MAKING A MARK

Want to watch Landscape Artist of the Year 2027 being filmed?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:00:12 +0000

Are you interested in watching Series 12 of Landscape Artist of the Year being filmed? This is the series which will be broadcast in early 2027.

This post is about:

where 5 of the locations are and the day they are being filmed
useful info about how to get there

You will recall from earlier posts that this series has

The ten artists for this new series have been selected (see Call for Entries: Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 12). This new format means they all travel the length and breadth of the country visiting different locations - with one artist dropping out after every heat.
a new judge Landscape Artist of the Year: A Celebrity Twist!

Series 12: An invitation to watch

Every year, SKY Arts and Storyvault Films allow people to watch various of the heats of Landscape Artist of the Year as they are filmed.

They are welcoming people to come and watch SOME of the heats on specific dates this summer.

BUT only some as they cannot accommodate audiences at the remaining heats and the final this year, due to the lack of parking and facilities. (I also suspect that some of those turning up to the Final last year were a few too many / maybe blabbed online before the episode aired?)

They're calling them Episodes, I'm calling them Heats as the Heats often change order when they work out how to air them. As in they usually want a really good one up front to hook viewers - and yoiu don't know what that is until after it's been filmed!

On the Day

The competition will start at approximately 9:30am and finish around 6pm. You do not need to contact us to reserve a place, but please note that some locations may charge a fee for parking. We hope to see you there!

Please note that posting of photos or videos of any artists or artwork will NOT be permitted until after the show has broadcast. This is to help us avoid spoilers ahead of the show's transmission. (They also keep their eyes peeled for such posting in advance of the broadcast!)

Series 12 LAOTY Locations

HEAT 1: Richmond Riverside, London – Monday 15th June

Richmond Riverside in background

Richmond boathouse and boats in middle ground

Richmond Bridge on right

Credit: Jim Linwood (Wikimedia Commons)

Richmond Riverside is not a generic term, it's a very specific place/development in Richmond in South West London near to Richmond Bridge. It also offers

a large flat space where they can erect the pods so that the artists can paint the oft painted view of the bridge and/or Corporation Island.
Plus lots of services nearby.
Accessible by public transport (eg Richmond Station is a 9 minute short walk). Limited parking (you're competing with the workers and shoppers of this very popular place)

Richmond Riverside: the Red pin is located near the large flat terraces

There is very likely to be a second heat close by on the following day or more likely Wednesday - depending on the time needed to strike the set and set up again.

Selected Artists (Part 2: I - Y) for The Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 31 May 2026 11:31:47 +0000

This is Part 2 of my post about the artists selected for the Annual Exhibition of the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026.

It's rather longer this year as most of the artists have been sending me their portraits - see below!

You can also read my previous post Selected Artists (Part 1: A-H) for The Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery

NOTE: If you can't see the portraits which are pics embedded from Instagram, this is probably because you're not logged into Instagram.

Artists Selected for The Portrait Award 2026

There's a lot of artists selected for the first time in this half of the 52 artists selected for this year's exhibition.

The Portrait Award too is an amazing event. It’s like the Oscars of the Portrait Painters world (for those who don’t know or might be unfamiliar with the name of the current sponsor)....I am… utterly gobsmacked. And won’t probably really truly believe it until I’m standing there next to my painting in June. Ros Koch

Selected artists who want to see my photos of past exhibitors - taken on the Artists Press View morning - should take a look at my reference where they all my "Artists with their Paintings" posts are listed.

Selected Artist Statistics

I'm proposing to do a statistical analysis of the artists ( re. male/female; country; first/previous exhibitor) as the National Portrait Gallery has not published one this year. I publish this in another post.

PART TWO

This covers the artists whose surnames start with "I" through to those who start with "Y".

Links to their websites are embedded in their names - and Instagram accounts indicated if they have one (that can be found easily!)

I've also indicated which artists are prior exhibitors - and the years in which they exhibited. All other artists are First Time Exhibitors.

Shinji Ihara (Instagram) - (Prior Exhibitor - 2024, 2025) - a painter and contemporary artist based in Hiroshima, Japan. Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1987, he received his MFA in Oil Painting from the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. He is the Founder of HDL+ (formerly Hiroshima Drawing Lab), an artist-run space in Hiroshima. He has had multiple solo exhibitions in Tokyo and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Japan and internationally, including Asia and Europe. Previously selected for the Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in 2024 and 2025. I predicted he would be back again and I believe him to be a future prizewinner.

Working primarily through painting, Ihara explores memory, relationships, and the position of the individual within society. Portraiture has been central to his practice, through which he examines the dynamics between seeing and being seen, presence and distance

After the rain, we remain by Shinji Ihara
oil on canvas, h72.7 × w91 cm
© Shinji Ihara

Martin Jessup - a portrait painter living in Kent, working in traditional oils, specialising in highly detailed portraits for private clients and institutions and accepting a limited number of commissions each year.

Diane M Benoit
oil on stretched canvas, 60 X 40 inches

Ros Koch (Instagram) - Contemporary South African painter. Born in the UK and she has lived in South Africa since 1998. Paints landscapes and portraits. Ros is a self-taught artist, who - thanks to traditional parents and schooling - took a long time to allow herself to transition from ‘art as hobby’ to ‘art as a career’

The Age of Adolescence (2024) by Ros Koch

Oil on board, framed in Kiaat; 250 x 250mm

The fact that THIS painting - my first ever submission to the HSFK Portrait award - has been accepted to hang in the NPG is a beautiful full circle moment for me. It’s a coming of age (both in its title and artistic affirmation) and homecoming of sorts. Like many other artists, I used to go to the NPG as a child, always drawn to the people and their lives. And it is truly serendipitous that this one has been selected as its subject matter is so immensely meaningful and deeply personal to me, representing the intersection of things things I feel most passionate about.

Selected Artists (Part 1: A-H) for The Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 28 May 2026 18:24:57 +0000

Every year I highlight ALL the arrtists selected for the Annual Exhibition of the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026

The 2026 Exhibition will be held at the:

National Portrait Gallery (25 June to 7 October 2026)
Derby Museum and Art Gallery (21 November 2026 – 21 February 2027) and
The Gallery at The Arc, Winchester (5 March – 9 June 2027)

This year, word got around and I've had lots of emails - hence many more pics than usual!

So this year I'm splitting this selected artists post into roughly two halves by surname

Part 1: starting with A through G
Part 2: from H through Y

In this post, my aim is to provide a profile of the artist. A later post will focus on "Artists with their Paintings (and/or the review) will focus on the stories behind the portraits.

There is, from my perspective, a very clear underlying theme to the selection this year. I'm not going to comment on it in this post but rather save it for the review.

However, you might want to see if you can work it out....

Artists Selected for The Portrait Award 2026

I know a number of the selected artists well either from this exhibition - and their repeat selection - or that of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters or ROI. Hence some entries are longer than others.

Repeat selection is often an indicator of somebody who might be a prizewinner in due course. Although Ben Sullivan (First Prize Winner 2017) pointed out getting selected for the Portrait Award is the best method of generating commissions so repeat selections are always very welcome!. He managed 11 selections before he finally won!

I have developed over time (ie the last 19 years!) the ability to spot a prospective repeat exhibitor - and you will see comments to this effect. I'm rarely surprised by those I see again

Every artist gets a mini bio, largely dictated by space and the need for brevity but also what I can find out about them online. Some, as requested, have written to me and filled in some of the gaps and sent me an image.

Everybody is a first time exhibitor unless otherwise indicated.

PART ONE

Adebanji Alade - Current President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Professional artist, teacher, author and television presenter (BBC One Show). He has a studio on Lots Road in Chelsea, London. I first met Adebanji years and years ago. I think I've known him almost as long as I've had this blog! I've also seen this portrait before - and I think it's wonderful. It was exhibited at the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters last November and it just blew me away. His family have always been very much part of who Adebanji is and this is a great record of his two kids painting with him at home. This is the first time he's been selected for this exhibition.

