Facebook now only allows 63 characters for visible description

Facebook has made a terrible decision to limit the number of visible characters on posts of pics or links to a Facebook Page (124 characters with spaces in this sentence)

That includes spaces!

So the opening sentence of this blog post would be halved on Facebook. (this sentence is 69 characters with spaces - so you wouldn't see all of this short sentence)

Why is this happening?

Here's Google AI's explanation of what Facebook if trying to do.  

But you do agree with their reasoning? Read on to find out some of my thoughts on the imploications....

Is Facebook trying to behave exactly like an Advertiser?

In effect it is treating every post by all normal Facebook subscribers as if it was an advert.

It seems to want to get us to write ADVERT TITLES for each FB post!

Is it possible that is so they can sneak in more advert content and we won't notice.

Is it possible that it is trying to create more clicks to its site so it can show advertisers a click heavy profile?

Compare Facebook with Instagram

It's very similar to the truncated text associated with an Instagram pic. (73 characters including spaces)

Maybe Facebook is trying to be more like Instagram?

Thing is they are demographically quite different. The big difference being that users of Facebook tend to be older and don't skip or skim text the way those under 40 do.

Older users are readers - and they like to see text.

So maybe Facebook is trying to win back younger users?

However maybe Facebook is also alienating its older users (like me) at the same time?

Compare Facebook with Google

Title Links (Blue Links): Approximately 50–60 characters (or around 600 pixels).

Google AI tells me that the character limit allowed for the title associated with a weblink is 50-60 characters

Hence, one might conclude that Facebook wants us to write titles as the text for the first 63 characters of the description of what a pic is or where a website link leads

Conclusion: we need to get a lot smarter about writing text TITLES for our links or pics on Facebook Pages.

However Google has the advantage that it also shows text AFTER THE TITLE - with no "read more" prompt. i.e. we get to see more text when viewing a link in the Google Search Engine

These are called snippets and there has always been a limit on how many characters get displayed

So what does Google have to say about the ideal length of descriptions (snippets) after the title of a website link?

Something completely different from Facebook!

Guess who's more experienced in the search engine aspects of what gets people to open posts?

Bottom line - Google Search allows at least TWICE THE NUMBER OF CHARACTERS ALLOWED BY FACEBOOK.

Which is WHY the search description for this blog post reads

Facebook wants titles not text for posts on Pages. Check out the changes re text length and compare to what Google thinks is best.

Who do you think understands responsiveness to search engine links better?

Google or Facebook?

FINAL Call for Entries: New England Art Club Annual Exhibition 2026

You have until 12 noon on Friday 20th March to submit your entries for the New England Art Club Annual Exhibition.

While the seriously committed will have submitted their entries already, there's still time to submit that work which you are pleased with.

Historically, the New English Art Club was founded by a group of artists dissatisfied with the entrenched attitudes of the Royal Academy

Today, its intent is spelt out by its President Patrick Cullen

At the heart of the NEAC is the search and propagation of meaningful, resonant art. It is committed to authenticity through the observation of life, as well as the task of articulating and communicating ideas with the beauty of skilful language.

FINAL Call for Entries: NEAC Annual Exhibition 2026

Entries from open artists are welcomed.

The NEAC Annual Exhibition is a showcase not only for its members but also for aspiring artists: with a history going back more than a hundred years, it is an opportunity for work to be seen alongside some of the best artists today.

I describe the process below. Here are the links to all relevant pages

• This is the official call for entries https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/open-calls/new-english-art-club
• This is the official entry portal https://mallgalleries22.oess1.uk/
• you need to locate the correct exhibition as this is the entry portal for all FBA Exhibitions at the Mall Galleries
• UNFORTUNATELY the Full Details, Entry Terms & Conditions is a pop-up page and is NOT a downloadable PDF. Which means if you want to make a record for your files / notes - you have to copy and paste into Word - and then you can print it.

