Diploma Graduates Exhibition at the Heatherley School of Art

I was at the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Lots Road, Chelsea yesterday evening for the PV of the Diploma Graduates Exhibition.

You can visit this for free between now and Sunday afternoon (10.30am-4.00pm) at the School at 75 Lots Road, London, SW10 0RN. The nearest tube is Fulham Broadway and then it's an approx. 12 minute walk - right past the entrance to Chelsea Football Club!

I'd been invited by Sarah Jane Moon (who teaches there) to come and see what those following the Portrait Diploma Course had been producing. There are also other courses exhibiting their work. 

I often come across Heatherley graduates doing well in other exhibitions and art competitions so I made the trek from East to West London!

You can 

• see some of my photos from the show on my Facebook Page
• find out more about the courses on the website

I was very impressed by four of the artists who were producing portraits which looked like they will be followed by even better in the years to come.

As it happens they were all women!

One of the very interesting aspects of Heatherley's is the number of middle aged women students it attracts - which I find a very refreshing aspect of its student body.

Akiko Saiko with me
Her portrait had been commended by Andrew James RP

Standout artists for me were:

• Akiko Saiko (above) who has a very refined approach to painting a portrait which reveals the tonal light and shade and hence the form - which was something of a weakness in some of the portraits by some other artists. I also really liked her profile text which was engaging, simple and direct. That's the kind of effective communication which gets through to the most people. She does however need a website!
• Amy Roberts is a former fashion designer who works primarily from observation. She is very obviously not phased by either large groups, complex compositions or more complex dress. I've been waiting for somebody brave enough to take on group portraits for a long while - and it looks as if we might have somebody at long last!

Amy Roverts won the Worlds End Studio Prize with this group painting

• Marlies Forster (Instagram) - who last year won The Composition Prize 2025 awarded by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and consequently had her painting hung in the RP Annual Exhibition

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Forster London Art (@forsterlondonart)

• I also really liked Janet Marsh's Holbeinesque self? portrait of a women with a squirrel (see my blog post The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein by Franny Moyle for the original) which won the Susan Engledow Portrait Prize

By Janet Marsh

Note to the School: Please update your galleries with the artwork from the show so it's online at the same time as it's on show at the school. Everything on the website seems to relate to 2025.

PS My five year old post about Favourite Quotes about Portraiture has been attracting a lot of visitor of late - so I'll include it here as well to share the love some more!

Major LS Lowry Exhibition in the autumn

There is to be a major exhibition of the paintings of LS Lowry in the Autumn. 

The exhibition L.S. Lowry: The Theatre of Life marks the 50th anniversary of Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887 – 1976) and opens at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes in October.  It represents a culmination of a nationwide celebration and features over 140 works, including A Football Match (1932). 

• The new exhibition is the first major career survey of his work in over a decade. In addition to iconic “matchstick men” industrial scenes, the showcase will explore lesser-known works such as portraits and surreal pieces. 
• a rare overview of his career, bringing together lesser-known aspects of his practice, including pencil and charcoal studies from the antique and life, detailed urban drawings, and works in pastel and watercolour that reveal the breadth of his practice (MK Gallery)
• A key theme of the exhibition is a re-examination of the myths that grew around him, situating his life and career within the wider transformations of twentieth-century Britain, as the mills, terraced streets and working communities he depicted were bombed, cleared and replaced.

L.S. Lowry, Our Town (1943). Oil on canvas.

Purchased from the artist, 1944.

© Touchstones Rochdale, Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service.

Basics: 

• L.S. Lowry: The Theatre of Life
• When: 24 October 2026 – 28 February 2026
• MK Gallery, 900 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9 3QA
• Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm. Closed Mondays
• You can book tickets on the MK Gallery website.

L.S. Lowry: The Theatre of Life is also accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Why people like Lowry's art

London is the best city for art! (Time Out Survey)

London has been declared to be the best city in the world for art galleries - according to Time Out’s latest guide to the planet’s top places for culture.

This conclusion arises out of a survey of more than 24,000 people around the world about culture in their cities.

An impressive 81.1 percent of surveyed Londoners said that the city does art galleries better than it does anything else. London was a clear gold medal winner in the category, scoring much higher than Paris (which came second with 67.9 percent) and New York (third with 67.7 percent).

Of course, one of the main reasons for this is that so many are free to access - which is a very significant bonus for both residents and visitors alike.

In addition, 88.4 percent of London’s residents backed London’s museum venues. That put us third, only behind Paris and Madrid. 

Below is a summary of Time's Out View - based on its survey - of:

• the top 50 art galleries in London
• the top 25 museums in London.
  

I really out to get back to doing my twice a year overview of what's on where at the major art galleries....

The Top 50 Art Galleries in London

This is the Time Out Guide to The 50 best art galleries in London

Frankly, I don't think they're in any order of "best". 

