Winding down for summer - and what I've been up to

You may have noticed I'm posting less.  This is why and what else I've been doing.

It's very much a response to 

• a remarkable run of good weather - and a marked preference for being out and about and visiting places we love (mainly gardens!) rather than indoors writing!
• an extremely busy time between May and now with various important exhibitions that I love and meeting up with lots and lots of artists I tend to only see once a year
• getting older - as very busy times - with lots of photography and lots of writing - leave me rather more tired than I'd like
• a need sometimes to take "a breather" - time out from a regular routine for more "head space"

Plus as the school holidays come along, you all disappear on your holidays! So fewer people reading and responding (via Facebook to what I post).

So this is by way of saying I'm going to continue to post through August - but it will continue to be infrequent - before September revs back into action!

Anyway, here's a few photos of what I've been getting up to since May

I've also uploaded a phenomenal amount of photos I've been taking in exhibitions to albums on my Facebook Pages since May. - see Making A Mark (FB) and Botanical Art and Artists (FB)

With three of my fellow Judges of the SBA Fellow Art Grant Award
at the Society of Botanical Art (SBA) Annual Exhibition Plantae 2025
at a special PV on 27 May

This week, I've been drafting revised guidelines and application form - for review - for the next SBA Fellow Art Grant Award which opens for applications in September - when, as Head Judge, I give an online talk about it. Which I've yet to write!

With Sarah Gardner SBAF - and her painting which was a joint winner of
the CPGFS Botanical Art Award - at the PV for Plantae 2025

August is also my month off from being Treasurer of the Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society!

The Society of Botanical Artists' 40th Anniversary exhibition Plantae 2025 is probably the biggest and best botanical art exhibition by an art society that I have seen in years.

See 

Portraits of Children: Yvadney and her daughter at the NPG

Yvadney Davis and her daughter will be seen by rather a lot of people around London over the next couple of months.

"Inset Day" (2025) by Yvadney Davis
- and Yvadney with her daughter at the Portrait Award Exhibition
at the National Portrait Gallery

my self-portrait exploring my feelings around being an artist mum, balancing self expression with duty, priorities… legacy.

That's because "Inset Day" - a portrait of choices to made at at home when the teachers need training (roll eyes!) - is being used as one of the feature portraits marketing the Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

It's also currently the feature image on the website for the exhibition!

Yvadney's daughter was at school on the morning of the Press View - so could not be there to be photographed with her mum and Mum's portrait of the two of them.  There's a very funny story about what stopped their first planned trip  to view the painting together - which I’d love to share, but I won’t!

However school has now finished and Yvadney took her daughter to the National Portrait Gallery recently to show her "her portrait" and for both of them to have their photograph taken in the NPG with the portrait! (I'm sure she's got some at home of the them both with the portrait before it made it to the NPG!)

I gather visitors were very taken with the notion that they were seeing both subjects and the artist and that they both got a lot of attention during the visit. I think you'll agree they both look like they enjoyed themselves a lot. I love watching the double takes you get from gallery visitors when you see people realising they're seeing the people in the portrait!

What with all the parents which get painted, the Portrait Award sometimes feels a bit like a family affair.

I'll be interested to see which portrait wins the Visitors Choice Award. I've got a feeling this one might in the running along with a couple of others. Although I'm much better at picking the First Prize Winners than the Visitors' Choice Award Winners!

@yvadneydavisart has a background as a fashion stylist and did her Art Foundation, Camberwell School of Art, 2000 followed by a Fashion Bachelor of Arts, Central Saint Martins, 2004 and went on to a career in fashion. During the Pandemic, she returned to her love of painting during the pandemic and recently has developed her art from a lockdown hobby to an award winning practice. She celebrates Caribbean heritage and the Windrush generation and uses old wallpaper for her support. Since taking up painting and portraiture her artwork has been selected for a number of competitions in the last three years. She also featured in the semi final of Portrait Artist of the Year 2023

Photos of children with their portrait in the NPG

I've got a bit of a history of meeting children with their parents in relation to portraits selected for the exhibition. Some of them I get to meet again a few years later when they're back again with parent to see the latest portrait selected

I think Samantha Fellows holds the "Making A Mark record for most children in a portrait photographed in the NPG by me" - when viewing the latest selected portrait! Of which more below

How to develop large scale hyperrealistic graphite drawings

For all those interested in developing their skills in large scale hyperrealistic drawing with graphite. Which, as it happens, is a pretty niche field.

