Top artists vying for the prize in the Sky Arts series Landscape Artist of the Year enjoyed the picturesque Felixstowe coastline this week, as the series semi final visited the Suffolk coast.

Ipswich Star: Filming on Felixstowe beach for the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year semi final Picture: JIM HORSFIELDFilming on Felixstowe beach for the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year semi final Picture: JIM HORSFIELD (Image: Jim Horsfield)

Eight semi-finalists in the channel’s flagship series were joined by more than 100 crew on Tuesday at a prime position at Landguard Point looking out towards the vast Felixstowe Docks.

The show, now in its fourth series, followed on from the success of Sky Arts’ Portrait Artist of the Year and has become the channel’s second biggest show for viewing figures.

Karen Everett, director of Screen Suffolk which helped scout locations and arranged filming permits, said: “The beach looked incredible with the specifically designed pods erected for the eight artists – who painted inside them for four hours. We can’t wait to see the landscape views painted of Felixstowe Port.

“The pods were positioned on the beach looking toward Felixstowe’s container port. Three finalists were selected from the semi-final, who will go on to the final.

Ipswich Star: Filming on Felixstowe beach for the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year semi final Picture: JIM HORSFIELDFilming on Felixstowe beach for the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year semi final Picture: JIM HORSFIELD (Image: Jim Horsfield)

“The programme makers made a very kind donation to Landguard Fort as well – by way of an extra thanks. We’re really impressed and grateful for that.”

As well as filming of the artists at work, Wednesday featured more shooting of general views of the port traffic, beach and fort.

Screen Suffolk had been working alongside the production company, Storyvault Films, to find a perfect location for the artists to work, with series producer Danielle Graham thrilled with the scenic Suffolk spot.

“Felixstowe Docks was somewhere that had been on our radar for a while, but when we came to recce the location earlier this year we knew almost instantly that this had the scale and impact we were looking in the semi-final location for Landscape Artist of the Year,” she said.

Ipswich Star: Filming on Felixstowe beach for the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year semi final Picture: JIM HORSFIELDFilming on Felixstowe beach for the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year semi final Picture: JIM HORSFIELD (Image: Jim Horsfield)

“The view from Landguard Point is an extraordinary industrial marvel, thousands and thousands of colourful sea containers being picked up and put down by fifty foot cranes as if they were little Lego bricks is utterly mesmerising to watch, and something that we knew instantly would provide a unique challenge for our semi-finalists and really make them work hard for a place in the final.”

The episode is expected to air sometime this autumn.