won her heat with a striking portrayal of Chartwell House in Kent.

- There's so much strength to her work because she makes great compositional choices before she even gets down to the business of good looking paint.

- [Stephen] At the Olympic Park, Shelagh's atmospheric painting and her signature impressionistic style saw her across the finish line and into the final.

- Shelagh brings us a really chalky romantic, very highly aestheticized view of the landscape.

It could be completely timeless as well.

- Shelagh, the challenge started some time ago.

- It's a long time now.

- What have you been doing?

- I don't feel I've done anything really.

- [Stephen] It doesn't look like you've done anything.

- I know.

- I mean, you have an easel, you have... - I have a pallette, an easel, I think I've sorted out my composition.

- Right, are you painting the Dome?

- I'm not painting the Dome.

- Why not?

- It doesn't inspire me, I'm afraid.

I think what inspires me being here is the history of the river.

- So you're just gonna ignore that big thing-- - I am ignoring that huge thing that's right in front-- - And you're gonna look east-- - And I'm gonna think about all the boats that have come round that corner and the sweep of the old walls naturally leads your eye.

The sky is quite dramatic today.

- It's getting more dramatic by the minute.

I mean, it is the final.

Are you more nervous today, you more anxious or are you taking it all in your stride?

- I think I'm as panic stricken as I have been every other stage really.

- Okay, well, it's worked well so far.

Bring on the panic.

- Yeah.

(Shelagh laughs) (light music) - [Kathleen] They've all chosen completely different views.

- We have plonked this monstrosity in front of them and I can see why they're trying to avoid it.

But I thought with the yellow structures that they would really go to town.

Ophelia is the only one tackling this, isn't she?

- But I mean, if you're going to look for a surreal landscape, you've only got to look as far as that tent across the river.

But interesting that we've got Shelagh who gives us distance, Claire who brings us right up close and then we've got Ophelia who takes us to another planet.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So perfect set of artists for the final.

(Kathleen laughs) (light music) - [Joan] With an hour of the challenge already gone, the artists are grappling with the consequences of their wildly different takes on the scene in front of them.

- Lots of things could go wrong.

I could lose the plot as far as getting the competition is concerned.

So I want to try and remember what I was initially thinking.

(light music) - This composition is significantly risky and probably impossible task, but I'm gonna give it a go.

I'm starting to like it already.

(light music) - I'm pretty behind, I think.

I've still got an awful lot to do.

I don't wanna look at my colleagues.

When you see other people's work, it freaks you out a bit.

(light music) (light music) - [Stephen] At Trinity Buoy Wharf in London's Docklands, our artists are entering the second hour of their four-hour challenge to depict the view across the Thames and are doing all they can to keep their heads above water.

- I am a little bit worried that it's all a little bit monotone, but I've got a lot of sky and a lot of river.

It will become colorwise a bit more interesting.

(somber music) (light music) - Just done the sky and that's always the easiest bit because clouds can do what they want and no one will know whether I got the clouds right or not.

(light music) - What I found really interesting was the views through these different barriers, but that does mean that not only have you got to paint the barriers, but you got to paint the broken reality that's behind it as well.

I think I may be a little crazy.

(Claire laughs) (somber music) (light music) - Tai, there's a lot to look at from here.

I mean, there's a huge amount of scope.

There's this 180 degree field of vision for them.

- Yes, initially, I would look at this and think it's just too complicated.

You've got this huge expansive muddy river, everything is in high detail.

So it really is up to the artist to find and edit a bit out of this chaos.

- So are you looking then for an artist today to paint something and for you to go, ah, why didn't I see that?

- That's exactly what I'm thinking.

I mean, you want an artist to put a lens on the reality that gives you a new insight.

Otherwise it's pointless if they're gonna just knock out a building with 150 floors of windows.

It doesn't show me art.

I want somebody who changes this, so I get a new insight, absolutely.

But it is complicated.

There's nothing here I would want to paint.

- Oh right, I hear you.

- I just gotta put it out there.

I look across this and I despair.

(Tai laughs) (Stephen laughs) (light music) - [Joan] Thankfully, today's finalists are made of sterner stuff.

And working in her surreal illustrative style, Ophelia's composite scene is already coming together.

- Ophelia, you've given us this very malevolent egg-like form.

I feel like it's gonna give birth to some monstrosity later on today.

