Welsh teenage art prodigy features on Portrait Artist of the Year
Amelia Jones
A self-taught artist from Swansea who began painting portraits in her family’s garden shed during lockdown has been featured on BBC News as she prepares to appear on Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year.
Makenzy Beard, 19, discovered her talent during the first Covid lockdown, when she picked up some old paintbrushes belonging to her mother and began experimenting with portrait painting without any formal lessons.
Her work quickly gained recognition. In 2021, a portrait she painted of her Gower neighbour, farmer John Tucker, was selected for the Royal Academy’s Young Artists’ Summer Show and photos of it went viral online.
Since then, Makenzy’s paintings have sold for tens of thousands of pounds, according to the BBC, while her work has also helped raise more than £45,000 for charity.
Now, she is taking on a new challenge as one of the artists appearing in the latest series of Portrait Artist of the Year.
The programme sees artists compete to create portraits, with Jonathan Yeo, Eva Langret and Katy Hessel among the judges. The series winner receives £10,000 and the opportunity to paint actor Damian Lewis for the National Portrait Gallery.
Speaking to BBC Wales, she said: “I owe a lot to that first piece I did of John Tucker, which sort of launched me into the art world, and now a few years later I’m still in it and really loving it. It’s opened loads of doors for me since.”
Alongside her television appearance, the young artist is developing a second collection of around 20 paintings, drawing inspiration from her own perspective on the world and a growing interest in philosophy.
The collection explores subjects including animal cruelty, child poverty and mental health, with some more humorous works also planned. She hopes to find a gallery willing to exhibit the finished collection.
Portrait Artist of the Year airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on Sky Arts and NOW, with a repeat on Thursday evenings.
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