NEAC is not an art society which is afraid of colour!
(NEAC Annual Exhibition 2025: End of West Gallery)

If you want to know what NEAC is about, take a look at my pics of the 2025 Annual Exhibition

Last year, the exhibition 389 artworks which included a lot which were big to very big - which made the hang look very crowded to me

Guidelines re Sales and Pricing

You can see the nature and price of the artworks which sold in 2025 by right clicking HERE and opening in a new tab

• 60% were painted in oils
• just over 20% were landscapes and cityscapes
• just over 10% were portraits
• just over 10% were still life
• the remainder covered marine and coastal (4), other (1) and abstract (2)

In terms of sales, 17 of the 50 sales were by open artists - and the majority were by women. I think it not unlikely that most of the sales were heavily influenced by women too.

For the record, although I've not crunched the numbers for 2025, there are some guidelines for open artists if you want to achieve a sale

• sales drop off once you breach £1,500 which I've identified for a long time as an important threshold for sales (i.e. not a lot above this, and these are mostly by members)
• OPEN ARTISTS tend to do better in the £500-£1000 price range and pricing - and this is consistent across a number of the art societies exhibiting at the Mall Galleries

SGFA 105th Annual Exhibition + scope for a VERY BIG exhibition about Drawing at the Mall Galleries

It's interesting to see how many of the national art societies who are not members of the Federation of British Artists are now holding their annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries.

To date we have:

• SBA - Society of Botanical Artists - regular exhibitor in the whole gallery on a biennial basis (next exhibition in 2027)
• SGFA - Society of Graphic Fine Art - regular exhibitor West and North Gallery (exhibition on at present - until 14 March
• SWA - Society of Women Artists - long term regular exhibitor on annual basis - next exhibition 23-27 June 2026
• UKCPS - UK Colour Pencil Society (for their 25th anniversary show only - next week 17 -25 March 2026

One wonders whether - at some point - some might become additional members of the Federation of British Artists. 

The Society of Graphic Fine Art - currently exhibiting this week - are a case in point.

The Society of Graphic Fine Art

It's other colloquial name is "The Drawing Society"although I think its lost sight of its drawing purpose in the narrative at the beginning of the current exhibition page on the Mall Galleries website (i.e. the word drawing is absent)

The Society of Graphic Fine Art ...exists to promote and exhibit original works of high quality in colour or black or white. This includes both traditional and contemporary media, which includes pencil, pen, watercolour, oils, charcoal, pastel and any of the forms of original printmaking.

I suggest the second paragraph needs to come first

A national society based in the UK, the Society of Graphic Fine Art is the only society dedicated to excellence in drawing and draughtsmanship, demonstrated by hand.

This art society was founded over 100 years ago in 1919 and now has 160 elected members who are professional standard artists from all areas of the art world who work in all drawing and printmaking media.  (I used to be one of them until I decided to not belong to any society while writing reviews of exhibitions.)

The Society was formed by students and teachers in the etching class at the London Central School of Arts. They wanted to establish a society that would

‘uphold and maintain the interests of all those forms of art that do not use colour as a form of expression’

which was another way of saying that drawing counts and, in one form or another, always will.

Their first exhibition in 1921 was supported by the RA and their first President was Sir Frank Brangwyn RA RE, the renowned muralist, painter, architect, illustrator and designer,

Current focus

Drawing excellence and draughtsmanship is still the focus of the society and its exhibition

The main criterion of membership, regardless of media discipline, is drawing excellence.

Nowadays, in addition to black and white work and traditional drawing skills, the society encourages the use of colour and non-figurative art.

105th Annual Exhibition of the Society of Graphic Fine Art

The entrance to the exhibition at the Mall Galleries

I visited the annual exhibition on Monday.

SGFA Exhibition: West and North Galleries of the Mall Galleries

Dates: 9 Mar 2026 - 14 Mar 2026 
Hours: 

Admission: FREE

I've uploaded my photographs of the artwork I saw to Facebook Albums

The Pileon = Facebook Comments now restricted to Followers

This is about a change of policy for Comments on my Making A Mark Facebook Page. It's also a reminder about what is and is not OK when commenting on my Facebook posts.

Last night at 6pm I published my review of the Commission episode called "The Winner's Programme"  at the end of the current series of Landscape Artist of the Year.

Before I went to bed last night, I had to add a comment to the post because of the incessant negative comments on my review made by people who, it appeared to me had:

• neither watched the programme
• nor read my review
• nor explained the reasons for their negativity.