Are you already thinking about that magic realist element that you're going to put in or does that come later on?

- I think it will probably come later on.

I think I'm just getting structures down.

I've actually had a little tour around with my phone.

Just over there, there's these lovely old warehouse granary type buildings.

There's a lot of modern in front of us and I wanted to juxtapose the old with the modern.

- And what about color?

Are we going to see that introduced?

'Cause I can see you've already started to draw in this yellow boat that's really gonna pop.

Is it gonna be yellow?

- It's going to be bright yellow, yes.

It's lovely and I don't want it to move.

So whoever owns the boat, I want them to keep the boat there.

(light music) - Claire, what an interesting slice you have chosen.

It's a painting you fight your way into for you to paint, but actually for us to view it because one would say actually the star of this is the Canary Wharf skyline, but it's actually really buried beneath lots of other activity.

You're using this absolutely gorgeous symphony of blues and purples.

Are you gonna stay within this monochrome range of blue?

- No, because I've actually just got... - A splash of red.

- [Claire] But I quite like having a color that resounds underneath.

So the sketch being one color, it's all echoes through the other colors.

- Is there any part of this painting you're particularly worried about or are you pretty relaxed?

- I'm not relaxed.

(Kate laughs) It's all hard to be honest.

(light music) - [Stephen] In contrast to Claire's complex modern landscape, the beginnings of Shelagh's impressionistic painting evoke a different time and place entirely.

- Shelagh, if I came across this in the gardot, say in Paris, I thought what a nice early Monet or a Sisley.

What is extraordinary, it's very few colors, but you've been able to create this incredible space and sense of place.

Your sky is very lively, but also it's got that under painting which adds to it.

Is it difficult to paint onto that or is it quite fun?

- No, it's great.

- Oh good.

- Yeah, I love it.

- Now, you've quite judiciously avoided this monstrosity or anything particularly modern.

- We have got this structure-- - That is true.

Now, as I squint here, the river is tonally, it's the highest thing in the painting.

It's very light, isn't it?

- It is very light.

It's rather lovely actually.

It's a bit like a sheet of metal, isn't it, today?

- You haven't put it in.

- Well, I wanted to start with the sky.

The river is obviously reflecting the skylight, but I think it's important to get that in first because whatever reflections I do manage to get are coming from that.

- Anyway, it looks beautiful.

I can't wait to see this in its later stages.

- [Shelagh] Okay.

(light music) - [Joan] Though the majority of the view facing our three finalists today is distinctly modern, Trinity Buoy Wharf itself has a rich history.

In the early 1800s, the corporation of Trinity House, a guild dating back to Tudor times, purchased the land and moorings here.

For almost the next 200 years, it was used as a light ship, dock and maintenance facility for the boys deployed in the Thames and coastal waters of the Southeast to keep shipping lanes navigable.

Trinity Buoy Wharf is also home to London's only lighthouse.

Dating from the 1860s, it was built for the testing of new types of lamps and the pioneering scientist who undertook much of this work, Michael Faraday, had his workshop in a building here.

In its early 1900s heyday, around 150 men were employed at the wharf, but over the next century, its fortunes waned as London's lack of deep water moorings saw the shipping industry move elsewhere.

30 years since it closed, the wharf is flourishing, repurposed shipping containers form the UK's first container city.

And the lighthouse is now home to Long Player, a musical installation comprising 234 singing bowls, the vibrations of which create notes.

It's designed to play continuously without repeat for 1,000 years before starting all over again.

(light music) - [Stephen] In the shadow of the lighthouse with half of the four-hour challenge now up, our artists are wishing their time limit was as generous.

- There's a lot of canvas that I haven't covered.

This is a problem of mine that I get very obsessed with particular details and then suddenly I realize there's a whole load of stuff that I haven't done.

(light music) - What we need to do is focus on the building.

So we've got big clump of buildings here and the gondola structure which is quite dominant in the painting, so I need to paint it in.

It's gonna be tough.

(light music) - [Stephen] Claire, I can feel the stress coming off you.

- Yeah, I've got 40 million hours left to do and probably about two hours left to do it in.

- [Stephen] Yeah.

Crazy girl.

(Stephen laughs) (light music) (light music) - [Stephen] At Trinity Buoy Wharf on the River Thames, our three finalists, Shelagh, Ophelia and Claire are approaching the halfway stage of their final challenge.

