"At the end of the day, you just can’t give up.” –Paul Newton, 2023 Portrait Society Draper Grand Prize Winner.
This past May, a crowd of Portrait Society conference attendees rose to their feet to applaud artist Paul Newton as he took to the stage to accept the Draper Grand Prize for his outstanding painting, Self Portrait in Lockdown. Out of more than 3,000 submitted entries and 20 selected finalists, Newton’s expressive and soulful self-portrait was awarded the top prize, which this year came with a $50,000 cash prize, as part of the Society’s 25th Anniversary celebration. About the award-winning work, Portrait Society executive board member, Mary Whyte, who served as one of this year’s judges, remarked, “Paul Newton’s self-portrait checks off all the boxes of what makes a superior…