I remember names. I know when people have commented before. Having written on social media for the last 20 years, I also know when people have no interest in art and/or are just trolling.

In short, my post was experiencing "a pileon" and I was starting my response....

This is the comment on my Facebook Post about the Commission

It then occurred to me, I'd also received more ignorant comments than usual on my review of the Final Kim Day wins Landscape Artist of Year 2026 as well.....

What is a "pileon"?

I checked out definitions for Pileons on Google. It's not a recognised word in the Oxford English Dictionary. I'm not even sure I'm spelling it right however Google AI recognised the colloquial term and was able to provide some informative context.

Review: £10,000 Commission for Landscape Artist of the Year 2025

The Commission Prize comes right after the we find out who won Landscape Artist of the Year for 2026 - see my post Kim Day wins Landscape Artist of Year 2026

This post is about the Commission:

• the brief for the Landscape Artist of the Year commission
• the Commission Programme - what's involved in understanding the brief and the constraints on the artist
• the Commission Painting produced by the winner of Landscape Artist of the Year 2023.

Before the Unveiling of the Commissioned Painting of Croagh Patrick

The Commission

It's probably worth saying that this is not a prize in the sense that a nice tidy sum of £10,000 lands in your bank account. 

First you have to work for it!

What you get in effect as a prize is an opportunity to EARN £10K through creating a painting - which everybody will want to comment on (and have done!)

The Challenge

The Commission is both like and unlike a commission an artist usually receives.

Usually it's only illustrators who get a tight brief and an absolute deadline for delivery - and given her day job is being a scenic artist for film and television Kim will have been very used to working on commission.

However most artists have some flexibility about deadlines (i.e. you say whether to accept it or not and when you can do it / deliver it) and briefs when doing a commission. This one you have

• a very specific subject - it has to be a painting about Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain associated with St Patrick in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland
• a very specific deadline - for delivery to the National Gallery of Ireland and the filming of the Winner's Commission programme
• considerable latitude as to what you do and how you do it - within the context of media allowed in the competition - and the constraints of being followed around by a film crew the whole time

The winner will receive a taxable fee of £10,000 (ten thousand pounds) (“the Winner’s Prize Fee”) for creation, completion, and delivery of an artwork (“the Winner’s Prize Artwork”) of a landscape (“Winner’s Prize Location”) on dates and times and locations to be determined by the Producer at its absolute discretion. Extract from the Series 11 Terms and Conditions

The Brief

The first part of the Commission is a visit to the National Gallery of Ireland to meet Dr Brendan Rooney, Head Curator and Curator of Irish Art to:

• get the brief
• ask questions

Kim Day wins Landscape Artist of Year 2026

This review is about the Final of Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2026 which was won by Kim Day.

The Pods next to Falkirk Wheel

The Final of Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year (2026) was held at The Falkirk Wheel in Scotland last summer - and was broadcast on Sky Arts on Wednesday evening (followed straight afterwards by the programme about the commission for those wondering when that's on. My review of that will follow by Sunday).

Following this review of the Final, there are two more posts to go 

• Review of the Commission 
• Review of the Series as a whole.

About this post

As always the programme about the Final is always something of a bit of an odd show since

• 5 other participants are missing
• there is the need to recap the journey to the Final
• plus a more indepth profile of each artist AND
• the story of the three artists doing a commission between the semi-finals and the Final

Below you can read about

• Artists in the Final
• Venue: Where/when the Final was held plus observations about the subject
• Observations, Themes and Tips
• The Commissions
• The Final Painting
• The Winner

At the end you can find 

• all my reviews of previous programmes in this series at the end of this post. 
• how to read reviews of past series
• Plus how to apply for the NEXT series which will be filmed this summer in six heats in three places around the UK.

But before I begin.....

There's an aspect of this competition which is not explained well in the programme. I'm writing this now because I've noted a LOT of comments complaining about who won on FB.

• A lot of people appear to THINK that the winner is determined by the artwork they paint in the final (i.e. 4 hours). 
• This is not the case. 
• Unfortunately, what really happens seems to be spelt out less clearly than it needs to be given the number of people who think this.

To go back to the beginning, who wins a heat depends on:

• the submission AND
• the heat painting i.e. it is NEVER just about the heat painting.

