Season 2 · Episode 1

The Big Painting Challenge: Still Life

Mariella Frostrup and Reverend Richard Coles have been polishing up on their Pollocks and reviewing their Rembrandts as they return for The Big Painting Challenge. Ten amateur painters, all with bags of enthusiasm and lashings of potential, arrive in Glasgow for the start of a six-week artistic boot camp. They will be working with professional mentors Diana Ali and Pascal Anson, who are there to tutor and test them in equal measure. The first genre the artists face is still life, and the task sees them painting objects they have each brought from home. Can they transfer a 3D object convincingly on to a 2D canvas? This is followed by a masterclass, a specially designed teaching moment to help both artists and anyone at home trying to improve their painting skills on volume and tone. The next challenge is a supersized still life. At a distillery, the artists must reproduce the large-scale and very shiny stills and fermenters used in the production of whisky and gin. Once completed, their works are displayed to the public, who give their favourite artist a pass to the next round. Judges Lachlan Goudie and Daphne Todd then deliver their verdicts on the amateurs' artistic endeavours and decide which of them will be sent home.