Landscape Artist of the Year returns to Sky for its 11th series on January 14. Hosted once again by Stephen Mangan, Sky Arts’ long-running competition, mixes artistic endeavour with leisurely location-hopping, as a fresh cohort of painters attempt to capture some of Britain’s most recognisable vistas.
This year also brings a new face to the judging panel: Eva Langret, Director of Frieze London, joins returning judges Tai Shan Schierenberg and Kathleen Soriano.
The series opens out across a thoughtfully chosen itinerary that feels as much like a slow-travel wish list as a painting challenge…
As ever, the real stars are the locations. The series opens out across a thoughtfully chosen itinerary that feels as much like a slow-travel wish list as a painting challenge.
Dover Castle provides a suitably dramatic starting point, its chalk cliffs and commanding views across the Channel offering artists a lesson in scale and atmosphere. Just down the road, Dover Ferry Port delivers a more industrial coastal scene, where ships, water and movement create a very different kind of seaside subject.
Further north, the Lake District supplies its familiar combination of soft light, layered hills and reflective waters, territory that has tempted painters for centuries, though rarely with a stopwatch ticking. In London, the show takes a varied approach: artists sketch the Thames from aboard HMS Wellington, offering a river-level view of the capital, before decamping to St James’s Park, where pelicans, plane trees and passing office workers lend a pastoral calm to the city centre.
Elsewhere, the Ouse Valley Viaduct in West Sussex brings Victorian engineering into the frame, its sweeping arches cutting across open countryside. In Scotland, the Falkirk Wheel offers something altogether more modern, a feat of design that challenges artists to reconcile function with form.
Each episode sees eight selected artists and up to 50 wildcard entrants working side by side, hoping their interpretation catches the judges’ attention. Heat winners progress through to the semi-final and final, with the eventual prize being a £10,000 commission to paint Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland’s holy mountain and a fittingly dramatic destination for the 2026 title holder.
Landscape Artist of the Year airs weekly on Sky Arts, Freeview Channel 36 and streaming service NOW from January 14.
Overlooking the Bay of Palma, from the edge of the historic Calatrava district, this delightful adults-only boutique hotel only opened in 2019 but already feels established as one of Palma’s finest places to stay – its design reflecting the history of Majorca’s capital. Swedish designer Magnus Ehrland has put his mark on the hotel, but…
Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo has expanded its innovative SL range with the new SL80A, a sub-24-metre motor yacht that brings the Italian builder’s distinctive asymmetric architecture to its most compact platform yet. Designed by Zuccon International Project, the yacht combines the space, comfort and speed of a larger vessel with the practical advantages of a smaller…
Air France is bringing a taste of Paris to London Heathrow with the opening of its new lounge in Terminal 4. Open daily from 5am until 10pm, the 750-square-metre facility seats almost 150 guests and is available to La Première, Business and Flying Blue Elite Plus customers, alongside eligible travellers flying with KLM and other…
Landscape Artist of the Year returns to Sky for its 11th series on January 14. Hosted once again by Stephen Mangan, Sky Arts’ long-running competition, mixes artistic endeavour with leisurely location-hopping, as a fresh cohort of painters attempt to capture some of Britain’s most recognisable vistas.
This year also brings a new face to the judging panel: Eva Langret, Director of Frieze London, joins returning judges Tai Shan Schierenberg and Kathleen Soriano.
As ever, the real stars are the locations. The series opens out across a thoughtfully chosen itinerary that feels as much like a slow-travel wish list as a painting challenge.
Dover Castle provides a suitably dramatic starting point, its chalk cliffs and commanding views across the Channel offering artists a lesson in scale and atmosphere. Just down the road, Dover Ferry Port delivers a more industrial coastal scene, where ships, water and movement create a very different kind of seaside subject.
Further north, the Lake District supplies its familiar combination of soft light, layered hills and reflective waters, territory that has tempted painters for centuries, though rarely with a stopwatch ticking. In London, the show takes a varied approach: artists sketch the Thames from aboard HMS Wellington, offering a river-level view of the capital, before decamping to St James’s Park, where pelicans, plane trees and passing office workers lend a pastoral calm to the city centre.
Elsewhere, the Ouse Valley Viaduct in West Sussex brings Victorian engineering into the frame, its sweeping arches cutting across open countryside. In Scotland, the Falkirk Wheel offers something altogether more modern, a feat of design that challenges artists to reconcile function with form.
Each episode sees eight selected artists and up to 50 wildcard entrants working side by side, hoping their interpretation catches the judges’ attention. Heat winners progress through to the semi-final and final, with the eventual prize being a £10,000 commission to paint Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland’s holy mountain and a fittingly dramatic destination for the 2026 title holder.
Landscape Artist of the Year airs weekly on Sky Arts, Freeview Channel 36 and streaming service NOW from January 14.
El Llorenç Parc de la Mar hotel review: A delightful designer retreat in historic Palma
Overlooking the Bay of Palma, from the edge of the historic Calatrava district, this delightful adults-only boutique hotel only opened in 2019 but already feels established as one of Palma’s finest places to stay – its design reflecting the history of Majorca’s capital. Swedish designer Magnus Ehrland has put his mark on the hotel, but…
Sanlorenzo SL80A first look: The luxury yacht that suggests smaller may be smarter
Italian shipyard Sanlorenzo has expanded its innovative SL range with the new SL80A, a sub-24-metre motor yacht that brings the Italian builder’s distinctive asymmetric architecture to its most compact platform yet. Designed by Zuccon International Project, the yacht combines the space, comfort and speed of a larger vessel with the practical advantages of a smaller…
Fine wine, wellness and workspaces on offer in new Air France Heathrow lounge
Air France is bringing a taste of Paris to London Heathrow with the opening of its new lounge in Terminal 4. Open daily from 5am until 10pm, the 750-square-metre facility seats almost 150 guests and is available to La Première, Business and Flying Blue Elite Plus customers, alongside eligible travellers flying with KLM and other…
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