Who wins the whole series depends on:

• the submission AND
• the heat painting AND
• the semi final painting AND
• the commission AND
• the painting in the Final i.e. it is NEVER just about the 4 hour painting in the Final.

Let me put it another way. WHY would they ask them to paint a commission - of what ever size they like - in however long they want to spend on it (within the time constraint of a week - I think) if it did not matter a LOT?!

Bottom line, the portfolio of paintings build up over the course of the series - from the application to the Final and provide a good insight into who an artist is and what they can do. 

One might characterise the programme as a long-running audition.

Almost without fail, I have observed almost all winners across many series as having a very clear style and proficiency in specific techniques and a range in terms of what they like to paint and how they like to paint - and a very stong portfolio built up over the course of the competition.

It's my strong belief that it is the OVERALL PORTFOLIO - with a particular emphasis on BOTH the commission and the heat painting which tells the Judges who is the best artist for the commission.

It's the most logical and best way to judge the overall competition.

I stand to be corrected, but that will involve the programme makers in providing a very simple and explicit explanation of the process that is used to judge the competition - and restate this in every episode for ALL the viewers as well as the participants.

It's just very sad that this is not communicated and explained simply and clearly to viewers. 

This approach is one of the principle reasons why I bang on and on and on about the importance of the submission.

Ditto same applies to the commission for the Final.  An outstanding commission will tip the balance and win the Final. I've seen it happen across both PAOTY and LAOTY a few times.

NOTE: My personal preference would be to skip the final painting of "something" which they all do together and make it a programme about three different commissions of a significant landscape similar to the commission - with no pod - as an audition. That way you can also keep the winner secret!

So - now we've got that straight - on with my review of THE FINAL AUDITION FOR THE COMMISSION and TWO ARTWORKS!

Artists in the Final

As if you need reminding, however this is relevant to all those think they know better than these artists

Review: Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition 2026

Last year I was rather tough on the Annual Exhibition 2026 of the Royal Society of British Artists. Principally because I thought they had hung far too many artworks and consequently it was difficult to "see" the art.

As a result I sent a four page critique of the exhibition to the President highlighting various aspects of the exhibition I thought needed addressing and suggestions as to how. I gathered from last week that he had used it as a checklist to review all the aspects I suggested could do with attention.

This year I'm very pleased to say that this year we have a much improved exhibition to view with fewer artworks hung. Plus a much nicer experience at the TWO PVs. The "payoff" seems to be that more artwork is selling.

The West Gallery on Monday

I've now visited it three times:

• at the NEW Private View for Art Collectors - which was very pleasant. We could all see the art properly and the red spots started appearing!
• at the Artists' Private View last Thursday evening when I got to meet a brand new first time exhibitor who I first met 11 years ago. She was so very pleased that her abstracted artwork had sold before the exhibition had even opened!
• Monday afternoon when I was able to get round the West Gallery and view all the artwork in more detail. Plus sat and chatted for ages with former President Mick Davies and printmaker Austin Cole about "exhibitions" which was again very enjoyable.

You can visit the exhibition 

• at the Mall Galleries
• until Saturday 7th March (10am to 5pm)

You can view the artworks online - and buy - via the online exhibition 

You can view the e-catalogue online 

BOTH give you an idea about media, size and price of artwork on display

RBA Annual Exhibition 2026 - view in the East Gallery

You can also see artworks hung on the walls in the three galleries in my Facebook Albums (after yesterdays' hiatus!)

• East Gallery
• North Gallery
• West Gallery 

Facts about the Exhibition

Artwork comprises paintings, fine art prints, drawings, sculpture, ceramics and other 3D work in all kinds of media and but mainly (but not exclusively) a figurative / representative style - and you can see them at the Mall Galleries until Saturday 7th March.

The Mall Wall in the East Gallery

There are 438 artworks hung in the show (compared to 554 last year) - which is still more than I would like to see (c.400 is the optimum number for me) split between:

•  244 artworks by members - nearly 60% (compared to 275 in 2025)
•  194 artworks by open entry artists - just over 40% (compared to 279 in 2025)

Consequently 

• a marginal reduction in members' artwork but a major reduction in the number of artworks selected from the open entry.
• Open artists might like to note that they had 2351 open entries so those selected represented about 8% of the open entry.  Hence you need your very best artwork to get selected!

