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Saturday, January 31, 2026

20 years of Making A Mark

Making A Mark has now been published for 20 years. 


I meant to highlight the big birthday at the beginning of January - and then forgot!  I think I'm one of a very few art bloggers left from the art blogging explosion of c.20 years ago. (I must do a blog post about who's left!)

I was three months into early retirement in January 2006 when I started this blog as a way of recording what I was trying to do in terms of getting back to my art after a fairly intensive career in government and management consultancy which hadn't left a lot of time for anything else. (If you want to know more about me, try this page!)

I trialled it in December and then went public at the beginning of January.

What it turned into over time was a platform with a very strong emphasis on trying to help other artists with their own art and an educational slant. 

If you are a regular reader I hope you've had some benefit.

Incidentally, there's been a few side effects 
  • I now know an absolutely phenomenal number of artists from across the UK - and across the world.  As you can see from the stats below I have a very global following. 
  • Some I only know online. Many I have actually met. Unfortunately, I've got to that age where I know the face if I've met you before but the name only comes along about two minutes later! 
  • One of the very weird side effects of all this is that complete strangers now come up to me in the middle of central London and say "You're Making A Mark!!". The first time it happened I was crossing Trafalgar Square!

What follows are 
  • some edited highlights about how the blog progressed in the last 20 years - and
  • what Google AI has to say about it. (That was really interesting!)
  • I also added in some PICS and links to the latter so you can get a flavour of what the archives hold
Plus here are some stats:
  • there are now 4,720 published blog posts!  That's an average of 236 blog posts a year or an average of 0.65 blog posts a day for the whole 20 years!
  • nearly 27 MILLION pageviews - which averages out at more than a 1 million pageviews a year
  • over 6.5 MILLION visitors - a lot of you kept coming back for some reason!
  • Plus this blog has been no 1 on Google for the words "Making A Mark" for very many years
Making A Mark Statistics as at 31st January 2026
 

2006-2011


The first 5 years were spent 
  • writing a blog post every single day - I kid you not. Check out the numbers on the months on the blog archive in the right hand columns
  • doing major projects each year - and then blogging about them
  • starting and then developing "Who's made a mark this week?" which highlighted the activities of other artists which generated a lot of engagement and followers - but fell by the wayside when others switched to instagram and stopped long form blogging
  • writing about major exhibitions and art competitions n London. I'd worked out how to get into the press views because my blog was doing so well
By January 2011 I wrote Making A Mark achieves #2 in Top Ten Blogs of 2010!

This is what Google AI had to say about 2010
Based on the archives of the Making A Mark blog, the most significant and engaging content in 2010 revolved around the annual art blog awards and in-depth reviews of art books, particularly regarding colored pencils and watercolours. 
  • Top 10 Art Books Series (2010): Katherine Tyrrell's specialized posts, such as "Top Ten Art Books in October," were major, highly interactive, and resource-heavy posts for the blog.
  • Making A Mark Awards 2010: A major, popular series at the end of the year included the nomination and voting posts, such as "Nominate the Best Art (Place/Landscape) on a Blog in 2010" and "Best Picture of 2010 on an Art Blog".
  • Art Competition Coverage: Throughout 2010, posts analyzing major competitions, such as the BP Portrait Award 2010 (noting a record number of entries), were highly read; specifically "BP Portrait Award 2010 - Shortlist announced," was also a significant, high-traffic topic in April 2010
  • In 2010, the Making A Mark blog was recognized for its high-quality, research-based content, achieving the #2 spot in top ten art blogs.

This is the link to my Best Books label - for those who like reading about art books. 

Making A Mark Awards 2010: Here's what happened at the end of the Year


2011-2015


Ten years in I eased off and wrote about 5 posts a week and between 20-25 each month

Who's made a mark this week lasted until 2014 - and then I decided I'd rather like my Sundays back!