Competing to be crowned Landscape Artist of the Year along with winning a prestigious commission, it's full steam ahead.

- I've just seen a tugboat, so I'm just trying to put it in while it's there.

I need to stop in a minute and step back and see where I am 'cause I'm getting a little bit muddy.

- The dome so far has been the easiest because I've only done the curve of it.

I'm just hoping I'm gonna get the time to complete it.

At the moment, I'm feeling rushed off my feet.

It's the question of things drying in time.

- The jury's out at the moment as to whether I'm gonna go in with a bit more color.

The color's like a family on the painting.

Once they get going with each other, they got a secret language that it's the artist's job to try and understand.

Tricky stuff.

(light music) - We're used to artists painting what they damn well like, but today, we have three artists all painting in entirely different directions.

Shelagh exudes calmness, doesn't she?

- The works feel calm.

This muted color pallette is beautiful and there's this sense of distance.

I mean, she is just fantastic at dealing with air and space.

- A lot of it feels like it's very distant and I remember this at the Olympic Park.

I was really worried that there was nothing there in a way.

And it's only towards the end of the day that the constructions start to come into play.

So I'm very seduced by what I'm looking at.

But an awful lot might change.

So I'm quite nervous about that.

- We've seen from Ophelia a lot of magic realism.

Is there magic there today?

- For Ophelia, there's always a balance between the manmade and the natural.

And what she's got at the moment, it feels weirdly sci-fi from the '60s, but it's Ophelia's work and it sits together very beautifully.

- Her composition is very clever.

I mean, Tai is saying sci-fi from the '60s.

For me, it feels like James Bond.

There's the speedboat, these fantastic buildings in the background, there's a criminal's lair.

I think it needs a little white cat though.

- We've had an owl, a heron, a dog.

- So we're due a cat.

- We are due a cat.

(judges laugh) - [Tai] Claire is anxious.

She feels she may have bitten off more than she can chew.

- I love the fact that she's taken us right into something really close.

But within a second, I am inside the broken down elements of that picture.

I'm looking at bands of color in abstract form, the way the brush stroke sits on the canvas, the wateriness of the paint.

- She never goes for an easy composition, does she?

She does really set herself a challenge and not least because actually she's decided to treat it with its realistic color pallette.

When it was a monochromatic blue sketch, it was very beautiful.

My concern actually sits with this color.

Can she create something which is harmonious and complete?

- So halfway through the final, got a front runner?

- I think I've got three front runners at the minute.

(Kate laughs) - [Joan] Along with today's pieces, our finalists will be judged on their commissions, landscapes they've created in their own time away from the pressure at the pots.

- Commissions are always make or break and I love them because they give us an insight into the artist, who they are when we're not around, what they do with a little bit more time.

And we've got three very different artists, so we're gonna have three really different looking commissions.

(light music) - [Stephen] The finalists spent the day at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in Southwest London.

Founded in 1840 and stretching across 300 acres, this green oasis is home to over 50,000 plants, including rare species from all over the world.

(light music) Each artist was asked to paint a different area, with Shelagh allocated the historic Victorian Palm House.

- Wow, that really is quite a dramatic structure.

- [Stephen] The first of its kind in the world, the Palm House is packed with tropical vegetation, recreating a rain forest in miniature.

(light music) - It's amazing.

It's just so lush and green and the whole atmosphere is just fantastic, and I want to stay here all day.

(Shelagh laughs) - [Stephen] Ophelia was sent to explore the Japanese gardens.

(light music) A tranquil spot for reflection, they were designed to symbolize fundamental elements of the natural world.

- This area is absolutely lovely.

It's got all these lovely little gray rocks which have been beautifully arranged.

There's lots of dark greens and beautiful light electric green.

I'm slightly familiar with looking at scenes like this, but I've actually haven't painted any.

- [Stephen] Claire was assigned Kew's Lake and the woodland that fringes its shore.

- Oh wow, look at that bridge.

Lots of reflections.

The potential is fantastic.

It's a really exciting setting to explore.

(light music) - [Stephen] Given free reign to choose their view, the artists each use different techniques when considering their composition.

- When I want to take a photograph of something, it's an indication to me if it's appealed to me.

I've taken loads of pictures of this staircase, so that could be a sign.

(Shelagh laughs) Oh, it's hot in there.

My glasses are all steamed up.