As a result, this year it's an exhibition which is much easier to view. There is more space between artworks which enhances the individual artworks as well as preventing eye fatigue when viewing art - as happened to me last year.

As a result, they are selling more artwork. Just over half way through, they are one short of the sales for the whole exhibition last year. 

Call for Entries: Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 12)

This is about the CALL FOR ENTRIES for the NEW FORMAT for Series 12 of Landscape Artist of the Year see 

• SEE my previous blog post announcing the change in the way it works BRAND NEW FORMAT for Landscape Artist of the Year Series 12 (2027) announced!
• the deadline for submissions is Monday 23rd March 2026 - so basically you've got three more weeks.

There are lots of pros and cons below. I suggest that, in my opinion, you need to be both experienced and committed to landscape art and camera happy to do well.

Given the MAJOR change in the way the programme will be delivered, you can expect that scrutiny of entries will become MUCH more intensive.

In summary, the changes are as follows:

• 10 artists will be chosen for the whole series (rather than the 8 different artists for each heat episode - so 10 artists NOT 48 artists). Similar to number chosen for other competitions such as Throwdown or Bakeoff.
• One artist leaves each week (similar to the format used by the BBC ten years ago for The Big Painting Challenge - but this time with a focus solely on landscape and apparently without any small challenges or learning activities)

This televised art competition gives artists four hours to paint a UK landscape. One artist is eliminated each episode, and one finalist is ultimately crowned the winner. Landscape Artist of the Year website

• ALL the (remaining) artists create artworks at ALL the locations - which means every artist needs to be able to guarantee that they can make themselves available for filming.  (Don't forget locations far from home may involve two travel says as well either side). This of itself will rule out a lot of artists. More comments below

If you want to take part in the show, you’ll need to confirm that you are available for seven filming dates on weekdays in June and July, plus one in September.

• More scope for:
• showing what you can do in terms of range and consistency
• getting used to being filmed so you perform better (that's not what they say but it is what will happen) 
• Artists can still turn up to paint as "Wildcards" BUT there is NO Wildcard competition
• If you apply, your work will be reviewed by prominent judges from the art world - BUT no word as yet as to who Judges will be. (I'm doubtful as to whether they are experienced landscape artists)
• Appearance Money! If selected for the show, you will receive 
• £500 for each episode you take part in, 
• plus reimbursement for travel, accommodation, and meal expenses.
• Commission: An additional £10,000 commission will be awarded to the winner.
• The deadline for entries has been brought forward to Monday 23rd March 2026. (It was originally advertised as a date in the middle of May)

At the end of the series, the Judges will determine who becomes Landscape Artist of the Year on a MUCH larger group of paintings produced in all the different locations before the Final. i.e. 

• three to apply
• six in the heats
• one in the semifinal 
• = 10 paintings BEFORE THE FINAL!

Which can only be positive for the programme, the artists and the viewers.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sky Arts Artist Of The Year (@artistoftheyear)

More information

• This is the page about the change
• This is the CASTING PAGE page which sets out how it all works in 2026 - in more detail.

Frankly, I think the information provided is less than is needed. Hence why this blog post continues as it does.

What sort of artist are they trying to recruit for the PODS?

Having just ten artists for the entire series would, I expect, mean a different approach to selection.

Review: Semi Finals of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026) - Ouse Valley Viaduct

This is a formal Review of the Semi Finals of Landscape Artist of the Year 2026 (Series 11) which took place and was filmed at the Ouse Valley Viaduct in July 2024.

It starts with a preamble about past semi finals and their locations - and some tips which artists might like to bear in mind if they are participating.

Which artists reached the final of Landscape Artist of the Year 2026?

Location and Weather 

The very weird semi-finals locations to date

I will repeat what I said last year

All that the semi final location choices do is

• (typically) provide big structures - which won't be present in the commission locations
• provoke difficulty
• generate disappointing paintings
• guarantee that a talented artist(s) will mess up - and not make the final

In this instance, it also bears no relation whatsoever to the Commission and likely locations that the winning artist will visit

If you think "this can't be right", you can check it out below.