Copycats (2025) by Adebanji Alade

Oil on canvas, 101cm x 76cm, 2025

Zena Assi - Born in Lebanon, in 1974, Zena Assi lives and works in London. She graduated with honors from l’Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts (ALBA), worked in advertising and taught in different universities. Many of her pieces are repeatedly shown in different international auction houses and are part of various public as well as private collections.
Paul Aston - see his painting of The Costumer below. He is a figurative painter working in Cambridge in the United Kingdom. His subject matter varies from portraiture to landscape and still life. In 2023 he was a contestant in heat 2 of Portrait Artist of the Year.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Paul Aston (@paulastonpainter)

Liam Barden - Painter and Teacher living in Folkestone. Co-Owner of @bardenartschool

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Liam Barden (@colourfulgoo)

Frances Bell - born in 1983 and raised in Suffolk, UK. Multi-award winning portrait painter. Classically trained in Florence, Frances works in a traditional way with a contemporary style. Her portrait is of her daughter. Frances is a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI), the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (RP) and The Contemporary British Portrait Painters (CBPP). I confidently predict Frances will win this Award one day.

Frances has been a full time professional painter since 2004, taking commissions all over the world for individuals, family’s and institutions. Frances has won over 25 Awards for her work and has participated in many exhibitions in the UK and internationally.

Paul Benney - Currently holds the mantle of "most selected artist never to have won". Previous exhibitor nine times: 1994,1996 (Winner – BP Visitors’ Choice),1997 (Winner – BP Visitors’ Choice), 1998, 1999, 2000, 2008, 2010, 2014. He has worked as an artist and musician in both the U.S. and U.K. He has painted many prominent political and cultural figures. His work is represented in public collections world wide including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The National Gallery of Australia, The National Portrait Gallery, The Royal Collection, and a plethora of other prominent private and corporate collections.

He is the artist who was chosen to paint the State Portrait of HRH Queen Camilla. (see my blog post The Coronation Portraits and The King's Tour Artists - at Buckingham Palace
the link in the title of the portrait below explains the background to the portrait.

Benney has twice won the public choice award in the BP Portrait Awards and has been short listed on two occasions.
Fiona by Paul Benney
© Paul Benney

Only 10 paintings sold?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 25 May 2026 10:56:54 +0000

The 159th Annual International Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society has finished at the Salmagundi Club. Some statistics - one jumped out to me (in red):

3,300 visitors
during the exhibition which ran for 3.5 weeks from April 7 – May 1
$54,000 in awards, and
ONLY 10 PAINTINGS SOLD!
That means

only 0.3% of the visitors wanted to buy a painting!
only c.6% of artists sold a painting

Facebook Post by AWS

You can find the names of the exhibited artists here (both AWS members and those selected from the open entry.)

These are the Award Winners. Paintings selected for awards can be viewed here.
Thirty-nine awards totaling over $54,000 were selected this year by the 159th Exhibiton Jury of Awards.

The only images online are those of award winners. They do not contain any details about size, materials or price.

Critique

When art societies were first formed, the major reason was to share the costs of exhibitions of artwork so that artists could get their artwork in front of more people and stand a better chance of selling it.

It wasn't about showing off. It was about financing the artist to make money to enable them to continue being an artist. That's still - or should be - one of the primary reasons why artists exhibit today.

If an annual international exhibition by the one of the oldest and most prestigious watercolour societies in America can only sell 10 paintings then something they are doing is wrong!

AWS Facebook Page

Context

First, by way of comparison I'm going to highlight the number and percentage of sales of artwork exhibited at the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours last three annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries (a large gallery supporting national societies of artists in the centre of London - accessible to fans, tourists and people walking up the Mall to/from Buckingham Palace)

As you can see, the RI have significantly more sales both in terms of actual paintings and percentage sold.

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026: SHORTLIST Announced

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 May 2026 19:49:34 +0000

This is about the four artists shortlisted for the 44th edition of its prestigious Annual Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026 was formerly known as the BP Portrait Award and before that the John Player Portrait Award - which is what it was called when I first started visiting.)

Some background

The Portrait Award has earned a reputation as one of the most important platforms for portrait painters. The highly competitive Award encourages artists over the age of 18 to focus upon, and develop, the theme of portraiture in their work. Since its inception, the competition has attracted over 50,000 entries from more than 100 countries and the exhibition has been seen by over 6 million people.

I'm pleased to see the NPG appears to have adopted my name for the competition ie The Portrait Award - as per my comment in this post last year!

Here's where I stand on the sponsor name. It's ludicrous. It's not a name which rolls off the tongue. People can never ever remember it and now they've added another name in!

Which is precisely why I will continue to refer to it as The Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Shortlist for the £66K HSFK Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery

Selection for the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026

This post provides you with information about the four shortlisted artists, named today by the NPG, and shows you images of their portraits.

Some facts:

The Call for Entries produced 1,474 entries from Artists from across the world who uploaded a photograph of their finished painting to the National Portrait Gallery’s Competitions Portal for the initial judging of digital images
Specifically, entries were received from 63 countries.
All entries were judged anonymously - which means it'll be interesting to see how many artists previously selected are selected again.
The Selection Panel is an ALL FEMALE jury and appears to be "contemporary" in nature. Its members are:

Melissa Blanchflower - Senior Curator at the Turner Contemporary
Es Devlin - digital artist and set designer, ;
Amy Emmerson Martin - Contemporary Curator at the National Portrait Gallery (previously Assistant Curator of Contemporary British Art at Tate)
Mary Evans - artist and Director of the Slade.

Artists who made it through the digital judging round were invited to hand-deliver or courier their work to a venue in London for a second, physical round of judging
A total of 52 portraits have been chosen for the exhibition which opens from 25 June to 7 October 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery
The portraits by the four artists were chosen from the 52 portraits selected for final display.
Prizes comprise:

first prize of £35,000 - one of the largest awards for any global art competition.
second prize of £12,000
third prize winner will receive £10,000
young artist (aged between 18 and 30) prize- £9,000. This prize aims to profile talent and help support the career development of a young artist - one of the original priorities of The Portrait Award.

The Shortlisted Portraits

Only one artist has previously been selected for this award/exhibition. Which means three appear to be total newcomers - although they may have previously submitted paintings but not got selected.

Three of the four paintings are concerned with portraits of individuals with a black heritage.

The italicised quotes are from the NPG Press Release and I assume are words constructed from what the artists have said about the sitter and their process.

Note: Having researched the artists I am beginning to wonder the extent to which the Judges (and all the shortlisted artists) read the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2026 Rules. Specifically 2.2

2.2 The work entered should be a painting based on a sitting or study from life and the human figure must predominate.

Review: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 14 May 2026 19:33:43 +0000

Apologies for this late review of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026.

Post shoulder replacement sirgery, I'm still one finger typing - with the index finger on left hand holding down the shift key periodically - which is frustrating. Plus I ended up very tired from all my necessary outings last week and seem to be having another spate of surgery brain week this week - which makes getting started and writing anything difficult!

So this is going to be a short post. I may add to it later as I remember points I've forgotten!

If you'd like to see this exhibition, it's on at the Mall Galleries until Tuesday 19th May.

It comprises 208 paintings and drawings.

You can see

who won the awards in this blog post Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026 | Award Winners
my photos of the exhibition in albums on my Facebook Page. I try to snap every portrait in the exhibition - and then split them into albums by location

Just the West Gallery to go..... this is what it looked like last Sunday

view of the West Gallery

Key Points of Difference

I'm going to summarise what I saw as being the main differences from previous exhibitions

It was another diverse and well hung exhibition. However it was only after I left and I started thinking about what was different that I realised the look of most of the exhibition has moved a very, very long way from the "stuffed shirt" main gallery that used to be the norm for very many years i.e. lots of commissioned portraits of eminent people in the government, forces, courts and education in very formal poses.

there are still formal commissions - but most are so much more relaxed. Particularly as there are so many more women being portrayed in commissions! I particularly liked the two large portraits below - both by Jamie Routley RP

Two large naturalistic portraits by Jamie Routley

(left) Les Soeurs (The Sisters) by Jamie Routley RP

Oil on linen, 100x110cm (105x115cm framed)

(right) The Winding Stair - Jesse Norman MP by Jamie Routley RP

Oil on linen, 105x105cm (110x110cm framed)

In part, I think this might well be because the artists are encouraging their clients to think out of the box rather than repeat "same as the last whoever" type portraits
it really helps those who potentially want to commission - and make no mistake, this is primarily a marketing exhibition for RP members.
I highly recommend, if there is no potential client in the commissions room at the back of the north Gallery that you have a look at the Commission Portfolio files if you want to see the range and calibre of artist on offer for potential commissions.