I've just discovered - via a recommendation from an artist I greatly respect - Jono Dry and his amazing drawings. Not that I'm any sort of fan of the surreal content of his typical subject matter - but I do appreciate somebody who has developed his skills with graphite to this level.

This video has only had nearly 14 million+ views!

Dry has devoted his practice to pushing the medium of graphite. With experimentation as a fundamental aspect of hyperrealism, a sense of play and precision is kept at the core of his practice.

I very much like the educational ethos of a lot of the work he does. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: A lot of artists trying to work out how to teach online will appreciate this video.

I also respect an artist who has worked out how to monetise his drawing practice in terms of:

• limited edition prints of his artwork
• educational videos via YouTube (all those views add up!) - which include lots of practical tips about studio equipment and building a business
• developing a Patreon community

Dry has built a dedicated Youtube channel focused on the output of educational videos showing specific aspects of the drawing process, as well as sharing tools to build a business in the creative industry.

Interesting also that he declines to take on commissions.

What to do about artists who "rip off" or "pass off" your art?

Over the last 20 years of writing this blog I've seen very many examples of artists ripping off other artists (or art societies) - or "passing off" other artists' work as their own - and I've written about this, sometimes at length. (see the reference section at the end)

Yesterday another example was sent to me - which is now "done and dusted" but was drawn to my attention and I thought was worth highlighting to you all. However I thought it might be more useful to put some context around it.

This post is about

• WHAT IS "ripping off" or "passing off" in the context of art - examining definitions of:
• forgery
• imitation
• passing off
• WHAT HAPPENED in the latest example
• TOP TIPS for what to do should artwork being copied happen to you or your friends.

[NOTE: This post has been amended since first published]

Who are artists who "rip-off" or "pass off"?

Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings

The popularity of my "Artists with their Portraits" post every year - in relation to the Portrait Award Exhibition - is a great incentive to get as many pics as I can.

What my photographs help you to do - which the online gallery does NOT - is to see the size of the painting relative to the artist who painted it.

Inevitably, I don't manage to capture every artist. Although I've got most....

(Mainly, I think, because very many of the artists had not yet realised that the badge they get give to wear which says "artist" on it has a PURPOSE! ie. it enables all the journalists to recognise all those who have painted a portrait in the exhibition - so you can ask for a photo!)

At least this Press Preview morning was limited to the artists and their sitters and the press. Which was a HUGE improvement on past years where all the "hangers on" came along as well and well and truly got in the way.

So here are all the portraits of Artists with their Portraits. 
WARNING: This is A MAMMOTH POST and not a quick read. You will need sustenance to get to the end!

It provides:

• my photo of the artist with their painting
• LINKS for those who might wish to view/follow their work:
• website links are embedded in the artist's name - followed by their Instagram site 
• followed by text in quotes that has been written by somebody from information supplied by the artists but the author has included a few conclusions of their own and certainly has not understood all the words they used! See if you can work out which one I mean. The answer will be on Facebook in a few days
• Summary of education and appearances in exhibitions etc.

The latter might give some insight to aspiring artists as to the level of education and experience of most artists who are selected. That said, some are self taught and for at least one artist, this is their first exhibition!

Last year I organised my photos and associated artists in groups by country they live in.  

This year I'm organising the artists into groups by the TYPE OF SITTER - as follows

• Self Portraits
• Portraits of Parents and Children
• Portraits of Women
• Portraits of Men
• Portraits of Groups

The prizewinners come at the end of their relevant group.

Hopefully this will provide some insight into the very different ways people portray people who are "similar".

Self Portraits

I'm going to start with a couple of my favourites. The first is complex and needs three images! The second has a story behind it.

Shinji Ihara (Japan)

Light and Shadow (2025) By Shinji Ihara
Oil on canvas
(his self portrait appears in the shadow at the top - and....)

Shinji Ihara was in last year's Portrait Award with an absolutely stunning painting. He's returned this year with another one.

He's getting a special spot in this post because I think I'm going to be seeing him again (and again!). 