(light music) - When I go out to draw a home, I'll do 20 or 30 steps and then stop and draw whatever I can see.

And sometimes I end up next to a dustbin or something, but it's about trying to find the beauty in the ordinary.

(light music) - I've seen dragons and lions and it would be nice to try and include something which has some symbolic purpose, so figurines, bring them on.

(Ophelia laughs) (light music) - I'm just doing a little sketch of the end of the Palm House with some rather grand trees in the background.

So if I did decide to do a painting out here, I've got something to refer to other than just photographs.

(light music) - I chose this particular view because it's got pretty much the whole of the garden in it.

So it's just really good to get a complete impression of the layout of everything.

(light music) - Since I've started doing this, I've got goose pimples all over my arms 'cause it's absolutely fabulous.

Oh gosh, it makes me want to cry almost.

That's why I love to paint and draw.

It's that visual joy.

It's the celebration of life and...

Sorry, yeah, I love it.

(Claire laughs) - [Stephen] All three artists then return to their individual studios to complete their paintings.

- [Ophelia] I hope that I'll be able to do something that's completely different to the heat in the semi-final.

That's the aim.

- [Shelagh] There's a lot of things that I think I'm gonna find quite tricky.

There's always the temptation to make it a composite view so you can take something from behind the scene.

(light music) - [Claire] I hope that I'll be able to reflect the feel of the place 'cause I think that's what art should be about.

It's not just the visual, it's the emotion as well.

- [Stephen] The finished commissioned pieces will be shown to the judges at the end of today's challenge.

(dramatic music) - Today, though, our artists have just four hours to create their artworks.

And their compositions are still causing quandaries.

Well, Shelagh, this great support which we think's rather lovely actually supports a lot of little cable cars.

Now, what are you going to do about those?

- I'm leaving them till the last minute.

- [Joan] Might you leave them out?

- I don't think I can.

The structure would make no sense without them.

I'm a bit worried they might look like insects.

- Well, they do look rather like that.

- Well, they do, yes, so that would be all right.

- [Joan] So when you look around, do you think, oh, I could've gone in that direction?

- Definitely, but you can't torture yourself like that.

You've got to make a decision and stick with it.

- Well, you live with your decision and it's always served you well in the past.

(Shelagh laughs) (light music) - Right, come on.

- Oh gosh, I can hear echoes of come on, Claire, come on, Claire.

Do you always whip yourself up into a frenzy, tell yourself off as you're working?

- I do find that when I get completely submerged in it, I'm at the softer stage of the proceedings that I do talk to myself.

- One of the things I really love about this style of painting is the level of undoneness and it feels very different from the work that you submitted.

I'm wondering if you've been developing a four-hour style.

- I seriously think I have.

- [Kathleen] Do you feel freer?

- [Claire] It's what my grandma used to call muck or nettles.

- Muck or nettles?

- Yeah, muck or nettles is when you're sitting on top of a fence and there's muck on one side, she's from Yorkshire, and there's nettles on the other side.

So whichever way you jump, you're in trouble.

(Claire laughs) - So are we in the muck or the nettles here?

- Well, we're on the fence at the minute.

(Claire laughs) - Okay.

(light music) - [Kate] Ophelia, you seem a bit stumped.

- Yeah, no, I got a little bit confused because I'm doing a composite about what was in the foreground and what's in the background, but I think I've sorted it out.

- Okay, I see.

It's a bit like if you tell an elaborate lie, you have to keep track of it.

- Yes.

- [Kate] Will we be seeing a animal?

- I'd love to put something in, but it might not be able to appear if I'm very involved in doing everything else.

- I'm always interested by the way that you work because you don't do layer, layer, layer and get more and more complex.

It's section by section and it's get fuller and fuller.

It's actually about an eighth of the canvas totally bald.

- Yes, I'm still not sure what I'm gonna put in that.

- Oh my goodness, you don't know and we're less than an hour away from the end of the day-- - Yes, there is.

Oh my goodness, that's panicked me out a bit, yeah.

- So not only have you got completely bare canvas, but it's completely unchartered territory.

- Yes, it is.

- [Kate] Okay, I'll leave you to fill in this lovely-- - [Ophelia] The mystery bit.

- [Kate] The mystery part, yeah.

- No pressure.

(Kate laughs) (Ophelia laughs) (light music) - [Stephen] With that pressure building, our three finalists now have less than a quarter of the competition left to complete their landscapes.

- Just realized that wall was at the wrong angle.

I'm under pressure, but the first thing I've got to do is get this drawing right because I can't have a wall that looks like it's going downhill and round a corner.

(light music) - I'm doing those pesky little gondolas, but I think I might have made them a bit small actually.

So I'm gonna just step back and have a look and see how they're looking compared to the real thing.

(light music) - I've seen a sea gull, so this is not a figment of my imagination.

It's a last minute decision.

I don't know if I'll get it done in time, so I'm just going to do my best.

(light music) (dramatic music) - [Joan] In London's Docklands, Shelagh, Claire and Ophelia's battle for artistic acclaim has entered its final stages and there's still time for their hopes of becoming Landscape Artist of the Year to vanish from sight.

- I've just noticed that there's something to the side of the big structure, like a crow's nest that I've only just seen.

I'm feeling very stressed.

- Artists, this is your final countdown.

You have five minutes left.

(light music) - I'm lightly panic stricken, but the bridges worked and I just need to try and get this rope in now.

I could work on this painting for another 20 hours.

(dramatic music) - At the moment, what I've got left to do is the shading on the sea gull and a few more details in the right-hand corner.

(dramatic music) - Artists, you have one minute left.

(dramatic music) - I really need more time.

(dramatic music) - Artists, you are at the end of your final challenge.

- Please put down your brushes and step away from your easels.

(audience applauds) (audience cheers) - [Kate] Well done, well done.

- Oh my gosh, thank God that's over.

(audience applauds) (dramatic music) (light music) - [Stephen] While our artists compare notes... - Did you hear about my boat disappearing?

- No.

- [Shelagh] And you didn't manage to photograph it-- - Before I'd started.

- [Ophelia] How annoying.

- [Stephen] For the judges, there's no time to relax.

They now need to review today's landscapes along with getting their first look at the commissions.

- Oh!

- Wow!

- Oh, look!

- That is extraordinary.

It's like they've been working on this for a very long time.

- So distinctively in their styles.

I mean, it just makes me wanna sing.

- Look at Shelagh's gorgeous Palm House.

- My commission was to paint the Palm House inside or out.

We went in and it was just so stunning.

So it was really nice to just play with the textures.

- Shelagh's got up close which is what I was worried she wouldn't be able to give us.

- [Kate] But she's still got the light and the space and the breathing distance that we really enjoy from all of the works we've seen so far.

- [Tai] And you can see from the pallette and the way she puts paint down, it's Shelagh, but it's a whole new dimension I didn't think she would have, but it's just fabulous.

- It sits nicely with today because today you've got something which is totally different in its scope and its ambition, but the same sensitive handling of paint, the same lavishing attention on light.

- Lovely sense of form in both of them actually.

The way in which she's used the architecture of the support for the cable car, there's that beautiful upward thrust.

- Shelagh's choice of view today of course, it was drained of color and yet she's found ways of bringing in just enough to make it sing.

(light music) - When somebody said you've had your first hour and I'd literally just put my brush on the board, it was a bit alarming, but I didn't regret having made the choice of that view.

I just hope I did it justice.

- Ophelia's work is just sensational.

Her commission, the atmosphere on it.

- When I was working on the commission, I was seriously lost in it.

And in that sense, out of all the pieces that we done so far, that was the one that I was happiest with.

- [Tai] It's incredibly complex structure.

The rocks in the foreground, how they lead you in and different greens that she's finding for all the foliage.

And the light on that pagoda, the way it reflects is extraordinary.

- I mean, one of the things that bothers me sometimes about Ophelia's work is how close it sits to illustration.

But what you see in this commission, it's very firmly in the paintily camp.

- And it is such an interesting story, isn't it?

What, you've been out partying all night with your lantern.

Your monkey's watching over you.

- That's exactly what the story is.

- But that's really absurd.

Why am I interested in that?

- [Kathleen] I just cannot get over this light.

It's got almost a spiritual quality to it.

- I think Ophelia's painting today lives off the way the light is shining on the dome.

And I see echoes of the way the light is playing on the surface there in the pagoda roof.

The sea gull was maybe not necessary.

- I don't know if we are going to accept her as a surreal magic realist artist.

Why is the sea gull any more wrong than a monkey holding an umbrella?

Maybe it's part of the playfulness.

- [Kate] Yeah, that is exactly right.