LAOTY Semi Final Locations

I started my reviews in Series 4 and the links in the list below are to my reviews of each semi-final - where you can see pics of all the structures.

YET AGAIN we got a BIG STRUCTURE for the Semi Final

• 2015 - Potters Fields Park in central London - painting Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and the City of London
• 2016 - Margate Harbour - painting views of the harbour
• 2017 - Castle Farm in Kent (the exception which proves the rule - given what happened the next year) - painting enormous fields of lavender
• 2018 - Felixstowe Docks - a container port with very big cranes and ships and stacks of containers - complete with an ocean going container ship turning up halfway through. (The eventual winner of the series knew it was coming as given a vague idea of where the semi finals were she'd had the foresight to look up both tide tables and arrivals and departures!)
• 2019 - Oil Rigs in the Cromarty Firth - extremely peculiar vertical structures sat in the middle of the Firth?
• 2020 - change of timing of broadcast (the year of two PAOTYs)
• 2021 - the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park at Stratford in East London (filmed under Covid constraints in 2020 and broadcast changed to Jan-March slot in 2021) - looking south down the River Lee - towards the Olympic Stadium and the ArcelorMittal Orbit in the distance.
• 2022 - Forth Bridge - a VERY meccano set over the Firth of Forth
• 2023 - Thames Barrier- next to the River Thames!
• 2024 - Bucklers Hard - in Hampshire
• 2025 - Portsmouth Historic Dockyard - with a view of the 19th century warship HMS Warrior

I think the theory might be, if you can make an attractive artwork from what are very typically unappealing big structures, you're probably going to be capable of portraying the commission subject. 

Except they will keep choosing natural landscape for the latter! e.g. Croagh Patrick - a very large holy mountain in Ireland - for this current series 11.

I absolutely disagree with my postulated theory. I can't think of a worse test. 

Natural landscape painters do not tend to respond well to big structures. In general, they're trying to get back to nature and away from big structures. I'm not quite sure why this thought has never occurred to whoever procures the locations.

TIPS For LAOTY Semi Finalists (and Pod artists)

Again I can do no better than repeat my previous advice for semi-finalists

• Expect a big structure at some point 
• polish your perspective chops
• A panoramic format might be a very useful option for your support
• Take suitable tools for drawing/painting structures e.g. take a ruler (for measuring)
• large pieces of stiff card (for very fast delivery of sharp edges)
• flexi curve or french curve for bends
• Binoculars - because sometimes the structure is a VERY long way away!
• Make sure you know how to paint effective water quickly and easily

The 2026 Semi Final Location

The location for the Semi Final is the Ouse Valley Viaduct on the Balcombe Estate in in the High Weald AONB of West Sussex. The viaduct opened in 1841 and is used by the trains which travel between London and Brighton. It has:

• got 37 arches and was built using 11 million bricks
• been described as the most elegant viaduct in Britain. 
• has an iconic infinity view when seen from inside the arches.

I can't help feeling the pods were the wrong side of the viaduct for capturing the shadows of the viaduct on the land. There again that would have meant looking into the sun.

The artists initially seemed to spend some time pondering what the sun might do - along with working out a composition and either drawing or blocking in.

Then it was down to the serious business of interpreting how to set about (what the Judges called) a "monolith".

View of the pods side on to the Viaduct.

The Weather

In a series of endless sunny days and hot weather, this was a semi-final on "an incredibly baking hot day on location" with absolutely no shadow.

I keep wondering how the pod artists cope in terms of being baked alive! I know I absolutely couldn't do it - I'd go all woozy and pass out! I "think" (as in "I'm not sure") that they had some sort of cover for the pods which maybe deflected the rays.

The Artists in the Semi Final

The artists after they finished painting - in a nice shady spot

We had two surprises not one!  There were eight artists in the Pods and they were:

• all the Heat Winners - as summarised in Tuesday's blog post LAOTY Semi Final 2026 - The Heat Winners
• PLUS the chosen wildcard from the Wildcard Winners in each heat. They chose Deborah Frank from Episode 3 at Dover Ferry Port (See Review and her Instagram post). She was rone who did the very impressive close cropped pic in oul paint of just one part of the harbour walls. 