• His paintings are always about stories and are rather like a puzzle and get more and more interesting as you study them. His colouration and tonal control are also amazing!
• Last year he produced an an immaculate painting in terms of both story and the quality of the painting - where the focal point was a white cat which had just died.

Wayne Thiebaud: American Still Life - a landmark exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery

An exhibition of artwork by Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021) is coming to the Courtauld Gallery this October. 

I've just booked my ticket to the Wayne Thiebaud - American Still Life Exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery - opening 10th October to 18th January 2025. 

I'm a big fan of Wayne Thiebaud - not least because I used to love drawing food, foodstuff  and meals. I never quite graduated to cakes but I do love looking at the display in the windows of great cake shops! 

This is the blog post I wrote when he died in 2021 - An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021). I'll be writing more about him nearer the time of thre exhibition.

Wayne Thiebaud - American Still Life Exhibition

In summary he is one of the greatest and most original American artists of the 20th century. He is famous for being focused in particular on post-war modern American subjects - typically as still life objects. 

Cakes by Wayne Thiebaud (1920-1021)

This exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery will be the first ever museum show of his work in the UK. It will present Thiebaud’s remarkable, vibrant and lushly painted still-lifes of quintessentially post-war American subjects, from diner food and deli counters to gumball dispensers and pinball machines. These are the paintings with which Thiebaud made his name in the USA in the early 1960s.

The exhibition will feature rarely lent works from major museum collections in the USA as well as the Wayne Thiebaud Foundation.

These are my two books about Wayne Thiebaud - which I periodically salivate over.

For me he's an artist who is a luscious realist of the everyday - until you get up close and realise his artwork is also abstracted from reality and the artist relishes the media he used. More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at" (Making A Mark September 2019)

Thiebaud - delicious metropolis, the desserts and urban scenes of Wayne Thiebaud

Wayne Thiebaud 100 
the book produced to celebrate the 100th birthday of
"one of America's most loved and respected artists"

A second exhibition Wayne Thiebaud: Delights, will focus on the artists's eponymous 1965 portfolio of prints to appreciate Thiebaud as a draughtsman and printmaker.

In 1964, Wayne Thiebaud created a portfolio of 17 prints, entitled Delights, in which he returned to the favoured still-life motifs found in his paintings and which made his name in the early 1960s: ice cream cones, rows of cakes, gumball machines and many of the other objects of everyday American life. However, these subjects look very different rendered in print, on a small scale and in black and white. As Thiebaud told his publisher, ‘When you change something, you change everything.’ Thiebaud was keen to experiment with different techniques and media, and Delights was his first foray into printmaking, a technique he returned to throughout his long career.

Previous blog posts

• An appreciation of Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021)
• More Wayne Thibaud: "This for you is my world to look at"
• Wayne Thiebaud working on etchings (video)

Portrait Award 2025 (Part 1) What's changed and what's not

This is my review of the HSFK Portrait Award 2025 Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery - sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehill Kramer - and its Awards Ceremony.

The view as you enter The Portrait Award Exhibition

It covers:

• how you can see the Portrait Award Exhibition - in person or online
• what's changed, what's not and what needs to!
• what I like - and what I'm less enthusiastic about

At the end are notes about

• Why I write about the Portrait Award - a short note about my personal history with this exhibition 
• followed by all the blog posts I've written about it in the last 18 years - since 2007! ( I haven't counted - but it's a lot!)

My next two posts are:

• Portrait Award 2025 (Part 2): Artists with their Paintings - which I know is much appreciated (hopefully on Sunday) and    
• Portrait Award 2025 (Part 3): "My 10 best portrait paintings in the 2025 exhibition - after I've been back to the exhibition and seen it again (probably next week) and studied the paintings in more depth. If I have time I'll also be adding in more analysis as I've done in the past around:

• size, format and colour
• type of model
• type of portrait

How to see the Portrait Award Exhibition

The Portrait Award Exhibition can be seen 

• in Gallery 2 (the very far end of the second floor)
• at the National Portrait Gallery in London
• from 10th July (today) until 12th October 2025.

The exhibition then travels to 

• the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle.
• from 28 March – 5 September 2026

You can also see it online in the Visitor's Choice Section where you can also vote for your favourite portrait.