• Rather this is a collection of what they think are the best. 
• I guarantee that the majority of Time Out Readers will not have heard of the majority of them - which makes it a very odd list in that sense.
• It also excludes rather a lot of very active art galleries which are well worth a visit - mainly because they forgot to say.....

There is a VERY STRONG Contemporary Art bias

Hence they EXCLUDE:

• any of the long running and very respectable art galleries (eg Cork Street and associated area) which a lot of artists would give their eye teeth to get into
• anything to do with art societies - which is sad, because it basically indicates that anything associated with an art society is of no interest. Which is very far from the truth.

As such I'll tell you which I think are the best!

Plus all the ones I have never visited

They are listed in a very odd order - so I have reordered into my particular order of preference

The Sainsbury Wing is now effectively the main entrance to the National Gallery
- and all temporary exhibitions

Would you like to win a medal for your art?

One group of artists have the scope to win a medal for their art. 

Every year, leading botanical artists and illustrators from across the world come to London to see if they can win a coveted RHS Gold Medal.

The Royal Horticultural Society's Botanical Art Show is the most prestigious botanical art exhibition in the world.

Nothing else even gets near - because to exhibit in this exhibition

• you first have to be assessed as good enough to exhibit - without having seen what you propose to exhibit!
• you get five years to prepare your exhibit
• which comprises a minimum of six artworks on a botanical or horticultural theme/topic which might be:
• Family or Genus Names (of Plants)
• Exhibits related to specific locations/habitats
• Habit / Lifecycle / Growth
• Common and Generic Names
• Medicinal Plants
• Theme names related to botanical history

Raucous Glaucous: Lichens of Texas Hill Country 16X 2026
Christiane Fashek (New York, USA)
these are shown in wet and dry mode magnified 16 times
It won a Gold Medal.

Medals are assessed by an expert panel according to strict and defined criteria

This is a brief characterisation of what each medal represents, written after a discussion about the meaning of the colour of the different medals, back in 2018.

• A Gold medal exhibit has to be outstanding in all areas and really have the ‘wow’ factor.
• A Silver-Gilt medal is a very high award and still an exceptional achievement. In many cases a Silver-gilt will have only been missing a couple of elements that meant it was not quite a Gold.
• The Silver medal will usually have numerous areas for improvement.
• A Bronze medal is rarely awarded as the standard is generally so high, but it may be awarded if the artist has really only achieved one or two elements from the criteria.​
• EXTRACTED FROM: RHS Botanical Art Show #3: Medals Awards and Feedback (2018)

Jenny Hyde-Johnson (South Africa) achieved a "first"
She was awarded Best Exhibit, Best Artwork and a Gold Medal for
"Fynbos Diversity of the Coastal Limestones on Grootbos"

The RHS Botanical Art Show 2026 can currently be seen at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea until 2nd August.

• open 10-6 daily
• admission FREE to those with membership of the RHS or Saatchi Gallery
• £6 for everybody else

I've been writing posts about this and the Portrait Award in tandem as they both opened at the same time!

Here are the posts relating to this year's show​ - which have been posted on the blog on my Botanical Art and Artists website (#1 in the world for botanical art!)

• RHS Botanical Art Show 2026: Awards and Gold Medals
• RHS Botanical Art Show 2026: Silver Gilt Medals
• RHS Botanical Art Show 2026: Silver Medals

AND

• How to exhibit at RHS Botanical Art Show 2027 (Part 1: How to get approved to exhibit)

I've got another couple of posts still to write....

Service is interrupted due to the heatwave

I feel a bit like the train people who announce that the heat has warped the railway lines and you can't get to where you want to go.

In my case, my blogging has completely tailed off because I'm finding it difficult to focus on writing. 

I'm afraid I'm really suffering with the heatwaves and seem to be entirely focused at present on 

• how to stay cool indoors - I'm living in semi darkness most of the time.
• how to be able to get some exercise outside when it's so very hot.
• how to eat without using any heat!
• changing what I'm wearing about three times a day!
• buying more hats with wide brims
• sleeping with my feet up on a wedge to reduce the swelling in my ankles!

Me at Knole last Monday. 
We spent most of the time trying to find shade....

Part of the explanation is that I have no thyroid - which is what regulates your body temperature - due to it being surgically removed back in 2005 after hot soup made my throat close up so much I couldn't breathe properly! I had a goitre which was growing fast.

• I now take medication to regulate instead - but that can get out of whack. 
• So making sure that my body is responding appropriately to the excess heat feels a bit like a full time job at the moment. 

I went for my blood test for my annual thyroid check-up this morning and hopefully we'll know soon whether an adjustment needs to be made.

I'm hoping to get back to normal blogging - just as soon as this heat retreats!