I asked Google AI about 2015 - and this is what it said. (This is an interesting exercise if you have been regularly writing online!!)
Based on the content and activity on the Making A Mark blog in 2015, the most popular and significant posts tended to be those related to major art competitions, detailed art exhibition reviews, and technical advice for artists.
Based on searches, the top, most impactful content areas in 2015 included:

One of my all time favourite portraits from BP Portrait Award
This is Leslie Watts from Canada with her portrait of her two daughters

Additionally, during this period, Katherine Tyrrell was heavily involved in covering and providing advice on entering major UK art competitions, such as the "Sunday Times Watercolour Competition" and "Portrait Artist of the Year".
From "So what did you think of The Big Painting Challenge?" (Feb 2015)

Key Themes in 2015

  • Botanical Art: Katherine Tyrrell launched a new dedicated website for botanical art in 2015.
  • Art & Health: Focus on the cognitive benefits of painting and sketching.
  • Competition Coverage: In-depth coverage of the ING Discerning Eye 2015 and the BP Portrait Award 2015.
  • Sketching Projects: The year featured "Sketchercise" (combining walking and sketching) and "A Postcard from my Walk" (a year-long, 14-member exchange).
PS My botanical art and artists website is now #1 in the world for the topic with 5.5 million pageviews in the last 10 years for a very niche subject

Postcard from my Walk Logo by Cathy Gatland

PS Cathy and I now Wordle every morning in my "Wake up And Wordle" FB Group. Got to focus on keeping those braincells exercises as you get older!!

2016-2025

There was less art competition coverage after 2020 - mainly because Covid killed a lot of art competitions which never came back.

I also adjusted by making more time to review art programmes on television - which has been a major feature of the last ten years.

I also started to drop below 200 posts annually. In part because Covid meant that it was difficult to write about art if there were no exhibitions and I was not going out much! 

Subsequently I have been writing 2-3 blog posts a week - between 120-150 per week. This was because....

When I got to 70, I decided I really did want to enjoy my retirement in other ways. Plus I was encountering the MAJOR need to make time for my health:
  • I now had a new commitment to take a daily walk of at least 5-7k steps to avoid seizing up with osteoarthritis (which was the main reason I'd taken early retirement - it's very genetic on the female side of my mother's family and I knew it was a racing certainty I was going to get it.)
  • I was starting the process of operating on joints which had lost all their cartilage - except I don't do the routine knees and hips!
    • ankle fusion in early 2022 - followed by 12 weeks on one leg and a year learning how to walk again properly and then keeping walking again - so I now walk without constant pain
    • shoulder replacement - coming up, after about three false starts
    • lower lumbar spine currently showing signs of collapse - probably from spinal stenosis
So I did the same thing again with Google AI for 2025 - and got this - and I wrote the above BEFORE I asked Google AI!
Based on activity in late 2025 and early 2026, the most popular posts on the Making a Mark blog (by Katherine Tyrrell) focused heavily on in-depth reviews of Sky Arts Artist of the Year competitions, particularly the Semi-Finals and Final of Portrait Artist of the Year 2025.

Key Top Performing 2025 Content:

The blog continued its focus on in-depth, analytical reviews of major televised art competitions as its primary, high-traffic content.
The Final Pod - at the Stonehenge Final in 2025

So there we go - a quick trot through the back catalogue of selected highlights from the last 20 years of Making A Mark.


THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU. You have kept me writing!


I've much enjoyed all the people who follow regularly and who comment on my Facebook Page. 

I'm so sorry I now longer have comments on the blog - but the spam just got ridiculous (as happens if you have a popular site).

The next big development will be blogging with an arm in a sling for six weeks as I recover from my shoulder replacement later this year. 

Maybe I'll start dictating my blog posts?

A BLOGGING POSTSCRIPT


I forget to mention the other blogs I've created and been involved with!

Here are the other ones I started and was involved with developing - while writing Making A Mark at the same time
Group Blogs


on

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