How the numbers have changed

First of all - an important observation which may have escaped some people.

In the last 10 years, the number of entries and artists and portraits hung seem to keep on reducing.

• the number of entries have halved 
• the number of countries sending entries has reduced by a third.
• the number of artists selected have reduced from 55 to 46

Bottom line: The number of portraits now hung is a lot less than it used to be. 

Everytime the NPG reduces the numbers hung I'm very much of the view that this makes it less likely that those entering will get hung - and at some point they start asking "what's the point?". 

Around 50-55 was the norm for a very long time. This year it is just 46 paintings.  

Is it a less prestigious competition and exhibition? What's the rationale for cutting numbers?

Compare how the numbers have dropped

• 2025: Those hung this year were selected from 1,314 entries from 61 countries.

This compares to (reaching for my past blog posts and annual analysis)

• 2012: 2,187 entries received from artists in 74 different countries
• 2013: 1,969 entries from 77 different countries
• 2015: 2,748 entries from artists in 92 countries

I suggest somebody has a very long hard think about the target number of artworks to be hung if they want to retain the prestige of this competition.

Review of the Exhibition

I'm finding as I get older that the effort invested in 2 x 2 hours on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning - plus associated social media posting (eg write a blog post between getting up at 6am on Wednesday and shooting out the door to get to the press preview by 10am) leaves me a lot more tired now that I'm 70 than it did when I was in my 50s. 

The process is identical - get round as many of the 40+ artists present, take their photos, hear their story and learn about their painting - but the effort and concentration involved tends to leave me feeling slightly "wired" - as if I'd had rather a lot of coffees! Then on the third day, I end up feeling tired - which is today!

Which makes it quite interesting trying to work out what the story is re this exhibition - beyond the story of the numbers.

Moira Cameron wins the £35K HSF Kramer Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery

Moira Cameron (right) - Winner of the HSF Kramer Portrait Award
by Victoria Siddall, the new President of the National Portrait Gallery.

Four awards with a value of £66,000 were announced last night at the Awards Ceremony for the HSF Kramer Portrait Award 2025 at the National Gallery. 

The prize winners were as follows:

• First Prize £35,000: Moira Cameron for A Life Lived (Oil on canvas 2200 x 200mm)
• Second Prize £12,000: Tim Benson PPROI for Cliff, Outreach Worker (Oil on canvas, 1520 x 1220mm)
• Third Prize £10,000: Martyn Harris for Memories (Oil on board 400mm x 400mm)
• Young Artist Award £9,000: Michelle Liu for Kofi (Oil on canvas, 500 x 400mm)

Tim Benson receiving his award from Victoria Siddall

Below are the profiles of the artists and the portraits which won the prizes Words about the painting and what the Judges thought are from the press release - hence quotes.

First Prize Winner (£35,000) Moira Cameron

The artists behind the Contemporary British Portrait Painters Exhibition 2025

These are all the lovely Portrait Artists of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters group who participated in their Annual Exhibition at Downstairs at The Department Store, in Brixton - which finished last Saturday.

The Artists of the CBPP at the 2025 Exhibition

Last Friday evening, I was supposed to be at The Vernissage (the end of exhibition drinks - what a very civilised idea!). Unfortunately, I'd expired in the heat of Chelsea and specifically of the Saatchi Gallery during the afternoon and needed to go home to the top speed on my fan and litres of non-alcoholic water! 

However, the group did one thing I'd asked if they could do - which was to take a photo of all the artists!

They did one last year - and below is my pic of them last year - and I thought it would be great if they could do it again.

The artists in the 2024 Exhibition by The CBPP

This is a group who include a lot of winners of major awards for Portraiture - including:

• Antony Williams (back row in blue) the 2024 winner of the HSF Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery.
• the BP Portrait Award winners in 2018 and 2013: Miriam Escofet (just in front of Antony) and Suzanne du Toit (blonde hair to Antony's right)
• Tim Benson who is one of the shortlisted artists who will be winning one of the prizes TONIGHT at the Portrait Awards Ceremony at the Nationa.l Portrait Gallery this evening - and I'll be there! I think I can spot Tim just to the right (as we look at it) of Curtis Holder.
• Frances Bell (inbetween Suzanne and Miriam) who won the top award at the Portrait Society of America this year AND the People's Choice Award
• Four PAOTY winners:
• Wendy Barratt (Series 10 - 2024), 
• Curtis Holder (Series 7 - Autumn 2020),  
• Duncan Shoosmith (Series 5 - 2019) and
•   Samira Addo (Series 4 - 2018)
• plus others who have won other notable prizes and awards.