Portfolios for member artists and potential commissions

East Gallery - the Candidates Wall

The East Gallery is a very high standard - and includes two former BP Portrait Award winners who are not RP members as artists selected from the open entry

Wim Heldens (2011) - who I never met as I was "painting in Provence" - see Review: BP Portrait Award Exhibition 2011
Craig Wylie (2008) - see Craig Wylie wins BP Portrait Award 2008 - which I remember very well as it was my first BP Portrait Awards night and the Chinese artist who won Young Artist of the Year beamed at me and said he read my blog before he tried again after missing out on selection the previous year!
There's a fourth in the West Gallery! (see below)
NOTE: There are three more BP Portrait Award winners in the exhibition - who are all RP members (Now HSF Award)

Benjamin Sullivan RP (2017)
Miriam Escofet RP (2018)
Antony Williams NEAC VPRP (2024)

The two small paintings by the two former BP winners via the open entry are on this wall

If you want to get noticed paint a very old artist. Which is what Neale Worley NEAC RP did in painting the centenarian figurative painter and multi award winner Anthony Eyton OBE RA RWA RWS - who is 103 next Sunday adnd has been painting for nearly 90 years! Neale won the President's Award for his effort. It's a very good painting - Anthony visits the Mall Galleries periodically and I saw him recently. Neale has also made a film about him.

SHOULDER REPLACEMENT: Half Way

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 May 2026 18:35:00 +0000

It's now been three weeks since surgery ie HALF WAY through the official recovery period of sling wearing! Pain has reduced and arm mobility is getting better. My one hand one finger typing is also getting faster! I can manage a left hand index finger on the Shift Key!

Last week was a big week for me as I went out five times on my own:

Tuesday: Two week checkup with the clinical team at the Royal London:

x-ray was done - which revealed nothing of concern
silicon dressing came off, wound was inspected - looked very neat and nicely glued!
bruises are now reducing and at the yellow stage
my next appointment in six weeks time was booked
Walked 2 miles back home from the hospital - along the quiet roads - photographing plants in season as I do most days on my walks

Laburnum tree in the Cemetery Park - as seen on my walk back from the hospital on Monday.
Probably Scottish Laburnum (Laburnum alpinum)

Wednesday: In the afternoon I visited the extended Private View for the Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

Very civilised! Spreading the PV over several hours means there's more space to see the artwork on the walls.
Managed nearly three hours and took some photos.

Not quite time for the formal opening of the exhibition, speeches and awards ceremony
- but filling up

Thursday: Visit to the Royal London again - this time to see the Physio

reviewed the situation with me and how I was coping
added four more exercises to the my daily seven.
Walked 2 miles back home from the hospital - along the quiet roads - taking more photos plants in season. This habit started during Covid when I developed my Plants in Isolation series.

Iris foetidissima (Stinking Iris) in one of the parks I walk through

Friday: Attended the May Meeting / AGM of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society - at the Physic Garden which comprised:

a wonderful talk about the strategic aims and future development of the garden within the context of a huge number of regulatory practices for a botanic garden by Emily Hazell, Head of Plant Collections
send off for our Chair and Plant List Organiser
AGM - at which I presented my Treasurer's report

The CPGFS Committee at the AGM 2026
My seat as Treasurer is on extreme left - but here I'm in unofficial archivist photographer mode

Sunday: I returned to the Mall Galleries to take more photos of the RSPP Annual Exhibition and to see the exhibition with fewer people around.

Bumped into Gail Reid, one of the past PAOTY Heat Winners - see Review: Episode 2 Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 10)
who I've highlighted on this blog for her very useful posts about preparing for PAOTY - READ my blog post about her blog post about Preparing for Portrait Artist of the Year - Gail Reid shares her experience and tips.

A selfie with Gail Reid, Gail operating my phone!

This week is a much quieter week and I'll hopefully get some blogging done.

Next week, on Friday morning, me and my sling will be stewarding at the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society Stand in the Great Pavilion at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

My visit to the RSPP Annual Exhibition was by way of a test to see if I could cope!

More travels with my sling (my official “don’t bump into me” sign!) to come....

SHOULDER REPLACEMENT: Two Weeks Later

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 May 2026 16:46:00 +0000

It feels a bit odd to think two weeks ago, I'd been awake for four hours after completely out for the count for five hours, due to my shoulder replacement surgery having a major hiccup.

Tomorrow I go to see my Consultant at the Royal London who is part of a Barts NHS Trust team which focuses solely on trauma, elective shoulder, elbow, and hand surgery. It's always nice to know they do these all the time!

What's changed?

Pain is not quite so bad. I still take painkillers last thing at night - with the hope of a decent night's sleep plus when I need them during the day - but have stopped the routine four times a day.
The alarming bruising is disappearing fast - from black to dark crimson to light crimson to hardly there
I don't feel quite so post anaesthetic tired as I did for the first two weeks
Actual sleep is still very variable but if active I don't get wiped out in the afternoon quite so much.
The dressing is trying to come off - and my allergic itch is raring to go.
Bought a second sling so that I can wash the first one. (Both by Willcom). this blue one is better for colder days. The first one I got is better when you need a more lightweight breathable sling for warm/hot days - experienced last week.

the correct way to wear the sling remains a bit of a mystery after reading the diagrams and watching the videos.
Trying this new one with a different set-up.

my new second sling - which has a back strap (like my white one) which distributes weight better.

Developed a new wheeze this morning so I could wash my hair.

Took the sling off
Tied my arm to my side using a belt - so I wouldn't make any "brain programmed to do this" movements - and it worked really well
JR did squeezing shampoo into my hand and the big final rinse plus towelling dry my hair and then shaping a towel turban - and I was able to do everything else.

The Shampoo Belt!

Doing exercises pays dividends re movement and pain levels. I'm not very good at the three times a day regular as clockwork - but I do more twice a day as I get changed to make up.
Doing regular walks is also helping - not least because it gets me outside! Not walking as far as normal - only did 15 miles last week - but this was an increase on the previous week!
I still cannot centre my bun - but at least it's up.

I walked 15 miles in week 2

This week I'm doing a lot of outings!

Tuesday - see my consultant at Royal London - plus (I'm guessing I also get an x-ray to check what it looks like inside; plus they take the dressing off to take a look at the wound. I'm pretty sure I've got dissolving hypoallergenic stitches)
Wednesday - go to Private View of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries
Thursday - start seeing the therapists re recovery of functionality and yet more exercises to do
Friday - delivering my Treasurer's report to the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society AGM

I'm hoping I've got the energy for all of this - but will be erring on the side of caution rather than being silly.

I reckon I'll have earned a treat after all that! ;)

SURGERY + 11 Days Summary aka "it's a bit of a struggle!"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 01 May 2026 09:17:00 +0000

LEFT SHOULDER REPLACEMENT SURGERY + 11 Days

SUMMARY

Bottom line - it's a struggle but getting easier to cope with as the days go by. However immobilised on one side is no "walk in the park"!

pain under control, so long as I remember/take meds on time! (plus logged on my medication record on Apple Health - to avoid not remembering what I've taken. Surgery was complicated. From "going under" to "waking up back in recovery" took five hours so my brain is not great on memory right now
my large haematoma above elbow crease much improved - gone from dense black to pale crimson. Icing works!
discovered that the whole of the back of arm plus half left under boob is yet another big bruise - which oddly does not hurt!
doing my 7 exercises every day
walking locally once a day.
I am still getting/am VERY tired most of the time - and getting used to operating at about half normal speed
took a week for me to get a decent night’s sleep - in my riser recliner so I’m immobilised (can’t roll on surgery arm) plus much much easier to get into sleep position and get up
am managing - at a stretch - to get my hair up each day, but it involves neck contortions, head between my knees and one handed grip application. I now specialise in the slightly off centre bun!
getting better at getting dressed and undressed - but it’s very, very, very slow (and tedious). no point in rushing.

Tank tops with built in boob support are a godsend!
Only very thin layers fit inside the immobilisation sling.
Do NOT need/do shoulder surgery in winter - because you cannot get a coat on!

not the most flattering selfie I've ever taken!
just finished getting dressed / doing hair - hence grumpy face after long struggle
this is about as thick as the clothing layers can get
note the hair!

No idea what I’m going to do if it rains (dump the stick so I can hold umbrella? Dump immobiliser so I can get in raincoat? Buy a waterproof poncho? Get very wet?). At the moment, any indication of rain means I cannot go out.
getting better at cooking one handed - helped by fact left hand works (but doesn’t move so everything needs to be brought to it). Food has to be “eating with a fork or spoon” standard. Other than microwave (pasta / curries), my hot food is limited to frying two fried eggs with two buttermilk pancakes in film of butter - both of which I can cut up (sort of). When JR cooks for me, my plate arrives with all food cut up to fork sized pieces.

four minute lunch

Next week I'll be back at art exhibitions - starting with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026 at the Mall Galleries.

I'll be at the PV on Wednesday
although earlier in the day and will be avoiding crowds at speeches/awards ceremony.

I can just about use a computer one handed - so I'll be trying to do some posts. Probably short.

my first tube ride - one stop only!

UPDATE: Artist of the Year 2026 Heat 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 08:52:00 +0000

A few updates following my visit to the afternoon session of the second heat of Portrait Artist of the Year 2026 at Battersea Arts Centre yesterday.

numbers attending have increased a LOT since I last went to a heat.
I have lots of photos of the heat - which will NOT be posted until this episode is televised - except for a couple which are nothing to do with the art (see below).

They will enable all those applying for 2027 to see what it's really like when in terms of the other people on the set in the three "cheeses" (ie segments of the set)
IMPORTANT NOTE: All those attending are welcome to take photos but are asked not to post them until after the episodes aired - so as not to spoil the episodes for viewers.
I spotted one post on X yesterday by somebody who attended Heat 1 - who obviously hadn't got the message. I showed it to the Sky Arts people who will be contacting her.

The era of long flowery dresses appears to be well and truly over. Yesterday we had short and very short pant suits and short socks (re The NEW Portrait Artist of the Year Judges)

front to back: The JUDGES: Katy Hessel, Eva Langret, Jonathan Yeo

I will be making lengthy comments on colour and tone re this heat.
I am surprised to report that Jonathan Yeo makes some very sound points.
The Judges are generally quietly spoken and it's very difficult to hear what they say - so if you're going to future heats, I recommend you get as close as possible to where they stand to hear their comments when judging.
Heat 2 will cause a major controversy when televised as whatever episode (they never broadcast in the order filmed)
the two people operating the Sky Big Boom Rig (the one that does the overhead and perspective shots) are two small women called Rachel and Capri! I was very seriously impressed with their control and navigation.
This is the Smallrig Phone Rig (this one??) used by the chap taking pics for the Artist of the Year social media pages.

Smallrig iPhone Rig for video and image capture while holding a mobile phone

Ferne Cotton will be the Presenter for Landscape Artist of the Year 2027 (and won't appear in Portrait Artist of the Year at all)

the seating area in the very nice cafe

Practical munching TIP: The ravenous hordes attending the morning session eliminated virtually all food in the very nice cafe at the Battersea Arts Centre. You would be well advised to bring your own lunch if travelling for an afternoon session

That's your lot of the edited highlights of Heat 2!

Life Events: It's been a while.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 09:58:00 +0000

It's a long time since I've posted, caused by a variety of things. There are three very good reasons why I'm being quiet at the moment.

I needed a break.

I'm in agony with pain in my lumbar spine at the moment. I sort of know what it is (osteoarthritis attacks for the third time) but that doesn't make it any easier, especially when it translates to sciatica.

Despite the pain I also have two major events to deal with.

Major upheavals in the kitchen

First, my 1845 1.5" thick plaster ceiling in my kitchen has had to be replaced / replastered / repainted due to a flood from above. The flood was easy to deal with compared to what has had to happen because of it.

The whole process has been extremely unpleasant experience - you would not believe how far tiny particles of very old plaster can travel - or how many times you have to clean to remove them. Moving stuff (ie everything out) is a breeze compared to the cleaning up afterwards.

The ceiling is being repainted tomorrow morning - after which I can move everything back in.

I have to wait for the paint to dry to before I can then finish the cleaning (of the bottom cupboards which I can't reach because of the back and need help to do this!).

Shoulder replacement surgery

I'm still prepping for my shoulder replacement surgery. I need to be at the hospital by 7am on Monday morning.

Major Amazon order for aids went in - and kit arrived this week and I now have a way of getting into and out of bed with only one arm working. In theory I have a way of sitting up in bed to sleep - but that's not working too well.

I've also worked out what I forgot with the first order.

I did a trial walk in my sling yesterday - which is not easy to get on and causes problems when wearing. I cannot get a coat on over it or under it!!! I hope the hospital has a hypoallergenic LARGER version - I need a longer strap to keep it from slipping.

PS If you want to know what I'm faced with try dressing and doing ablutions with one arm/hand only!

I expect I'll start posting again in about a week's time.

A purist approach to media art societies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 08:05:00 +0000

Every now and again I have a bit of a rant about one of my pet topics - media creep. This is one of them.

An art society is set up to serve a very particular group of artists - including specific media. Media Creep sets in as it the media eligible for use in a society exhibitions starts to become more broad and extended so that definitions of media become "more inclusive".

I've often thought it's another way of avoiding setting up a society to tackle their particular preferred media.

Here's an example of my previous words on this topic - Acrylic Painting, Art Societies and Education (2022). Plus an extract which just about sums it up

In the UK we have acrylic crossing the oil and watercolour divide - and sometimes forgetting that
those on the water side should NOT look like oils and
those on the oil side should NOT look like watercolours.
Maybe it's a question of acrylic painters needing to achieve a much higher profile - in terms of an art society with a very clear focus and its own membership and exhibitions?

As I stated yesterday about the current RI Annual Exhibition

Virtually everybody in this exhibition is using either watercolour or (normal or acrylic) inks.
However 53 artworks are in acrylic. That's 11.5% of the artworks.

First up - I'm very much a "do what it says on the tin" sort of person. So please read this section with this in mind.

My one big gripe about media is that I think every artwork I see in the RI exhibition should demonstrate evidence of WATER. After all, this is a conglomeration of artists who create artwork in WATER COLOURS. The word water is important.
There are a number of artworks in the exhibition whose media description is as follows

Fluid acrylics and heavy body acrylic on wood panel
That to me is a very very long way from being a water colour painting.

A review of other FBA Art Societies

Let's look at some comparisons re FBA Societies - and how they have chosen to address media creep.

The Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI)

In the past, a few too many artworks in acrylic hung in the annual ROI exhibition - in my opinion.

Or rather they could have done until the ROI finally outlawed acrylic (after I had a go at the ROI about its name and the media used in its exhibition - and kept repeating it in every review).

I'm not quite sure when the ROI started to let people submit work in acrylics but I do wish they'd:
either change their name
or stick rigidly to this being an exhibition of oil paintings.
I think it's misleading to do otherwise... It needs to be one or the other. I was pleased to see the extremely high percentage of the exhibited work is in oils. Hopefully this is an aspect of the society that can be addressed over time. Review - Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition 2017

The acrylic painters then started using oils. Which is interesting.

The Pastel Society

The Pastel Society developed a great approach to acrylic.

Review: Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 214th Annual Exhibition (2026)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:12:00 +0000

I think the 214th Annual Exhibition by the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours is probably the best RI exhibition I've seen by them at the Mall Galleries on two counts:

excellent artwork
extremely well hung - it reads very well throughout both the West and East Galleries and most of the North Gallery.

