IF YOU’VE ever watched a television show and thought, I’d like to do that, why not take a leaf out of Shelagh Casebourne’s sketchbook.
The Wargrave-based artist, who is a mainstay of the Henley Arts Trail, applied to be a wildcard contestant in this year’s Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year competition.
She appeared in the first heat, aired last month on the Freeview channel, and brushed off her competitors to get through to the next heat.
“I’m a great fan of the programme and its sister contest, Portrait Artist of the Year, they’re terrific programmes and a really great format,” she explains.
“I thought I’d apply to be one of the wildcard artists.”
There are 50 such contestants in the contest, which is judged by Stephen Mangan and Joan Bakewell.
“These artists look like they have such a great time, a great community of artists just painting along together,” she says. “At the end of the heat, one of those wildcard artists goes through to the semi-final.
“It never occurred to me in a million years that I would be one of those selected.”
But it wasn’t as a wildcard – Shelagh was to be one of the main competitors.
“What an amazing opportunity,” she says.
And like all those preparing to take part in a big contest, Shelagh took time to ensure she was match fit.
“You’ve only got four hours to paint, usually I only do two,” she says, explaining that conditions can change and that in those two hours she might create a sketch that could then be turned into something in the studio.
But for the contest, with restricted time to create the paintings, Shelagh knew she had to practise to make perfect.
“I did try and set myself targets of painting in a certain amount of time to a finished standard,” she says.
“As an artist, I’m quite impatient, I like to do mine quite quickly and not spend too long on any one work.”
To help her nerves, she opted not to look at her fellow competitors’ works until she finished, which also helped.
For now, we have to wait until the semi-final is aired to see how Shelagh progresses through the contest and we’ll next see her on February 24. She remains tight-lipped and she’s had good practice.
“I told nobody about taking part,” she says. “Nobody could ask if I won the first heat because they didn’t know I was doing it.”
The finished piece is a masterpiece, so it is hanging in pride of place on her wall?
No, she laughs. “It’s just propped against the wall in my studio. I look at it and think, ‘Oh, I wish I could have done that’ or ‘That would have been better’.