How to join a top notch group of portrait painters?

So - there is a ceiling of 100 portrait painters in this group so scope for more to join - but you need to be a very committed PROFESSIONAL portrait artist in order to accepted. 

But if that's you - why not try an application? https://www.thecbpp.org/membership
However do READ CAREFULLY what it says!

If you are a professional artist and would like to apply to be considered for membership of the CBPP, please read the following information and guidelines. 

Our selection group meets twice a year (Spring and Autumn) to consider applications. We receive a large volume of applications and are therefore unable to offer feedback on applications. If unsuccessful, you can reapply after a minimum of twelve months.

Review: Contemporary British Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2025

Contemporary British Portrait Painters have grown since they were founded in 2018 - and now have an annual exhibition.  This is a review of this year's exhibition - but also the way in which members of the group work together which impresses me so much.

Don't forget - the exhibition continues until 5pm tomorrow 5th July!

the hang was beautifully balanced - in terms of colour, subjects and size

First, apologies for the late review. I've been preoccupied with various personal matters this week, which had to take priority. 

However I did manage to get my pics of the exhibition onto Facebook very fast - You can see my photographs in this Facebook Album Contemporary British Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2025 (39 items ).  I also recommended people visit the exhibition which continues

• downstairs at The Department Store, 248 Ferndale Road, Brixton SW9 8FR.
• until 5pm on Saturday 5th July

Review of the Group

This is one of the friendliest and most co-operative art societies I know - which gives the exhibition and its Private View a really positive and relaxed atmosphere. It's always a pleasure to be there on PV night.

While there are a few particularly key people organising behind the scenes - notably the Chair Sarah Jane Moon and the Exhibition Curator Lucy Stopford, there are a range of people playing key support roles within what is very much a team. What's more they've got all the angles covered - which is more than I can say for some!

The Team

         Left to right: Wendy Barratt, Catalogue; Sarah Jane Moon, Chair; Peter Davis, Graphics; Lucy Stopford, Exhibition Lead; Liesel Thomas; Peter James Field, Communications Lead ; Jonathan Chan, social media; Martyn Burdon, Development Officer; 

Clive Bryant, Secretary & Treasurer.

The CBPP are 

• intentionally run as a non-profit collective (you are expected to contribute) and 
• take no commission from the sales by individual artists at their exhibitions.  
• everybody has to apply - there are no invitations.

I think this is maybe because the age profile is maybe younger than some societies. Which is not to say people are inexperienced. Far from it. Their members include 

• a number of BP / HSF Portrait Award winners 
• plus regular exhibitors who haven't won just yet and/or have painted portrait commissions for the National Portrait Gallery
• a number of PAOTY competition winners. 
• As well as people who have won top prizes for portraiture internationally.

A very large portrait of a Philippine fisherman by Tim Benson
who is one of this year's HSF Portrait Award winners
(and we found out which one next week!)

Frances Bell with her self portrait "Yellow Trainers"
which won the Draper Grand Prize and People's Choice 
at the Portrait Society of America's "The Art of the Portrait Conference" 
(see other International Portrait Prize winners)

It's about championing one another and being supportive.

Together we aim to amplify a broader range of voices and practices Catalogue

What's really very positive and inclusive is that 

• classically trained people are embraced 
• just as much as those who have developed their own styles and techniques. 

There's none of that rather sniffy "trained in Florence - not what we're looking for" which we get with PAOTY.

It's also very inclusive in terms of the background and life choices of its members. In other words it's very much NOT an an anglo saxon white society where people mainly paint commissions for institutions. 

Which is not to say they don't. Just that you won't see them in the CBPP exhibition.

Indeed I'd go so far as to say they are more focused as to who and what they are looking for in terms of new members than some other societies. 

They're not really after people who can paint a portrait per se so much as artists who need to create portraits on a regular basis in order to express themselves and how they view the world - and develop their practice.  Their members include: