Review: 63rd Society of Wildlife Artists Annual Exhibition

The 63rd Annual Exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists is currently at the Mall Galleries

It's also the last exhibition of Harriet Mead as President of the SWLA, a role she has fulfilled extremely well for the last 17 years. She steps down at the AGM in November 2026.

Harriet Mead with six of her sculptures of wildlife
created from welded found metal
Five of which have already sold!

The exhibition also saw the launch of the SWLA's new book about its Massingham Heath Project which started in May 2025. The book is available to buy at the exhibition

The Massingham Heath Project will see over thirty of our member artists follow the seasons and changing flora, fauna and landscape of an exciting rewilding project in West Norfolk.

This is a review of this exhibition which continues until Saturday 10th October.

About the Exhibition

There are either 359 exhibits in the show which creates a good show on the walls without the exhibition seeming too overcrowded. 

There are a lot of birds in the East Gallery

Artwork includes oils, watercolours, acrylics, pastels, drawings, sculpture, original prints, mixed media and animation. 

Much of the sculpture is beyond competent and some is extremely spectacular such as the cranes in the East gallery (see above)

One aspect I particularly like about this show is there are so many excellent fine art prints (84 in total) which can be much more affordable - and sometimes smaller and easier to find a home for on your walls. These include Serigraphs, Etchings,Etching and monoprints, Etching and Aquatints, Linocuts and Reduction Linocuts, Lithographs, Collographs, Drypoints, Drypoint and chine colle, Monotypes, Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock), Mokulito (wood lithograph) and Screenprints

Some of the prints plus a snake

More prints

What distinguishes the artwork in this wildlife art show is that it is based on actual observation of the subject, rather than the conversion of a photograph into a drawing, print or painting. The selectors are always looking for the signs that an artwork is based on personal and real observation.

Harriet Mead drew my attention to a submission by a new artist on the end wall of the West Gallery. This is not normally an exhibition where you see big cats or tropical animals. Yet this was a painting of Tiger Cubs. As Harriet said to me, you could tell straight away that this was based on observation in real life. It turned out the painting was was by an Italian artist who had visited Vietnam and come across captive cubs.

Tiger Cubs by Francesco Calistri (Italy)
oil and acrylic on canvas

All the artworks are for sale and many of the artists can (and are) commissioned.

The trend I observed last year towards more smaller - and more affordable - medium and small size artwork seems to have continued - which I think is very sensible in the current economic context. 

Nearly 80% of the 72 artworks sold in the first five days are priced at less than £1,500 with most sales being for less than £1,000. This in part reflects changes in sizes of artwork.

You can see the artworks:

"Turning Thirteen" by Frances Bell wins HSFK Portrait Award Visitor's Choice

I have to say I am not in the least bit surprised that "Turning Thirteen" by Frances Bell has won the Visitor's Choice award - as announced by the National Portrait Gallery this afternoon on Facebook and Instagram.

Visitor's Choice Award - Frances Bell

Frances Bell and her daughter 
with her portrait of "Turning Thirteen"
at the HSFK Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Gallery, London
© Making A Mark

Here's what I had to say about Frances Bell and her portrait back in my post Portrait Award 2026 - Artists with their paintings (Children and Parents)

Here's MY reasons for why Frances's portrait won.

Call for Entries: Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2027

You have TWO MONTHS to submit a portrait as an entry to the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2027 (aka The Portrait Award!)

The BIG CHANGE this year is 

• you do NOT have the Christmas break for final titivating - because....
• the deadline for your entry is Tuesday 1 December 2026

This date change is not highlighted on the website. If you have friends who sometimes / always enter it might be worth making sure they're aware of the date change. You could always send them a link to this blog post! :)

This is about:

• WHY enter the HSFK Portrait Award?
• WHO can submit an entry?
• WHAT sort of portrait you can submit?
• HOW to complete and submit your entry

Very many artists who have succeeded in being selected for this exhibition in the last two decades started out by reviewing my summary of the call for entries! I know because they told me at the Private View!

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award  2027
CALL FOR ENTRIES IMAGE

First of all the full title of both the competition and the award is the "Herbert Smith Kline Portrait Award" - but that's too much and too long so I ALWAYS refer to it as either

• the HSFK Portrait Award
• or THE Portrait Award

The links to the official information are all included below.

Series 13 of Portrait Artist of the Year starts 7th October 2026

Portrait Artist of the Year is back next week on Wednesday October 7, 2026. 

The thirteenth series has three new Judges - who I've already seen in action at Battersea Arts Centre during the heats in April this year.

Three New Judges
Eva Langret, Jonathan Yeo, and Katy Hessel

My post below covers:

• what's the same - essentially the format and broadcasts and rules
• what's different - ALL THE JUDGES
• the list of celebrity sitters right the way through to the Commission
• about my reviews after each broadcast episode
• access to my past reviews of every episode of every series since Series 4 in 2018

So what's different and what's the same

What's the same?

• the venue for all the heats is Battersea Arts Centre as in recent years
• the presenter is actor and tv presenter Stephen Mangan (since 2018)
• the programme is 
• commissioned by Sky Arts and 
• made by Storyvault Films
• you can access all programmes via Sky Arts on Freeview or via Now TV
• the series is broadcast on 
• a Wednesday evening - starting at 8pm. 
• It's then broadcast again the following evening at 7pm 
• and on the following weekend (but I forget when)
• Programme Format:
• Artists enter with a self-portrait created within the last 5 years.
• They are selected on merit by the panel of expert judges. 
• Nine artists compete per heat 
• At the heats they are given four hours to paint a surprise celebrity sitter. 
• Each heat winners then competes at the Semi-Final.
• Three of the Semi-Finalists go through to the Final but only one is selected as the overall winner.
• These were the Terms and Conditions of Entry / Participation for all the selected artists
• Prize: The winner receives 
• a £10,000 commission to produce an artwork that will go on public display at a National Institution (which changes every year) plus 
• £500 of art supplies from Cass Art.

What's different?

There are three new Judges - Eva Langret, Jonathan Yeo, and Katy Hessel 

(see my post The NEW Portrait Artist of the Year Judges for longer and much more detailed summaries and assessments of them

• Eva Langret we saw in LAOTY 2025 as a new Judge replacing Kate Bryan initially (re LAOTY 2026) but it's now clear she is the bang up to date and heavy weight substitute for Kathleen Soriano. She is the Director of Frieze London and Vice Chair of the Camden Art Centre.
• Jonathan Yeo is "the artist" replacement for Tai Shan Shierenberg for Portrait Artist of the Year only. (I understand Tai continues for LAOTY). I'm not a fan of his portraiture due to the predominance of a lot of "head and hands" and odd connections between the two - although he is excellent at capturing a good likeness. (see my blog post The King Charles Portrait by Jonathan Yeo.) He has been a trustee at the National Portrait Gallery since 2018. He seems to be a portrait painter who likes to paint celebrities and other well known people (like some of the sitters in this series) and is described by Sky as 

A portrait painter whose work you almost certainly know

• Katy Hessel - a British art historian, broadcaster, author, columnist and curator dedicated to highlighting women artists throughout history. She has an Instagram account @thegreatwomenartists 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eva Langret (@evalangret)

The Celebrity Sitters for Portrait Artist of the Year

Final Call for Entries: Royal Institute of Oil Painters

The Royal Institute of Oil Painters invite entries to 

the ROI OPEN Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries 

in November and December 2026. 

View of part of the West Gallery

This is the exhibition which, in 2025, broke the Mall Galleries record for the value of artwork sold! (Of which more in another post, but I do think my witterings about price ranges have got through!)

You have just over two weeks to get a entry submitted online.

The deadline for entries is 9th October 2026 so you've still got time to be get organised and get your entry in. 

The ROI welcomes submissions on all subjects and approaches to this wonderful medium, from plein air, landscape and still life to portraiture and abstract… there is no limit except the common denominator that the work must be created in oil.

Note: As in acrylics are not oil! 

The theme for the 2026 exhibition is ‘WINTER RITUALS’. The theme invites oil painters to 

• explore the traditions, repeated actions, gestures and rhythms that shape our experience of winter, 
• from personal routines and acts of devotion 
• to cultural traditions and collective gatherings. 
• It reflects on the character, moments, identity and symbolism of contemporary life.

The ROI Themed Painting Prize will be awarded to the best interpretation. 

Below is the wall of the artworks selected for last year's theme of "Home"

The range of artwork selected for the 2025 theme of "Home"

Call for Entries - ROI Annual Exhibition 2026

Submissions are ONLINE ONLY and open until Friday 9 October 2026

If successful, you will be notified of your selection on Friday 23 October, 12 noon

You can find the official and FULL Call for Entries below on

• the Mall Galleries website
• the ROI website
• the portal to the OESS entry screen

Plus this is the link to the Full Details, Entry Terms & Conditions

Below is a Summary of the different aspects of the Call for Entry - plus MY COMMENTARY.

