BP Portrait Award 2016: Third time lucky as artist wins prestigious £30,000 prize with same model

Judges said Clara Drummond’s work stood ourt due to its ‘subtle, enigmatic nature, and for the indelible impression the artist's skill makes on the viewer’

Girl In A Liberty Dress. Clara Drummond's friend and fellow artist Kirsty Buchanan also sat for her in 2013 and 2014 (PA)

A Cambridgeshire-based artist has won a prestigious £30,000 portrait prize featuring the same person she painted for the prize on two prior attempts.

38-year-old Clara Drummond has been awarded the 2016 BP Portrait Award for her work titled Girl In A Liberty Dress.

The portrait is of her friend and fellow artist Kirsty Buchanan, who sat for her in 2013 and 2014, wearing a vintage dress from department store, Liberty.

Ms Drummond was selected to exhibit for the portrait award for two consecutive years and prior to that with a different sitter in 2006 and 2009.

The judges said her work stood out due to its “subtle, enigmatic nature, and for the indelible impression the artist's skill makes on the viewer”.

She said her subject, Ms Buchanan, was inspiring because “she is always immersed in the ideas around whatever she is making at the time, history, nature, mythology and art all feed into her work, so when I am drawing or painting her it feels more like a collaboration than a portrait sitting”.

Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill presented Ms Drummond with her prize at an event held at London's National Portrait Gallery. The Edinburgh-born artist was also presented with a commission from the gallery worth £5,000.

The portrait will be on display from 23 June.

PA