It also has the unique distinction of:

a VERY colourful title wall in the West Gallery
a monochrome title wall in the East Gallery

RI Annual Exhibition 2026: Very colourful end wall in West Gallery

RI Annual Exhibition 2026: Monochrome end wall in the East Gallery

Also, given there are 462 artworks hung in the show, I can also say it's one of the very best hung exhibitions - of LOTS of artwork - that I've seen of the different FBA societies who exhibit at the Mall Galleries.

Too often, I've found exhibitions with lots of artwork to be very difficult to look at because too little thought has been applied to how the works should hang. Indeed, I think maybe there should be a rule "don't come to the hanging if you haven't worked out what goes where if you are hanging in excess of 300".

I gather that the hang of this exhibition was planned in enormous detail by the new President Juliette Losq in her first year - and the effort has well and truly paid off.

It is certainly getting lots of visitors!

This blog post tells you:

how to see the exhibition - whether or not you can visit it at the Mall Galleries
how to check out the events during the exhibition
how to check out the standard of work by artists applying to become a member
observations about artwork in the exhibition
what can be improved for next year

Plus an extra post tomorrow - about the name and the importance of water.

How to see the RI Exhibition

You can visit the RI 214th Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries until 11th April (however it is closed in Easter Sunday and Easter Monday).

Venue: Mall Galleries, the Mall, London - North, East & West Galleries
Hours: 10am - 5pm every day except Easter Sunday and Easter Monday when the Galleries are closed
Dates: 25 Mar 2026 - 11 Apr 2026
Entry: Admission £7, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s. Concessions available. No booking required.

You can also SEE ALL THE ARTWORK ONLINE

via this Mall Galleries website - which also allows purchases online
via my Making A Mark Facebook Page where I have created four separate albums for

One of my photos of two colourful walls in the North Gallery

A FREE Plein Air Painting Handout

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 11:48:00 +0000

This is about a FREE Plein Air Painting Handout by Michael Chesley Johnson - a very experienced American plein air painter and instructor in oils and soft pastels of repute.

His CV is impressive - see below to check out the credentials of the chap who is providing this handout for free.

He says

This is the handout I give to my all-level plein air painting workshops. Although it covers only oil and pastel, the methods and information apply to all media. (Watercolor is a bit different, though!)

I'm not going to include the link to it here - however I will include

the link to the page that the handout is on - on his website
the link to his Substack - which also includes a link which takes you to the website link above!

Content of the Plein Air Painting Handout

The headings and subheadings are:

MATERIALS

Pastel: Basic materials and Procedures
Oils: Basic materials and Procedures
Note for acrylic painters

You’d think that, over 25 years, the handout would need updating, but I’ve found “how to paint” consists of some basic principles that, like the laws of phyics, don’t change. The only thing that might change are some of the products listed (which I have updated for this release.)

PLEIN AIR METHODS, TECHNIQUES & TIPS

Purpose in Plein Air
Principals to Capturing the Landscape Quickly & Accurately
How to Paint - Not Draw
Plein Air Tips (which are excellent! KT)
Different Approaches to Interpreting Landscape Values
Dominance & Contrasting Pairs
Finding Color Harmony
Color Harmonies
To Match Any Color
About Black
Useful Resources for the Plein Air Painter

You can find his handout here

Paintings in the South West Gallery on Michael Chesley Johnson's website
- the application of media and techniques to landscape
Note how they all "read" really well even in a thumbnail version

About Michael Chesley Johnson AIS PAPNM

I'm going to use the words from his "about" page and will add a few bullet points and a few extra words!

Basically he is an all round "good guy" in terms of being a plein air painter and helping others to become one too - through a variety of channels.

What does he do?

He paints primarily outdoors in oil, pastel or gouache, choosing locations from the American Southwest, Downeast Maine and the Canadian Maritimes.
He has been invited repeatedly to national plein air events:

most recently was on the distinguished faculty of the annual Plein Air Convention & Expo in Denver, Colorado.

He delivers plein air painting workshops across the U.S.
He is a frequent writer for

The Artist’s Magazine,
Pastel Journal,
Watercolor Artist and
PleinAir Magazine,

He is also the author of several books, including Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air.

Recognition and Awards

Awarded Master Pastellist status by Pastel Artists Canada in 2008
Signature Member of

the American Impressionist Society and
Plein Air Painters of New Mexico

plus a past signature member of several national organizations. (Read here to learn why I let these memberships lapse.)
Featured in The Artist’s Magazine in September 2013.
His paintings

have appeared in many magazines
are in both corporate and private collections.

Website: https://www.mchesleyjohnson.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mchesleyjohnsonstudio

Substack: https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/

you can subscribe on this page https://mchesleyjohnson.substack.com/about

Making A Mark still in Top 10 Art Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:50:00 +0000

I recently found out that Making A Mark is still in the top 10 of a list of art blogs from all over the world

Specifically they are #5 in the 60 Best UK Art Blogs and#10 in the 100 Top Art Blogs according to Feedspot.

Not quite sure how they work out the rankings either and not quite sure how this happened but I'm happy that it did.

Although I was #5 in the Vuelio's Art Blogs UK Top 10 in 2022

60 Best UK Art Blogs - according to Feedspot

The best UK Art blogs curated and ranked based on multiple factors, including content relevancy, subject expertise, posting frequency, and freshness of content. Blogs with highest credibility within the UK Art space are ranked higher. This list is updated regularly to ensure it reflects the most active, influential, and valuable UK Art blogs on the internet today.
In the 60 Best UK Art Blogs to Follow in 2026, Making A Mark ranks 5th!

5. Making a Mark

+ Follow Blog
Description A top art blog for artists and art lovers: news about major art competitions and exhibitions, interviews with artists, techniques and tips for art and business
Email ****@gmail.com
Location London, England, United Kingdom
Facebook 12.5KTwitter 3K Domain Authority 46

100 Best Art Blogs- according to Feedspot

The same principles apply in relation to how different sites rank within the 100 Best Art Blogs to Follow in 2026 - where Making A Mark is ranked 10th.

10. Making a Mark

This is despite a reduced level of posting in recent times due to the facts that:

I got to 70 and decided if I was ever to retire I needed to make more time for me. This is despite the fact I took early retirement (knowing that severe osteoarthritis was a racing certainty for me) back in 2005 and started this blog a few months later
I now need to walk a decent amount every single day to stop me from seizing up. I average between 5,000-6,000 steps
Periodically I have to get ready for and recover from surgery. Like I said I always knew osteoarthritis was in my future. I didn't quite factor in the time needed for surgery!
Not to mention other health hiccups. I was told I need an urgent MRI this morning! They're going to see if they can fit it in before surgery next month.

Although I do fewer posts now I do seem to get better audiences for the ones I do.

For the record, other art blogs "from the old days" also ranked as follows in all Art Blogs

1. Artsy

3. ARTnews

13. Artwork Archive Blog

14. Jackson's Art Blog

16. Artnet

23. Lines and Colors

24. Parka Blogs

26. Gurney Journey

38. Art Biz Blog

39. Art Marketing News Blog

40. Xanadu Gallery - Red Dot Blog

41. Artsy Shark

Note: I do find these inventories of blogs to be very useful. If you look at the Feedspot Instagram, you can see all the other categories which are ranked.

Landscape Artist of the Year: A Celebrity Twist!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:37:00 +0000

The Sky Arts website recently announced innovations for the next round of Landscape Artist of the Year.

At the weekend we heard - via the main Sky Arts website only - that:

Fearne Cotton is to join as a new celebrity Co-Host
More Celebrities will be involved in every episode - talking about their landscape
Still no announcement about the Judges for LAOTY although we now know who two are.

Image for Series 12 - using submissions from Series 11

However, what is very weird is that

they have added text to the page,
without removing images and text associated with previous incarnations.
Hence we have two lots of text describing the format of one programme in two different ways!

A New Co-Host

Fearne Cotton is to be a new Co-Host for Series 12 which will be filmed this summer.

She a long-standing British TV presenter - mainly associated with the "popular tv" end of the market with mainstream broadcasters.