I would love to see more artists having the chance to exhibit alongside us at this prestigious event. When I had my first chance, I was over the moon and just being associated with this society has really boosted my career in the most positive ways.
Adebanji Alade - President

This covers:

• WHO can enter
• WHAT you can enter
• PRESENTATION
• FINANCIAL ASPECTS 
• PRIZES AND AWARDS
• Past ROI exhibitions - if you want to see what they look like

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

• East Gallery (  pics)
• North Gallery (36 pics)
• West Gallery (47 pics)
• I'm thinking about doing an album of the work I particularly liked.....

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.

View Monet and Renoir painting side by side

Room 41 in the National Gallery in London currently has two very famous paintings hanging next to one another. They are the two paintings created of La Grenouillère by Claud Monet and Pierre Renoir.

Monet and Renoir - Painting Side by Side

The National Gallery has a link to this exhibit - which continues until 22 September 2026 and is free to all visitors before the Renoir painting moves to a new exhibition (see end for more details)
 

The panorama of boats, bathers and people at La Grenouillère
(Left) Bathers at La Grenouillère by Claud Monet (1840-1926)
(Right) La Grenouillère by Pierre-Auguste Renoir 1841-1919

I've seen them hung like this before. However what is extremely helpful this time is the diagram which demonstrates how close they were to one another - but looking in different directions.

The two viewpoints of the small island on the River Seine
from the pier of the floating restaurant
Monet in orange and Renoir in grey

They are in effect stood a few feet apart and looking across each other's viewpoint.

Note how if you study the diagram and then look at the paintings next to one another, they are almost a panorama of the scene in front of both men. eg 

• Renoir includes the small island 
• while Monet crops just to the left of the island

The diagram is adapted from one contained in a book called Modernity and Modernism French Painting in the Nineteenth Century Yale University Press 1993 (available online for a low price)

Here are the two paintings in isolation. 

For those who can't get to the London, I've also included the descriptions of the two paintings in the exhibit.

Bathers at La Grenouillère by Claud Monet (1840-1926)
oil on canvas
National Gallery, London

Painted quickly on the spot, this picture has a cursory quality. Adopting an unusual viewpoint and a high horizon, Monet draws the viewer's eye to the river and the boats in the foreground. A wooden pontoon cuts across the middle of canvas, breaking the traditional rules of composition. Rapid dabs of colour suggest bathers and strollers. Avoiding a literal transcription of reality, in this seminal work Monet captures the essence - the impression of a landscape.

La Grenouillère by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

         oil on canvas

on loan from the National Museum Stockholm

Renoir chooses a different viewpoint, to the right of Monet's. He includes the little round islet known as the *camembert' and, to the far right, a floating restaurant. Unlike Monet, Renoir focuses his attention on the fashionable crowd in the centre, populating his canvas with delightful details: a child plays with a boat, while a dog snoozes in the shadow. "La Grenouillère was a perpetual party, and what an assortment of people!" he later recalled.

Two exhibitions of note are coming up - which relate in a way to these two paintings.

Two NEW Exhibitions in London

Royal Society of Marine Artists | Annual Exhibition 2026

North, West and East Galleries at the Mall Galleries - 16 Sep 2026 - 26 Sep 2026 - 10am to 5pm 

The RSMA paint scenes associated with seas and tidal rivers. This particular scene would not have been possible as the Seine is only tidal to Rouen.

(note: the Royal Society of Marine Artists website is not secure i.e. http:// rather than https:// and I never link to insecure websites)

Renoir and Love

Explore the sun-dappled gardens and swirling dance halls of Paris through 40 paintings, brought together from collections across the world.

National Gallery, London

Dates: 3 October 2026 – 31 January 2027

Standard admission

• £20 (off-peak, Sunday-Thursday)
• £25 (Friday and Saturday, and all days in the first two weeks)
• Under 18s go free

Wildife Artist of the Year 2026 - Winners

I've now got all the names of those who won their categories - plus, of course, the overall winner and the runner up (which I did know).

• All quotations come from the Wildlife Artist of the Year and/or website unless otherwise stated.
• I'm assuming the description of the art is by the artist (until anybody tells me otherwise)
• I'm going to use the text provided to me by the David Shepherd Foundation as to the Judges' reasons why an artwork won an award
• Plus some of the pics come from the dswfwildart Instagram account
• the rest are my pics.

The judging panel is made up of art professionals, artists and conservationists.

Note: I only do this for long-running and prestigious art competitions which attract an international entry! That's because not everybody can get to the exhibition.

For my review of the exhibition see Another Excellent "Wildlife Artist of the Year" Exhibition (2026)

For my photos of the exhibition see an album on my Facebook Page - Wildlife Artist of the Year 2026

Overall Winner of "Wildlife Artist of the Year"

Stefano Zagaglia - Evanescence the Biggest

This brings a

• £5,000 cash prize,
• the official title, and
• a £5,000 conservation donation made in the winner's name.

WINNER OF WILDLIFE ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2026
Evanescence - The Biggest
oil on canvas, 100cm x 100cm
Stefano Zagaglia

The Label in the exhibition states

The elephant slowly emerges from the white, a powerful yet fragile presence. Only a portion of Its body is visible, while the rest dissolves in the light, suggesting a presence that might vanish. The tusks, a symbol of its strength and its doom, become the focus of the gaze. A reminder of how great and majestic this species is, but also how vulnerable it is to human actions.

This was the Judges comment

"A winning artwork isn’t always the loudest. Sometimes it is the one you cannot stop looking at, and in that context the artist of this beautiful piece has presented the Elephant, our largest living land mammal whose quiet strength never needs to shout. Stefano has brilliantly embraced the subject, most importantly the category and this competition in all its glory."
- WAY 2026 Judge

About the Artist

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by David Shepherd Wildlife Art (@dswfwildlifeart) 

Stefano Zagaglia's website says nothing about him except why he paints wildlife.  However 

• his Facebook Page indicates he lives in Milan where he expresses himself more fully about what the prize means to him
• it did have this statement about "Evanescence"

The paint remains on the canvas as if struggling.

As if no longer certain it can remain.

It thins, surrenders to the light.

And the bodies of the animals approach the edges, dissolve.

As if suspended — between appearing and disappearing.

It’s a moment.

The moment before the end.

And perhaps, also,a last gesture.

A last attempt to hold them back.

Before they vanish completely.

Overall Runner Up 

Prizes are

• £1,000 cash prize and
• a £1,000 conservation donation made in the runner-up's name.

Alberto Duvivier Tembo - Extincts

Another Excellent "Wildlife Artist of the Year" Exhibition (2026)

I've attended - and reviewed - many Wildlife Artist of the Year (WAY) exhibitions, organised by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation and held  at the Mall Galleries each year. 

There's lots to read below of interest to all aspiring and established wildlife artists.

• Why visit this exhibition
• Note for aspiring and participating artists
• How to view the exhibition - in person and online
• Some facts about the exhibition
• How to view the exhibition - including links to my past reviews of this exhibition going back to 2008

TOMORROW I'm publishing a post about the Category winners.

Feature Wall in WAY 2026

However I deliberately missed the PV on Tuesday and visited on Wednesday. I found out from those who were there that it was, as I expected, absolutely packed out with people who love wildlife and wildlife art and were keen to buy good art - and it was very hot! Which is why I tend to duck PVs these days as my internal thermostat is out of whack at the moment.

The view from the stairs - lots and lots of visitors

When I got there on Wednesday morning, apart from an awful lot of red dots, I also saw an awful lot of people who were studying the artwork with enthusiasm. 

As well they might as there was lots of excellent artwork to look at.

I took a lot of photos - of all the artwork - and have uploaded most of these to an album on my Facebook Page - Wildlife Artist of the Year 2026

Below is a review of the exhibition

If I can work out the category winners I'll do another post about those. (If somebody at DSWF can send me the details that would be much appreciated. I'd assumed they'd be on the website.)

Why visit this exhibition?

The end wall
- it took a long time for me to get a clear view of this
because of the number of visitors!

For me, what is unique about this exhibition is that very many of the wildlife artists selected for the exhibition tend to be those who have "gone the extra mile" in terms of capturing innate characteristics of their subject 

Cat Crawl 

Pastel, 47cm x 40cm

Lisa Gleim AAPLF, AFC, ASMA, AWAM, CGA, IAPS/MC, PSA, SAA, SPSM

This one for example, positively jumped off the wall at me, given the acute observation of primal cat behaviour when it comes to hunting - as every domestic cat owner will recognise. That and the fact I love pastel artwork!

and/or finding a new way to convey the essence of their subject.

Three oil paintings by Stefano Zagaglia
Winner of WAY 2026
(the winning painting is on the right)
Scale: all the paintings are 100 cm x 100 cm
note the plugs bottom left for scale

I think I probably see more innovation and novel ways of representing subject matter at this exhibition than any other. It just happens to be wildlife.

Portrait Award 2026: The 10 portraits I liked the most

This is a post about the ten portraits I like the best in the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery. 

