Monday, September 21, 2026

Review: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2026

The Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Marine Artists returned to the Mall Galleries last week. I visited on Wednesday - before the Private View and announcement of award winners - to photograph the exhibition and have a good look at the artwork in relative peace and quiet!

RSMA Annual Exhibition 2026 - Feature Wall in the West Gallery

As always, the calibre of the work selected for this exhibition is very good overall. There is some work which is outstanding and others I would not personally have selected - but that's about whether I'd hang it on my wall or be able to hang it on my wall! I'm not a marine artist so what do I know!
Note: I'm afraid I am not linking to the RSMA website as it is insecure (i.e. http prefix only and no security certificate) and it's my policy to not link to sites which may present risks to readers. Hopefully they will get this sorted before my next post about them.
NOTE: Despite writing this note on my review last year, the RSMA have still not got the website fixed - hence no link. See more on this below

So below you can read about:
  • how to see the exhibition
  • my Making A Mark Review of the Exhibition
  • Some practical points (for artists, the RSMA and the Mall Galleries)

How to see the Exhibition


RSMA Annual Exhibition 2026 - East Gallery

IN PERSON
  • at the Mall Galleries
    • Dates: until 26th September 2026
    • Hours: 10am - 5pm
    • Admission: Admission £7, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s. Concessions available. No booking required.

ONLINE

Catalogue Cover
  • E-Catalogue: you can see some of the artwork and all of the listings. Or you can get the catalogue proper if you visit the exhibition.
  • Online Exhibition - on the Mall Galleries sales website
  • My photographs of the exhibition - on Facebook

Three of albums of photos of the RSMA Annual Exhibition 2026
on my Facebook Page

Plus there's been a variety of demonstrations on every day of the exhibition - with more this week. Details on the front page of RSMA website (scroll down). (I've no idea why they aren't on the Mall Galleries website! An oversight??)

If I've got time, this is the one I'd be going to.

Making A Mark Review of the Exhibition


The artwork was generally well hung. I liked the groups of artists' artwork which works to everybody's advantage if these are artists who have a good track record of selling. (see below in the Sales section of this review)

Whoever did the far North Gallery room deserves a special shout out for not only filling it only with sculpture - but for making it well balanced - and with a very special "come hither" piece cunningly located just the other side of the doorway which can be spotted as you enter the middle gallery! I also very much liked the positioning of 3D art on blocks of different heights so each had its special "standout".

Middle Gallery of the North Galleries - looking through to the far room

4 of the five sculptures of marine life in far North Gallery

The exhibition has 379 artworks across three galleries in the show This is:
  • a further decrease from the 390 exhibited the previous year
  • still above the 350 which I think is optimal.
  • a good mix of paintings and sculpture. 
I'd have liked to see more fine art prints and drawings - which typically tend to be more affordable to those who visit the Galleries.

Part of The Mall Wall in West Gallery

I think consideration might be given to an even better mix of media eg
  • 240 oil paintings
  • but only 45 watercolours
  • and 6 pencil or charcoal
  • There were only nine prints, all of which very good to outstanding - with artwork by Lisa Ashburner and Joshua Miles being particularly noteworthy (see Joshua's work below). EXCEPT that Joshua Miles was not recognised as a print artist for some reason!
However it is good to see that there was some innovative media eg 

Man - The Sea Is Always Right by Paul Wolterink
Medium: Neon, (edition of 25)
Size: 34x54x4cm
  • neon artwork by Paul Wolterink - based on the famous artwork associated with the Bristol Channel flood of 1607. (see my blog post about the latter)
    Man - The Sea Is Always Right
    Medium: Neon, (edition of 25)
  • a porcelain and thred piece which represented an old net by textile artist Wendy Greaves and ceramicist Llinos Gale
  • a machine embroidered representation of waves around a jetty by contemporary textile artist Alison Holt who specialises in freehand machine embroidery.
"Along the Thames" by Alison Holt
Medium: Freemotion machine embroidery
Size: 13x23cm (30x40cm framed)

The RSMA invite artwork that celebrates the sea
Subject matter must be essentially marine in nature, relating in some way to tidal waters of the world; topographical, historical, still life, and figures are all welcomed.

Works relating to non-tidal rivers, inland lakes and waterways etc. are not permissible.
Here are the positives for this year which for the most part repeat last year in terms of subject matter
  • More of a marine focus and (I think) fewer boats than in the past. eg. this means
    • more seascapes
    • waves and wave formations
    • more people associated with the sea
  • more nature and wildlife - so animals, fish and plants associated with the sea - particularly in the very good sculpture (see above for example)
  • Contemporary boats now dominate and there are fewer paintings of traditional boats that the artist has never seen
View of paintings and sculpture in West Gallery

I think I am also seeing more and more women artists having their artwork selected for the exhibition. We now just need to see more women becoming RSMA members.

Part of the Candidates for Membership Wall in the East Gallery

The RSMA have judged the artwork and you can find out who won RSMA awards on this webpage. 

I absolutely agree that this artwork was outstanding. it won The Charles Pears Award - For an outstanding work in any medium by a non-member. Presented by the RSMA in memory of Charles Pears, founding member and first President.

"Gannet" by Mark Bradford
Medium: Oil on linen
Size: 100x100cm (104x104cm framed)

Some practical points (for artists, societies and the Mall Galleries)

Frames

Framing seemed to be a bit better this year - after my whine last year. There are however some horror stories which, IF I was on the hanging committee I'd be declining to hang - because they're not going to sell. I guess it's more difficult to do that when they are members. Nevertheless, buyers can like paintings but hate the frames - and there's only one usual outcome to that.

I'm happy to advise (for free) those that I'd suggest they change before next year. 

Marketing by the RSMA


In blunt terms (and I am renowned for being more than a bit "direct" at times), RSMA should make it an absolute priority to sort out their online presence!

The RSMA Instagram is not bad - containing both groups of pics and reels - but could have more content! I surmise that maybe there's a number of members who don't use Instagram. It also seemed to have started marketing the exhibition rather late but has been signalling its existence ever since.

However:
  • RSMA website - http is INSECURE and will never ever be linked to by me. I can also never ever recommend people visit an insecure website.
    • No modern website provider would allow a society to do this. HTTPS was  formally specified as a standard by the Internet Engineering Task Force back in 2001. During 2016-2018  Major tech companies like Google and Mozilla pushed for universal adoption, eventually leading browsers to flag unencrypted HTTP sites as "Not Secure". The net result is far fewer visitors as people have learned to back off from insecure websites.
    • I can only assume the website was constructed by one person and had not been maintained for developments online in the last 10-20 years. There are a variety of very good webware providers who I'd be delighted to introduce the RSMA too. (Nothing in it for me - except I won't have to write something like this again each year)
  • Facebook Page - which had a banner image up reminding people to enter the open call for entries AFTER the exhibition had opened. No marketing of the exhibition. I've supplied a new banner image.
  • a YouTube site with short videos of the demos at the exhibition might be something worth pursuing.

Sales

In the past, I've known that the RSMA's Annual Exhibition tended to be one of the top sellers of all the FBA societies exhibiting at the Mall Galleries

Over the years, members have passed on, new members have arrived and all sorts of nasty economic shocks have been experienced. In this context, some of the other societies have got their act together and are involving ALL members in pulling together to generate sales. 

However, this year RSMA has only generated only 43 sales by the beginning of the second week = £51,365. (Compared to 60 sales in 2025)

It's well known that most sales are made online, at the PV and in the first few days of the exhibition - so this does not suggest the RSMA have turned a corner. 

I have analysed sales by different art societies in the past. It's very well established that 
  • sales are few and far between above £1,500 - you generally need to be a name with lots of collectors and/or have produced an outstanding artwork
  • the £500-£1000 price bracket generates the most sales.
I've seen nothing from sales to date which suggest it will be any different for the RSMA.

Some individual artists do need to be highlighted for multiple sales:

Four different views of the sea by Jamie Medlin
oil on board
  • Jamie Medlin RSMA - has sold two of his oil paintings to date (£6,850). He was one of a few who priced above £1,500, obviously with some well grounded justification! Note the reference from Christies on the home page of his website. It's artists like Jamie who have traditionally had the yacht owners buying.
  • Joshua Miles ARSMA - who has sold all four of his reduction linocuts of the seashore (Total £3,800). All were priced below £1,500. He's a very experienced artist who makes his living from painting and printmaking - with houses and studios selling his art in two countries. His art is what I would have taken home if I had any space to put it!
Joshua Miles - four reduction linocuts of the seashore

It's a very great pity that the scope to buy from an edition is not more clearly highlighted. I rather suspect Joshua Miles could have sold unframed prints to be sent out by his studio. This is an aspect RSMA need to get better at - and if they do they will get more printmakers sending work via the Open Entry. 

I recommend that RSMA 
  • take a look at the upcoming SWLA Exhibition to see just how many multiple (unframed) works of fine art prints can be sold.
  • have a chat with the ROI and find out 
Note for the Mall Galleries: 
  • The Media Categories need a review eg textile art is missing which leaves some artwork not being attributed to the correct category.
  • Plus ALL the Print artworks need an indication of how to buy an unframed print. (I'm saying this because not all the print artworks are included in the print category eg Joshua Miles is not!)
  • more prominent notices (eg on the tables) about and explaining "Own Art" might help sales. 


REFERENCE: Past blog posts about the Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibitions


Below you can check out text and images in my reviews of past exhibitions
Posted by Making A Mark on Monday, September 21, 2026
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