\n Michael Lumb, 57, from Heighington village, stepped into one of the coveted pods on Landscape Artist of the Year – the Sky Arts series that draws hundreds of hopefuls each season.\n<\/p>\n
\n Presented by Stephen Mangan and judged by Tai Shan Schierenberg, Kathleen Soriano and Eva Langret, the series brings together some of the country\u2019s most promising landscape artists.\n<\/p>\n
\n Filming for Michael\u2019s heat took place last June in the heart of London\u2019s St James\u2019s Park, where contestants were given four hours to capture an iconic view.\n<\/p>\n
\n Michael found himself among a select group of ‘pod artists’ setting up their easels in front of the park, with Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Monument visible in the background.\n<\/p>\n
\n Michael Lumb with presenter Stephen Mangan. (Image: Vicki Lumb)\n<\/p>\n
\n Michael’s love of art began while he was a pupil at Woodham Comprehensive School, now Woodham Academy, in the 1980s.\n<\/p>\n
\n He went on to study fine art at Manchester Polytechnic, now Manchester Metropolitan University, before starting a career in teaching.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, after losing his love for the profession, Mr Lumb left teaching and has spent the past 25 years supporting his art through a variety of jobs. Today, he works as a civil servant, finding time to paint whenever he can.\n<\/p>\n
\n His work has appeared across the region, from the Great North Art Show in Ripon to galleries in Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland and Darlington.\n<\/p>\n
\n It was his wife, Vicki, who applied for Landscape Artist of the Year on his behalf.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d stand any chance of getting on,” Michael said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen I got the telephone call telling me I\u2019d been selected, I couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Michael working on his painting during filming for the show. (Image: Storyvault Films)\n<\/p>\n
\n His day of filming lasted 12 hours, including four hours to complete his competition painting.\n<\/p>\n
\n He described the experience as unforgettable, adding: \u201cIt was one of the best things I\u2019ve ever done. The production team at Storyvault Films were brilliant.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI made some brilliant new artist friends from around the country and we rooted for each other. We have even kept in contact.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Viewers can find out how Michael gets on by tuning into Landscape Artist of the Year when his heat is aired on Sky Arts next Wednesday, January 21, at 8pm.\n<\/p>\n
\n The channel is available on Freeview (11\/36) and Freely, or in HD via Sky, Virgin Media and NOW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Lumb, 57, from Heighington village, stepped into one of the coveted pods on Landscape Artist of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-373797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}