At the end I say which portrait will, I think, win the Visitors' Choice Award.

Portraits hanging in the HSFK Portrait Award competition
at the National Portrait Galllery

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

I've been reviewing the Portrait Award at the NPG since 2008 (see end) - which means I've looked at a lot of top quality portraits over the last 18 years.

• After my first impression on the Awards Night Viewing, I generally know which portraits have made a big impression on me 
• Interestingly they are not necessarily the winner or even the winners.
• It's something to do with being able to see the portraits in the context of an exhibition - and next to one another
• The next morning I get to see them all over again at the Press View morning - which enables me to check out whether I still think the same
• I then get to think about the portraits again while writing about the Artists with their Paintings (which used to be one very long post (eg Portrait Award 2025 - Artists with their paintings) but this year turned into five! (See the end for links to my blog posts). This always depends on whether the artist turned up AND wore their badge so I could spot them! (Some artists have not yet worked out yet that the buttons they are given to wear can generate them publicity!)

So what follows are:

• the portraits which stuck in my head
• the portraits which made me look more closely at them
• portraits which include some clever composition and design
• the ones with interesting sitters
• the ones which generated an emotional response
• a complete absence of prizewinners - except for one which I could not exclude

I should also mention that this list excludes some very good paintings which include things I really do NOT like - my classic example being tattoos - and hence got excluded simply because of that (given the title of this post!).

I've also noticed that a lot are by women artists - which is interesting. That's not why they were chosen though.

The Ten Portrait Paintings I liked the best

There is no rationale about the order in which they are listed - except I have ordered them by size - after the one which once seen can never be forgotten

The One which stuck in my head the most

Is your framer still in business?

I'm writing this post because several notable fine art picture framing businesses and associated manufacturing plants have recently closed or entered administration due to high business rates, rising material costs, and economic pressures.

This post covers

• why framers are going out of business and closing
• how to protect your interests as an artist
• how to find a decent framer for artwork

A bit of a shocker

My tulip wood frames from Picture Frames of Shaftesbury

I was casually looking through my Memories on my personal FB account  yesterday - and the above pic came up in the context of an exhibition I was submitting artwork to in September - 12 years ago in 2014.

I idly put the name of the people "Picture Frames of Shaftesbury" who did an excellent job of my online ordered frames into Google - and nothing came up. Which I thought was a bit weird.

So I kept looking - and came across the announcement that they had closed down in 2025 and been dissolved (following voluntary liquidation) on 17 June 2026.

Being an accountant by profession, I went to Companies House and read the winding up documents and it was a very sad tale.

Then today I asked Google "framers going out of business" and they came straight back with yet more names and the reasons why

Google identified General Industry Pressures i.e. 

Independent framers across the UK report that escalating business rates, minimum order thresholds for materials, and the cost-of-living crisis are making traditional high-street shops unsustainable.

plus highlighted...

Recent Picture Framer Closures

• Picture Frames of Shaftesbury permanently closed in July 2025, resulting in six redundancies and the formal dissolution of the company on June 17, 2026.

The sudden closure left clients without their regular framing service and displaced local staff.

• Darbyshire Ltd: Closed on May 8, 2026, after 34 years of operating as a prominent fine art framer for major artists and galleries.
• Alec Drew Picture Frames Limited: This was a long-running specialist fine art framing business on Chelsea Green in London that closed and went into administration in June 2026 after 50 years in business.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Darbyshire Ltd (@darbyshireltd)

""Well that's all folks" After 50 years Alec Drew Picture Frames has closed"

Some like this chap have retired. Although his business had disappeared.

An extract from the Statement of Administrator's Proposal (i.e. the people who wind up the business under the Insolvency Act)

The Company is a long-established bespoke picture-framing business specialising in high quality custom framing, including conservation and museum-standard framing services. The Company built a reputation within the fine-art and framing sector for specialist craftsmanship, and its customer base spanned private individuals, collectors, artists and others seeking premium framing services.

Chelsea has experienced changes in recent decades, including rising property prices, changing retail patterns and increasing numbers of properties held as investment assets rather than occupied full-time residences. It is believed that these factors have contributed to reduced footfall for the business.

In addition, changing preferences toward digital photography and digital art display may have reduced the long-term demand for traditional picture-framing services compared with previous generations.

Macro-economic factors including uncertainty, inflation and pressure on household incomes can result in customers postponing non-essential purchases such as custom framing. Ever increasing costs for staffing, utilities and raw materials has resulted in tighter margins.

My recommendation