A WARGRAVE artist who made it to the final of a television painting contest is encouraging residents to take every opportunity they’re presented with.
Shelagh Casebourne, who regularly features in the Henley Arts Trail, applied to be a wildcard contestant in this year’s Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year competition.
She made it to the final and is now encouraging other artists to apply for the show.
“I know it sounds like a cliché, but I really felt like a winner to have got so far,” she said. “I was genuinely delighted for Ophelia Redpath to win the final commission from the National Trust.
“If I learned one thing from the whole experience, it’s to take every opportunity that presents itself – you never know where it might lead.”
She said her expectations were low when entering the competition, as she has “become very used to submitting work for exhibitions and getting no further”.
She said: “It was stunning to get a phone call to find that my submission had got me a place, and not even as a wild card entrant, but as a pod competitor.”
She painted the Palm House, at Kew Gardens in the semi-final, and Trinity Wharf, in east London for the final.
Applications are open for the new series of Sky Landscape Artist of the Year. They close on Friday, April 30.
For more information, visit: www.skyartsartistoftheyear.tv/landscape