Deborah Frank is a practicing artist living in West Essex, England. Currently completing a BA in contemporary portraiture, at The Art Academy London (her website)

• PLUS the best of the rest - in terms of pod artists - which actually makes some sense, because some heats definitely had more good artists than others.. The selected "best of the rest" was Tom Winter from Episode 5 on the Thames (see Review: Episode 5 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026) - HMS Wellington & the South Bank). He's the chap who is a whiz at buildings and perspective.

NOTE: from the comments on my Facebook Page there seem to be quite a lot of people who think there is an episode which is the showdown between the wildcard artists to select the best for the Semi Final. This is NOT the case. The Judges choose a Wildcard at their own discretion - on the basis of their wildcard painting on the day. I'm assuming they've probably got access to the digital version of their submission as well.

The Semi Final Paintings

Here they all are at the end of the day. As you can see there are:

• 3 x panoramic
• 3 x portrait
• 2 x landscape

The only two people who "went big" were "the wildcard" and "the best of the rest". Those who get a lucky break do tend to come out fighting to justify that decision!

At the end of the semi-final, they had eight similar paintings of the same subject, which were all different. I think the good ones stood out.

LAOTY Semi Final 2026 - The Heat Winners

This is about all the Heat Winners who will be participating in the Semi Finals of Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2026 - to be broadcast on Wednesday.

Which basically cuts down on what I need to write in the review of the Semi Finals - plus gives you a bit of a challenge to try and work out who might be the Finalists!

The focus for the semi-finals is The Ouse Valley Viaduct, West Sussex - see below. So reminiscent of a mountain in Ireland! 

The Ouse Valley Viaduct

Who's Who in the LAOTY Semi Finals 2026

Below is a reminder of the pod artists in the Semi Finals

• all the heat winners + their profiles
• all their submissions + heat paintings

Who do you think will be in the Final of Landscape Artist of the Year 2026?

See if you can work out in advance who might advance to the Finals.

Heat 1: Derwent Water, Lake District

Kim Day was the winner. I think she's got to be one of the favourites for the Final - but it all essentially depends on how good she is at making something out a boring large brick viaduct!

Kim Day with her submission

My profile of her was as follows

Kim Day (Instagram) - She lives on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset and works as a freelance concept artist for the film and television industry. She has a BA Hons Fine Arts painting degree and a Masters from the NFTS | Royal College of Art in Design for Film. She works on Saunders Waterford 638gsm papers or stretched Linen with Acrylics, compressed charcoals and pastels pencils and pens, combining each medium to add variation to her mark making and colour quality.

My review commented as follows:

In essence, she starts with the big shapes as tonal colours and then adds smaller marks (using I think acrylic markers) which lend and suggest detail

• Tai was very impressed by her artwork seen together. He thought it was brilliant.
• Eva liked the overall harmonious colour palettes of both artworks. She also picked up on the fact that Kim had identified and used the purple and pink undertones on the fells.
• Generally they were all very impressed by her use of colour and the way she filled her paper with landscape. Her subject didn't drop off or peter out.

Submission and Heat Art work by Kim Day

Her artworks were described as

• having a delicious sense of colour.
• providing a sense of place
• responded to the majesty and statute of the place while interpreting it according to her own way of seeing things

Which to me sounds like a very likely candidate for the Final - but we are, of course, at a very early stage if we think what the commission is about.

This was my Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026)

I find it useful to see what she has said - in a guarded limited way - on Instagram. You can often find a bit of a hint. See what you think.....

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kimberley Day (@day.finearts)

Episode 2: St James Park, London

Nigel Glaze was the winner of the heat located in St James Park - looking at Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial across the lake.

UPDATED: Michael Chesley Johnson FREE Plein Air Primer

Michael Chesley Johnson is a landscape painter ( in oils and pastels) and an author. He's been painting and blogging two months longer than me - having started in Autumn 2025.

He also writes for magazines like Artists Magazine and Pastel Journal. He's the author of some books, including Beautiful Landscape Painting Outdoors: Mastering Plein Air

I'm very happy to recommend Michael as an artist worth reading on the topic of plein air painting. He's very experienced and he produces good plein air artwork.

However, the purpose of this blog post changed half way through writing. It's about 

• making you aware you can read his Plein Air Primer for free
• making sure you read the conditions VERY CAREFULLY.
  