She also describes herself as Mother, Broadcaster, Writer, Founder.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sky Arts Artist Of The Year (@artistoftheyear)

Since finishing The Fearne Cotton Show (2009-2015) for BBC Radio1 she has branched out on her own and now hosts an award-winning podcast Happy Place (on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Her Happy Place Brand has since expanded into:

a wellbeing brand including
a book club,
an annual festival and
a marketplace that champions small businesses that are female-led, minority-owned, and/or based in the UK.

In other words, treading the well trodden path of celebrities who now need to differentiate themselves - while remaining popular - and generate their own audiences in the new social media world.

“I am thrilled to be joining Landscape Artist of the Year as part of the presenting team at Sky Arts. Art is such an important, emotive and expressive medium for me and I know that the audience is just going to be absolutely blown away by the level of enthusiasm and passion that we see from the artists taking part in the show. I can’t wait to be part of that journey and to help them tell their stories.”

She also comes with:

1.1 million followers on Facebook
3.9 million followers on Instagram
113k subscribers on YouTube

Which makes her very good fit with lots and lots of women over the age of 30 who like watching Landscape Artist of the Year.

I can see why she could be attracted to LAOTY and why Sky Arts might be attracted to her.

Casting now depends on social media following - as well as the ability to do the job!

Plus - and this makes her sound a very positive addition - she's a celebrity who can paint!!!

Review: UKCPS Silver Anniversary Annual Open Exhibition 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 21:20:00 +0000

After 25 years, the UKCPS is celebrating its Silver Anniversary with its first exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

It's always been an ambition of the UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) to hold its Open Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. Making it to its 25th Birthday seemed like an opportune time to spend some money and celebrate in style.

UKCPS Annual Open Exhibition
Part of the Hang in the West Gallery

For those UKCPS people not familiar with me or my blog (although I gathered from the PV on Tuesday night that a lot were), I am

a coloured pencil addict and a past signature member of UKCPS. I've written about its exhibitions a lot over the years (see the list of blog posts at the end which also give an insight into artwork in past exhibitions)
somebody who reviews ALL the national art societies which exhibit at the Mall Galleries - and has done so for nearly 20 years. So I've got a very good basis for saying how this exhibition compares with the norm at the Mall Galleries.

History of the UKCPS Society

The Society was founded in 2001 by Bob Ebdon and Pat Heffer.

The UK Colour Pencil Society (UKCPS) was founded in 2001 by Bob Ebdon, spurred by a letter in A&I magazine from Pat Heffer (who became a founder member, enthusiastic supporter and finally President). A few people sharing their interest of colour pencil art, who had never met except via the Internet, started the Society and it was launched at Patchings Art Centre in Nottinghamshire. The Society has grown over the years: the second issue of the quarterly magazine (September 2001) reported they had just reached the 100 member mark, and now there are just over 750 members.
I was also a coloured pencil fan and found them online a little later and subsequently became a member and exhibited with them between 2007-2010. After that I gradually withdrew as a member from all national art societies I belonged to so as to be able to do better reviews of their exhibitions!

The society is different in some ways from other national art societies.

anybody can become a member
recognition of expertise and contribution is made through

becoming a Signature Member (which I became in 2009 - see my blog post Signature membership)
progressing to Silver Signature status (pictures accepted into 5 exhibitions within 10 years) and Gold status (pictures accepted into 10 exhibitions within 15 years.)

it holds three exhibitions each year

an open exhibition for all artists using coloured pencils - which is competitive
an online exhibition for all members
members only exhibition held at the Derwent Pencil Museum, Keswick. (This year it will be 31st August to 30th October 2026)

In June 2018 it was granted charitable status - with an objective of:

promoting the art of drawing for the public benefit through the use of colour pencils
holding a public exhibition at least once a year to showcase work and provide tuition
help educate the public how to use colour pencils

The definition of a coloured pencil for the purposes of the exhibition is

"wood-cased, wax- or oil-based colour pencil"
i.e. pastel pencils are excluded.

The 25th Annual Exhibition of the UK Coloured Pencil Society

Venue: Mall Galleries - West and North Galleries
Dates: Open from Tuesday 17 March 2026 - Saturday 21 March 2026,
Hours: 10am to 5pm

Workshops: click for more information

How the work was judged

One member and two independent artists selected the artwork for the open exhibition.
Another artist judges the selected artwork for awards. This year it was Curtis Holder - a leading exponent of coloured pencil artwork.

You can see all the artwork in the exhibition in two ways:

In the albums of my pics that I've uploaded to Facebook - just click the link in the listing below. BTW, if I like a work I tend to take a photo of it on its own.

Via the UKCPS website where all images of all the artwork are now uploaded

BEST PICTURE IN SHOW

Where Time Rests by Pauline Stuart

(which I had spotted as a "go back and look again" pic!)

Facebook now only allows 63 characters for visible description

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:54:00 +0000

Facebook has made a terrible decision to limit the number of visible characters on posts of pics or links to a Facebook Page (124 characters with spaces in this sentence)

That includes spaces!

So the opening sentence of this blog post would be halved on Facebook. (this sentence is 69 characters with spaces - so you wouldn't see all of this short sentence)

Why is this happening?

Here's Google AI's explanation of what Facebook if trying to do.

But you do agree with their reasoning? Read on to find out some of my thoughts on the imploications....

Is Facebook trying to behave exactly like an Advertiser?

In effect it is treating every post by all normal Facebook subscribers as if it was an advert.

It seems to want to get us to write ADVERT TITLES for each FB post!

Is it possible that is so they can sneak in more advert content and we won't notice.

Is it possible that it is trying to create more clicks to its site so it can show advertisers a click heavy profile?

Compare Facebook with Instagram

It's very similar to the truncated text associated with an Instagram pic. (73 characters including spaces)

Maybe Facebook is trying to be more like Instagram?

Thing is they are demographically quite different. The big difference being that users of Facebook tend to be older and don't skip or skim text the way those under 40 do.

Older users are readers - and they like to see text.

So maybe Facebook is trying to win back younger users?

However maybe Facebook is also alienating its older users (like me) at the same time?

Compare Facebook with Google

Title Links (Blue Links): Approximately 50–60 characters (or around 600 pixels).

Google AI tells me that the character limit allowed for the title associated with a weblink is 50-60 characters

Hence, one might conclude that Facebook wants us to write titles as the text for the first 63 characters of the description of what a pic is or where a website link leads

Conclusion: we need to get a lot smarter about writing text TITLES for our links or pics on Facebook Pages.

However Google has the advantage that it also shows text AFTER THE TITLE - with no "read more" prompt. i.e. we get to see more text when viewing a link in the Google Search Engine

These are called snippets and there has always been a limit on how many characters get displayed

So what does Google have to say about the ideal length of descriptions (snippets) after the title of a website link?

Something completely different from Facebook!

Guess who's more experienced in the search engine aspects of what gets people to open posts?

Bottom line - Google Search allows at least TWICE THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS ALLOWED BY FACEBOOK.

Which is WHY the search description for this blog post reads

Facebook wants titles not text for posts on Pages. Check out the changes re text length and compare to what Google thinks is best.

Who do you think understands responsiveness to search engine links better?

Google or Facebook?

FINAL Call for Entries: New England Art Club Annual Exhibition 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 17:53:00 +0000

You have until 12 noon on Friday 20th March to submit your entries for the New England Art Club Annual Exhibition.

While the seriously committed will have submitted their entries already, there's still time to submit that work which you are pleased with.

Historically, the New English Art Club was founded by a group of artists dissatisfied with the entrenched attitudes of the Royal Academy

Today, its intent is spelt out by its President Patrick Cullen

At the heart of the NEAC is the search and propagation of meaningful, resonant art. It is committed to authenticity through the observation of life, as well as the task of articulating and communicating ideas with the beauty of skilful language.

FINAL Call for Entries: NEAC Annual Exhibition 2026

Entries from open artists are welcomed.

The NEAC Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists today.