There's a passionate universe that she conjures up, but she paints them in quite a cool way.

It's a fascinating process.

- I found the final experience really, really, really challenging.

The view is so enormous, it comes right at you.

And it's how on earth you actually get that onto canvas, which for me was very tricky.

- And then we've got Claire, who for someone who I was worried could only give us up close, it all opens up so beautifully.

- I am really pleased with my commission painting.

I love the way the metal railings take your eye through.

- I just got this tremendous breathing quality, but still with the signature Claire barrier.

And then it leads you to a very beautiful nowhere.

- And you don't realize how good that water is until you really look what it's doing.

And it's just paint.

It is pure abstraction, beautiful abstraction that gives a sense of place surface light.

I mean, it's absolutely magical.

- [Kathleen] The movement is phenomenal in that water.

Just inspired.

(light music) - Today's painting, the way she's placed blocks of color to lead your eye through, and then you realize Claire is a consummate colorist.

- Up until that walkway, I'm completely sold.

It's just probably for me, the architectural skyline doesn't have the same majesty of the rest of the painting.

- It's a bit like being a pinball in a pinball, isn't it?

You bounce up and down.

And I love that diagonal that she's got with the wall, which is then counteracted by the chains and then with the bridge.

A really dynamic strong landscape.

- I am pleased with the painting I've produced today.

I mean, it was crazily ambitious, but I think I got away with it.

I hope the judges think so, too.

(light music) - They're three such completely different and brilliant artists.

I don't even know how to round this up.

- For me, it's got to be about who am I most excited to see another work from because all three of these artists are good enough to win.

(light music) - Judges you have a harder task today as you have ever had.

How are you going to distinguish?

- Well, what we have to do is say who can we not let go of?

That's got to be the artist that gives us the most excitement, the most sense of possibility.

What's really original.

- [Tai] Yeah, and projecting a bit, we know what the final prize is going to be and what that landscape looks like.

And whose version do I want to see?

- Well, are you near making a decision?

- I feel we're getting closer.

- Closer, closer's not good enough.

We need an answer.

- We're nearly there.

- We have three cracking artists, but there can be only one.

(dramatic music) - Shelagh, Ophelia, Claire, thank you all for being such sensational finalists.

It's been a real pleasure traveling with you and seeing your creativity grow throughout the process.

- But this is the moment we look forward to and dread in equal measure as only one of you can be crowned this year's winner.

And the judges have decided.

This year's Landscape Artist of the Year is... (dramatic music) Ophelia Redpath.

(crowd cheers) (crowd applauds) - It feels amazing to be called the Landscape Artist of the Year.

I'm really, really thrilled.

When I started painting, I wasn't ever a landscape painter, but it crept up on me and it's so lovely to be thought of in that way.

I will have a cup of tea with me daughter.

It's going to be really just very, very nice to chill out.

- You did such a beautiful job, Claire.

Your commission was sensational, that water.

- It's been a marvelous experience.

And sharing that passion, the actual joy in painting, the process of painting, that seemed lovely.

- Love your work, absolutely love your work.

- Honestly, it's a bit disappointing, but Ophelia's work was stunning.

She really deserves to win.

I'm thrilled for her.

The whole competition has been the most tremendous confidence boost.

- [Kathleen] It was lovely having you.

- Bit of outside acknowledgement that what you're doing's not a complete waste of time.

(Shelagh laughs) - Marvelous year?

- It has been.

(dramatic music) - Ophelia's our winner because she intrigues us.

She paints in this way that feels entirely her own, but also a bit peculiar and really accomplished and peculiar.

That's a winning combination.

- And I'm just fascinated by this fantastical code that she gives us and I just want to be transported into this weird and wonderful world.

- I think Ophelia creates these otherworldly surreal stories, but I always get the feeling that the message, it seems whimsical, but the more time you spend with Ophelia's paintings, something important is coming across.

- I can't quite imagine what Ophelia's going to do when she arrives in Wales, but I think there's obviously magic in Snowdonia and if anyone's gonna find it and draw it out and make it distinctly their own, it's Ophelia.

(light music) - Absolutely amazing, it's like something on a different planet.

I've got my work cut out for me.

(light music) I've always felt very, very comfortable knowing that there's a thriving natural world around.

And so that's what I'm wanting to capture.

I'm going to put everything that I can into it.

- Here we go.

(light music) (light chiming)