EXCEPT that Michael has now worked out what went wrong - and everything is now OK.  So this blog post now reads

• Primer for Plein Air - just click a link and read the whole post for FREE
• The UPDATED VERSION (what went wrong)
• the ORIGINAL VERSION - kept as a salutary reminder that these platforms can catch out even the best of intentions

Primer for Plein Air by Michael Chesley Johnson

Michael has made his Plein Air Primer available for free on his Substack - and this post tells you how to access it! Which means a bit of unpacking of what exactly "free" means.

In these articles, I’ve distilled much of my plein air practice. With plein air painting season just around the corner, I hope you find them useful—whether you’re a beginner or an old pro

Strictly speaking, this is a FREE with "a 7 day free trial". Which should be sufficient to get through all 7 articles - listed below.

• Part 1: Gear - What do you need for an easel or a paint box?
• Part 2: Tools and Stuff - What should I take?
• Part 3: Paints, Pastels and Papers - You don't need more than a few colors.
• Part 4: Setting a Goal - Don't go out without one!
• Part 5: Location and Picking a Subject - Location is everything.
• Part 6: Making a Proper Value Sketch - Making a preliminary value sketch is waste of time, right? Wrong.
• Part 7: Making a Painting - The final installment of the series

THE UPDATED VERSION

You can now read the entire post for free just by clicking the links above.

This is the email I got from Michael explaining what had gone wrong - which means it's now OK to click any of the links above and you will automatically 

This is Michael's explanation of what went wrong

First of all, thanks so much for the review in your Making a Mark blog—and also for pointing out that my “free” plein air primer posts are free for only 7 days and that they require you to provide an email address! That was not my intention at all.

I originally had set those posts for paid subscribers only, but had a change of heart and decided to make them free. I made the change and tested it by logging out; I was then able to view them in their entirety without having to provide an email address.

What changed things, however, was another setting lurking in the background. This setting lets you turn all free posts older than a month into “paid” posts—and because the plein air primer posts are over a month old, Substack reset them to paid-only. Yikes!

I have now turned off that particular setting and have tested it again, and everything looks fine, working as I planned. No one should have to give an email address to read these for free.

As for the GDPR law, Substack, unfortunately, doesn’t have a setting for this. However, this morning I’ve put in place a TOS/Privacy Policy and have also set the system so that new subscribers will need to go through a double-opt-in, confirming their email address.

Thanks again for the review and pointing out the problem.

THE ORIGINAL VERSION: What you need to do

UPDATE (23 Feb 2026): Apparently I have spotted an unintended problem with the posts ( as identified above)

You have to 

• set up an account in Substack (which is always a good idea) and 
• then subscribe to his Substack. Over on the right is the option to subscribe for free. HOWEVER.......

WHAT IT USED TO SAY: NO LONGER APPLICABLE - BUT WORK KEEPING FOR OTHER SUBSTACK USERS WHO MIGHT ALSO BE CAUGHT OUT!

The thing is I'm not a big fan of things that promise stuff for free - with a catch - i.e. you  then find out 

• you have to subscribe for free and sign up to a subscription which is going to charge you £41 for an annual subscription every year  (which it doesn't tell you on the blue advert)
• unless you cancel - which you can at any time.

That's because I'm one of those people who has to cancel straight away, because I know I'll forget to cancel in 7 days and I don't EVER give my credit card data away for free.

Plus I don't mind giving my email away - just so long as I can also refuse further communications and am not going to have to pay for anything.

Strictly speaking, I think of he had an advert like that in the UK Michael might get  stitched up by 

• the Advertising Standards Regulator (Non Broadcast Code) and 
• the OFCOM (complaints about websites and apps) 

if anybody complained to them. That's because they who prefer people to say exactly what they mean - with no qualifications in the small print a long way in.

I get the impression that maybe things are done differently in the US? Or the regulations are not as tight as the UK's.

It really depends what you want to do. If you're serious about plein air painting, I'd recommend it. He writes informative posts (but the books are cheaper!)

NOTE: Michael also appears to have worked out the way to keep his Blogger blog going while having transferred all new content to his Substack Painting to See. So I'll be having a think about that.