I describe the process below. Here are the links to all relevant pages

This is the official call for entries https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/new-english-art-club
This is the official entry portal https://mallgalleries22.oess1.uk/

you need to locate the correct exhibition as this is the entry portal for all FBA Exhibitions at the Mall Galleries
UNFORTUNATELY the Full Details, Entry Terms & Conditions is a pop-up page and is NOT a downloadable PDF. Which means if you want to make a record for your files / notes - you have to copy and paste into Word - and then you can print it.

NEAC is not an art society which is afraid of colour!
(NEAC Annual Exhibition 2025: End of West Gallery)

If you want to know what NEAC is about, take a look at my pics of the 2025 Annual Exhibition

Last year, the exhibition 389 artworks which included a lot which were big to very big - which made the hang look very crowded to me

Guidelines re Sales and Pricing

You can see the nature and price of the artworks which sold in 2025 by right clicking HERE and opening in a new tab

60% were painted in oils
just over 20% were landscapes and cityscapes
just over 10% were portraits
just over 10% were still life
the remainder covered marine and coastal (4), other (1) and abstract (2)

In terms of sales, 17 of the 50 sales were by open artists - and the majority were by women. I think it not unlikely that most of the sales were heavily influenced by women too.

For the record, although I've not crunched the numbers for 2025, there are some guidelines for open artists if you want to achieve a sale

sales drop off once you breach £1,500 which I've identified for a long time as an important threshold for sales (i.e. not a lot above this, and these are mostly by members)
OPEN ARTISTS tend to do better in the £500-£1000 price range and pricing - and this is consistent across a number of the art societies exhibiting at the Mall Galleries

SGFA 105th Annual Exhibition + scope for a VERY BIG exhibition about Drawing at the Mall Galleries

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 12:07:00 +0000

It's interesting to see how many of the national art societies who are not members of the Federation of British Artists are now holding their annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries.

To date we have:

SBA - Society of Botanical Artists - regular exhibitor in the whole gallery on a biennial basis (next exhibition in 2027)
SGFA - Society of Graphic Fine Art - regular exhibitor West and North Gallery (exhibition on at present - until 14 March
SWA - Society of Women Artists - long term regular exhibitor on annual basis - next exhibition 23-27 June 2026
UKCPS - UK Colour Pencil Society (for their 25th anniversary show only - next week 17 -25 March 2026

One wonders whether - at some point - some might become additional members of the Federation of British Artists.

The Society of Graphic Fine Art - currently exhibiting this week - are a case in point.

The Society of Graphic Fine Art

It's other colloquial name is "The Drawing Society"although I think its lost sight of its drawing purpose in the narrative at the beginning of the current exhibition page on the Mall Galleries website (i.e. the word drawing is absent)

The Society of Graphic Fine Art ...exists to promote and exhibit original works of high quality in colour or black or white. This includes both traditional and contemporary media, which includes pencil, pen, watercolour, oils, charcoal, pastel and any of the forms of original printmaking.
I suggest the second paragraph needs to come first

A national society based in the UK, the Society of Graphic Fine Art is the only society dedicated to excellence in drawing and draughtsmanship, demonstrated by hand.

This art society was founded over 100 years ago in 1919 and now has 160 elected members who are professional standard artists from all areas of the art world who work in all drawing and printmaking media. (I used to be one of them until I decided to not belong to any society while writing reviews of exhibitions.)

The Society was formed by students and teachers in the etching class at the London Central School of Arts. They wanted to establish a society that would
‘uphold and maintain the interests of all those forms of art that do not use colour as a form of expression’

which was another way of saying that drawing counts and, in one form or another, always will.

Their first exhibition in 1921 was supported by the RA and their first President was Sir Frank Brangwyn RA RE, the renowned muralist, painter, architect, illustrator and designer,

Current focus

Drawing excellence and draughtsmanship is still the focus of the society and its exhibition
The main criterion of membership, regardless of media discipline, is drawing excellence.
Nowadays, in addition to black and white work and traditional drawing skills, the society encourages the use of colour and non-figurative art.

105th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Graphic Fine Art

The entrance to the exhibition at the Mall Galleries

I visited the annual exhibition on Monday.

SGFA Exhibition: West and North Galleries of the Mall Galleries

Dates: 9 Mar 2026 - 14 Mar 2026
Hours:

Admission: FREE

I've uploaded my photographs of the artwork I saw to Facebook Albums

The Pileon = Facebook Comments now restricted to Followers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:49:00 +0000

This is about a change of policy for Comments on my Making A Mark Facebook Page. It's also a reminder about what is and is not OK when commenting on my Facebook posts.

Last night at 6pm I published my review of the Commission episode called "The Winner's Programme" at the end of the current series of Landscape Artist of the Year.

Before I went to bed last night, I had to add a comment to the post because of the incessant negative comments on my review made by people who, it appeared to me had:

neither watched the programme
nor read my review
nor explained the reasons for their negativity.

I remember names. I know when people have commented before. Having written on social media for the last 20 years, I also know when people have no interest in art and/or are just trolling.

In short, my post was experiencing "a pileon" and I was starting my response....

This is the comment on my Facebook Post about the Commission

It then occurred to me, I'd also received more ignorant comments than usual on my review of the Final Kim Day wins Landscape Artist of Year 2026 as well.....

What is a "pileon"?

I checked out definitions for Pileons on Google. It's not a recognised word in the Oxford English Dictionary. I'm not even sure I'm spelling it right however Google AI recognised the colloquial term and was able to provide some informative context.

Review: £10,000 Commission for Landscape Artist of the Year 2025

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 18:05:00 +0000

The Commission Prize comes right after the we find out who won Landscape Artist of the Year for 2026 - see my post Kim Day wins Landscape Artist of Year 2026

This post is about the Commission:

the brief for the Landscape Artist of the Year commission
the Commission Programme - what's involved in understanding the brief and the constraints on the artist
the Commission Painting produced by the winner of Landscape Artist of the Year 2023.

Before the Unveiling of the Commissioned Painting of Croagh Patrick

The Commission

It's probably worth saying that this is not a prize in the sense that a nice tidy sum of £10,000 lands in your bank account.

First you have to work for it!

What you get in effect as a prize is an opportunity to EARN £10K through creating a painting - which everybody will want to comment on (and have done!)

The Challenge

The Commission is both like and unlike a commission an artist usually receives.

Usually it's only illustrators who get a tight brief and an absolute deadline for delivery - and given her day job is being a scenic artist for film and television Kim will have been very used to working on commission.

However most artists have some flexibility about deadlines (i.e. you say whether to accept it or not and when you can do it / deliver it) and briefs when doing a commission. This one you have

a very specific subject - it has to be a painting about Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain associated with St Patrick in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland
a very specific deadline - for delivery to the National Gallery of Ireland and the filming of the Winner's Commission programme
considerable latitude as to what you do and how you do it - within the context of media allowed in the competition - and the constraints of being followed around by a film crew the whole time

The winner will receive a taxable fee of £10,000 (ten thousand pounds) (“the Winner’s Prize Fee”) for creation, completion, and delivery of an artwork (“the Winner’s Prize Artwork”) of a landscape (“Winner’s Prize Location”) on dates and times and locations to be determined by the Producer at its absolute discretion. Extract from the Series 11 Terms and Conditions

The Brief

The first part of the Commission is a visit to the National Gallery of Ireland to meet Dr Brendan Rooney, Head Curator and Curator of Irish Art to:

get the brief
ask questions

Kim Day wins Landscape Artist of Year 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 09:45:00 +0000

This review is about the Final of Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2026 which was won by Kim Day.

The Pods next to Falkirk Wheel

The Final of Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year (2026) was held at The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland last summer - and was broadcast on Sky Arts on Wednesday evening (followed straight afterwards by the programme about the commission for those wondering when that's on. My review of that will follow by Sunday).

Following this review of the Final, there are two more posts to go

Review of the Commission
Review of the Series as a whole.

About this post

As always the programme about the Final is always something of a bit of an odd show since

5 other participants are missing
there is the need to recap the journey to the Final
plus a more indepth profile of each artist AND
the story of the three artists doing a commission between the semi-finals and the Final

Below you can read about

Artists in the Final
Venue: Where/when the Final was held plus observations about the subject
Observations, Themes and Tips
The Commissions
The Final Painting
The Winner

At the end you can find

all my reviews of previous programmes in this series at the end of this post.
how to read reviews of past series
Plus how to apply for the NEXT series which will be filmed this summer in six heats in three places around the UK.

