Jenny Croom thought Portrait Artist of the Year was a scam — then she won it

When Jenny Croom first saw an Instagram callout for ABC's Portrait Artist of the Year, she thought it was a scam.

"It just sounded too good to be true, and there's so much of this stuff around, you've got to be careful," the 77-year-old Melbourne artist says.

It was only after phoning the headquarters of production company Endemol Shine and grilling them directly that Jenny finally accepted the opportunity was real.

Before long, she found herself attending one of the heats of the competition, held at Sydney's lofty new art space, the White Bay Power Station.

Jenny had nurtured a passion for painting since childhood but was only able to properly devote herself to it later in life. She held her first official exhibition at the age of 70.

Now, she was competing against more than 50 Australian artists — ranging from teenagers who had barely started their careers to professionals who had won the Archibald Prize — and the whole process was being filmed for a national audience.

Then, after six heats, a semi-final and a grand final, Jenny Croom was declared Australia's Portrait Artist of the Year for 2025.

'You never know how things will work'

Jenny loved art as a child, but painting got put on the backburner as she got older — until she returned to Australia in her late 20s after living and working in Munich, Germany, with her husband Gary.

She worked with Gary in his electronics business, but her "heart wasn't in it".

"At this point we were hoping to start a family, but it just wasn't happening," says Jenny.

"I really needed something else, so I began to paint again. I hadn't done it since school, but I think because I was hoping for something else which wasn't happening, I really threw myself into painting and I just loved it."

After her years in Europe, Jenny was inspired by the striking beauty of Australia's nature and decided to try her hand at landscapes.

"The light just hit me; it was so bright. Everything was so colourful and so, so very different," she says.

"I kept seeing paint colours everywhere, you know, I'd look at trees and I'd be naming the paints I'd use to paint them."

Jenny sold some of her work and put a few pieces into shows.

"Then, as I'd relaxed away from the family side of things, suddenly I was pregnant," she says. "So you never know how things will work, do you?"

She had two daughters just 15 months apart, and her art once again took a back seat.

But Jenny would paint in the kitchen whenever she could and channelled her creativity into her family.

During filming for Portrait Artist of the Year, one of Jenny's daughters told a story about a night sky painting her mother had made for her when she was a child and couldn't sleep. Jenny had whipped it up quickly in the kitchen, the stars dabbed on with white-out.

"Only about two weeks ago she showed me this little painting," says Jenny. "She'd kept it all this time."

'No other feeling like it'

Jenny didn't have high expectations for her stint on Portrait Artist of the Year.

"I think because of my age — I was the oldest person there — I just thought, 'Gosh, I'm lucky to be here'."

She'd had one solo exhibition in Melbourne before this, having switched to portraits after tackling landscapes and abstracts.

"I guess, like most people, when I see a painting that's beautifully rendered of the human face, I just think, 'Oh my goodness, how beautiful and how wonderful to be able to paint like that'."

Jenny launched into this new challenge with gusto, using a plastic box lid to mix paints, and her mum's old kitchen spatula as a palette knife.

When she won a spot in the semifinal with her portrait of actor Celia Pacquola, she realised she hadn't brought enough canvases up with her to Sydney and had to go shopping.

"I thought I was OK," she says, "but I didn't imagine winning!"

She smashed through the semis with her cosmic rendering of Dr Karl, and then painted Denise Scott, alongside artists Dean Rankine and Jenna Pickering, in the grand final.

Three artists, including Jenny, painted a portrait of actor Celia Pacquola in the first round. (ABC iview)

Karl Kruszelnicki was the portrait subject for the semifinals. (ABC iview)

The three finalists competed to paint the best portrait of actor and comedian Denise Scott. (ABC iview)

Jenny's portrait of chef and restaurateur Kylie Kwong is now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery of Australia. (ABC iview)

After deliberation from the judges, Jenny's striking portrait was declared the winner.

"I was shocked, I really was," she says. "There were so many very good artists there, and everyone got on so well together; Jenna and I used to do a little dance together and sing songs."

The prize for her success was a commission to paint one more portrait, this time of renowned chef and restaurateur Kylie Kwong. Jenny would have six weeks to complete this portrait; a luxury after the four-hour heats of the show.

"It started off scaring me to death," she admits. "It took me a couple of days, but I got over the feeling of being overwhelmed."

Once complete, Jenny's painting was unveiled at its new home: on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia in Canberra.

"Oh my goodness, there's no other feeling like it in the world," says Jenny, whose voice is still filled with a joyful kind of disbelief.

She will hold a series of workshops at the National Portrait Gallery in 2026 and has a clutch of new artworks on the go. But for now, Jenny is basking in the joy of a job well done.

"I was just so relieved that Kylie liked it."

Watch Portrait Artist of the Year free on ABC TV and ABC iview.