Sky Landscape Artist of the Year

Exhibition Report: Sky Landscape Artist of the Year – Semi-Finalists Exhibition

Venue: Historic Dockyard, Portsmouth

Date: March 2025

Exhibiting Artist: Clarke Reynolds

In March 2025, the Historic Dockyard Portsmouth—home to my art studio—hosted an exhibition celebrating the semi-finalists of Sky Landscape Artist of the Year, following the televised finale.

Although I wasn’t part of the show itself, my inclusion in the exhibition came about through my strong connection with the Dockyard. I had originally applied for the competition, but let’s be honest: there was never going to be a fair way for me to complete a landscape in four hours on live TV. As a blind artist who works through touch, time and texture are my tools—and speed painting under pressure simply doesn’t reflect how I create.

So instead, I turned this opportunity into something powerful. I exhibited my first-ever braille landscape, created not with a brush, but with words.

The work was inspired by a personal moment: standing aboard a Falklands landing craft in the Solent. I couldn’t see the view, but I felt it. The wind, the sound of waves, the sense of scale—these were the sensations I captured. I translated them into my signature colour-coded braille, painting the landscape with vocabulary and touch.

This piece marked a turning point in my practice—an emotional response to the British seascape, reimagined in a language that invites people to read, feel, and connect.

For me, this exhibition wasn’t about competition—it was about representation. It was about showing that landscapes don’t only belong to the sighted, and that there is more than one way to “see” a view.