But before I begin.....

There's an aspect of this competition which is not explained well in the programme. I'm writing this now because I've noted a LOT of comments complaining about who won on FB.

A lot of people appear to THINK that the winner is determined by the artwork they paint in the final (i.e. 4 hours).
This is not the case.
Unfortunately, what really happens seems to be spelt out less clearly than it needs to be given the number of people who think this.

To go back to the beginning, who wins a heat depends on:

the submission AND
the heat painting i.e. it is NEVER just about the heat painting.

Who wins the whole series depends on:

the submission AND
the heat painting AND
the semi final painting AND
the commission AND
the painting in the Final i.e. it is NEVER just about the 4 hour painting in the Final.

Let me put it another way. WHY would they ask them to paint a commission - of what ever size they like - in however long they want to spend on it (within the time constraint of a week - I think) if it did not matter a LOT?!

Bottom line, the portfolio of paintings build up over the course of the series - from the application to the Final and provide a good insight into who an artist is and what they can do.

One might characterise the programme as a long-running audition.

Almost without fail, I have observed almost all winners across many series as having a very clear style and proficiency in specific techniques and a range in terms of what they like to paint and how they like to paint - and a very stong portfolio built up over the course of the competition.

It's my strong belief that it is the OVERALL PORTFOLIO - with a particular emphasis on BOTH the commission and the heat painting which tells the Judges who is the best artist for the commission.

It's the most logical and best way to judge the overall competition.

I stand to be corrected, but that will involve the programme makers in providing a very simple and explicit explanation of the process that is used to judge the competition - and restate this in every episode for ALL the viewers as well as the participants.

It's just very sad that this is not communicated and explained simply and clearly to viewers.

This approach is one of the principle reasons why I bang on and on and on about the importance of the submission.

Ditto same applies to the commission for the Final. An outstanding commission will tip the balance and win the Final. I've seen it happen across both PAOTY and LAOTY a few times.

NOTE: My personal preference would be to skip the final painting of "something" which they all do together and make it a programme about three different commissions of a significant landscape similar to the commission - with no pod - as an audition. That way you can also keep the winner secret!

So - now we've got that straight - on with my review of THE FINAL AUDITION FOR THE COMMISSION and TWO ARTWORKS!

Artists in the Final

As if you need reminding, however this is relevant to all those think they know better than these artists

Review: Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2026

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 09:49:00 +0000

Last year I was rather tough on the Annual Exhibition 2026 of the Royal Society of British Artists. Principally because I thought they had hung far too many artworks and consequently it was difficult to "see" the art.

As a result I sent a four page critique of the exhibition to the President highlighting various aspects of the exhibition I thought needed addressing and suggestions as to how. I gathered from last week that he had used it as a checklist to review all the aspects I suggested could do with attention.

This year I'm very pleased to say that this year we have a much improved exhibition to view with fewer artworks hung. Plus a much nicer experience at the TWO PVs. The "payoff" seems to be that more artwork is selling.

The West Gallery on Monday

I've now visited it three times:

at the NEW Private View for Art Collectors - which was very pleasant. We could all see the art properly and the red spots started appearing!
at the Artists' Private View last Thursday evening when I got to meet a brand new first time exhibitor who I first met 11 years ago. She was so very pleased that her abstracted artwork had sold before the exhibition had even opened!
Monday afternoon when I was able to get round the West Gallery and view all the artwork in more detail. Plus sat and chatted for ages with former President Mick Davies and printmaker Austin Cole about "exhibitions" which was again very enjoyable.

You can visit the exhibition

at the Mall Galleries
until Saturday 7th March (10am to 5pm)

You can view the artworks online - and buy - via the online exhibition

You can view the e-catalogue online

BOTH give you an idea about media, size and price of artwork on display

RBA Annual Exhibition 2026 - view in the East Gallery

You can also see artworks hung on the walls in the three galleries in my Facebook Albums (after yesterdays' hiatus!)

Facts about the Exhibition

Artwork comprises paintings, fine art prints, drawings, sculpture, ceramics and other 3D work in all kinds of media and but mainly (but not exclusively) a figurative / representative style - and you can see them at the Mall Galleries until Saturday 7th March.

The Mall Wall in the East Gallery

There are 438 artworks hung in the show (compared to 554 last year) - which is still more than I would like to see (c.400 is the optimum number for me) split between:

244 artworks by members - nearly 60% (compared to 275 in 2025)
194 artworks by open entry artists - just over 40% (compared to 279 in 2025)

Consequently

a marginal reduction in members' artwork but a major reduction in the number of artworks selected from the open entry.
Open artists might like to note that they had 2351 open entries so those selected represented about 8% of the open entry. Hence you need your very best artwork to get selected!

As a result, this year it's an exhibition which is much easier to view. There is more space between artworks which enhances the individual artworks as well as preventing eye fatigue when viewing art - as happened to me last year.

As a result, they are selling more artwork. Just over half way through, they are one short of the sales for the whole exhibition last year.

Call for Entries: Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 12)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Mar 2026 14:08:00 +0000

This is about the CALL FOR ENTRIES for the NEW FORMAT for Series 12 of Landscape Artist of the Year see

SEE my previous blog post announcing the change in the way it works BRAND NEW FORMAT for Landscape Artist of the Year Series 12 (2027) announced!
the deadline for submissions is Monday 23rd March 2026 - so basically you've got three more weeks.

There are lots of pros and cons below. I suggest that, in my opinion, you need to be both experienced and committed to landscape art and camera happy to do well.

Given the MAJOR change in the way the programme will be delivered, you can expect that scrutiny of entries will become MUCH more intensive.

In summary, the changes are as follows:

10 artists will be chosen for the whole series (rather than the 8 different artists for each heat episode - so 10 artists NOT 48 artists). Similar to number chosen for other competitions such as Throwdown or Bakeoff.
One artist leaves each week (similar to the format used by the BBC ten years ago for The Big Painting Challenge - but this time with a focus solely on landscape and apparently without any small challenges or learning activities)

This televised art competition gives artists four hours to paint a UK landscape. One artist is eliminated each episode, and one finalist is ultimately crowned the winner. Landscape Artist of the Year website

ALL the (remaining) artists create artworks at ALL the locations - which means every artist needs to be able to guarantee that they can make themselves available for filming. (Don't forget locations far from home may involve two travel says as well either side). This of itself will rule out a lot of artists. More comments below

If you want to take part in the show, you’ll need to confirm that you are available for seven filming dates on weekdays in June and July, plus one in September.

More scope for:

showing what you can do in terms of range and consistency
getting used to being filmed so you perform better (that's not what they say but it is what will happen)

Artists can still turn up to paint as "Wildcards" BUT there is NO Wildcard competition
If you apply, your work will be reviewed by prominent judges from the art world - BUT no word as yet as to who Judges will be. (I'm doubtful as to whether they are experienced landscape artists)
Appearance Money! If selected for the show, you will receive

£500 for each episode you take part in,
plus reimbursement for travel, accommodation, and meal expenses.

Commission: An additional £10,000 commission will be awarded to the winner.
The deadline for entries has been brought forward to Monday 23rd March 2026. (It was originally advertised as a date in the middle of May)

At the end of the series, the Judges will determine who becomes Landscape Artist of the Year on a MUCH larger group of paintings produced in all the different locations before the Final. i.e.

three to apply
six in the heats
one in the semifinal
= 10 paintings BEFORE THE FINAL!

Which can only be positive for the programme, the artists and the viewers.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sky Arts Artist Of The Year (@artistoftheyear)

More information

This is the page about the change
This is the CASTING PAGE page which sets out how it all works in 2026 - in more detail.

Frankly, I think the information provided is less than is needed. Hence why this blog post continues as it does.

What sort of artist are they trying to recruit for the PODS?

Having just ten artists for the entire series would, I expect, mean a different approach to selection.