From the bustling interior of King’s Cross station to the quiet and leafy squares of Chelsea, hundreds of professional and amateur artists took to the streets of London on Saturday in a bid to paint against the clock, as part of the UK’s largest outdoor painting competition.
The Pintar Rapido outdoor painting festival, now in its third year in London, involved more than 300 artists of all levels, from dabblers to professionals, who raced to various spots in the city to produce a painting in a day. Artists registered at Chelsea Old Town Hall at 9am and had until 7pm to return with their artwork, which would be hung for sale in a public exhibition the following day.
Some had come from down the road while others had travelled from Spain and the Netherlands to take part. Roger Beckett, the founder of Pintar Rapido, which means “painting quickly” in Spanish, said the inspiration came from Spain, where he saw such competitions with artists painting live on the streets taking place each summer. “I thought: ‘What a great experience,’ because the public love to see pictures being painted.”
Inclusivity is a key part of the competition, said Beckett, with both professionals and amateurs encouraged to take part. “Anything that encourages people to make a mark, in the creative sense, is a good thing … this is getting people to think, to increase their confidence to draw or paint.”
There is a social side also, which amateur artist John Hoffman, who took part for the second time, confirmed. “I love it. I’ve met a lot of good friends here.” Hoffman’s piece, a pastel painting of a violinist at Pimlico farmer’s market, was hanging proudly in the hall where members of the public milled around, viewing and selecting pieces for purchase (the artists set the price they’d like to receive).
“I just paint during my dinner times,” said Hoffman, who works in historic timber building renovation by day and travelled from Romney marsh for the competition. “It’s a nice escape from talking about tools at work,” he joked.
Alain Speed, an architect at a practice just down the road who paints in his spare time, won the top prize of £1,000 with his oil-on-canvas depiction of an alleyway between the Old Chelsea Town Hall and 181 King’s Road.
The spot caught his eye while he was walking past the previous week, and he thought it all the more interesting for being unexpected and hidden. “Painting outside is fun, so this [competition] is ideal really,” said Speed. “Pitch your easel somewhere and paint what you see, and for me that is art. It doesn’t need to go any further than that.”
The Pintar Rapido competition, which donates 10% of all profits from picture sales to the Campaign for Drawing, will host its first outdoor painting challenge in Glasgow next month before moving to Amsterdam for its second ever competition in September, and then back to London in November.
Beckett hopes to encourage people to give art a go and to increase the number of people taking part. “What I’d really love to get to is 500 people painting on the street. That would be amazing.”
