NEWS

In December 2025, I submitted my entry to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Portrait Artist of the Year (PAOTY) competition after encouragement from my fellow artist and a contestant in Season 1, Eliza Cottonwood.

Entering a national TV competition felt delusional, considering I had only started painting regularly in 2024 after resigning from a 12-year career as a management consultant. A mid-life crisis, perhaps, but I promised myself to spend the next few years honing my artistic skills and seizing every opportunity regardless of my inner doubts. When the shortlist notification arrived, I was shaking with excitement and panicking in equal measure: what had I done?!

I drove to Sydney for the competition, and on 19 March 2026, I did the craziest thing in my life: painting a celebrity in front of cameras! It was a long day and filming started from 6:45 AM to 8:30 PM at the Chullora Heritage Train Yard.

I met eight talented fellow artists in my heat, and a true sense of camaraderie quickly formed among us. The production crew from Endemol Shine were remarkably supportive and caring, and they did their best to calm our nerves by cracking jokes and keeping us entertained in between filming.

With the nine artists divided into three pods, we were eagerly awaiting our celebrity sitters to arrive. When the show hosts, Miranda Tapsell and Luke McGregor, introduced the sitter for my pod, Dannii Minogue, the live audience burst into applause as she stylishly walked through the passage to the platform.

After our hosts announced the start of the timer, we sprang into action, discussing with our sitters their poses and understanding the significance of the mystery items they brought with them. Once we started painting, I observed Dannii’s apprehension at times, and our conversation led to her expressing the vulnerability she felt while being observed by the artists. I was surprised by her discomfort despite being a celebrity who frequently appears in the limelight, but I greatly appreciated her openness in discussing her experience with impostor syndrome, something that strongly resonated with me. I believe this is when my connection with Dannii was formed, and I will never forget the intensity when we locked eyes during the painting session.

Painting in front of cameras, judges, and a live audience was surreal. We were under intense time pressure to complete our portraits within four hours, and our judges, Abdul Abdullah, Bree Pickering and Robert Wellington, were keen to understand our ideas for the composition and our approaches to creating the artworks.

It was such a relief when the time was up, and we had to put down our tools and step away from our easels. This was followed by a brief reprieve as we took a break while the judges were making the decision on selecting the artist to enter the semi-final of the competition. It was such an emotional ride when the results were announced. We, the artists, all saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime experience regardless of the outcome.

Stream Portrait Artist of the Year  - Season 2 from Sunday 16 August 2026 at 7:30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV. Eric appears in Episode #1.