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.

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.

Final Call for Online Entries: RMS Annual Exhibition 2026

The deadline for ONLINE ENTRIES for the 2026 Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Artists, Sculptors and Gravers is Friday 28th August 6pm (GMT)

The Royal Society of Miniature Artists, Sculptors and Gravers is the world’s foremost organisation dedicated to the centuries-old tradition of miniature art. 

What is Miniature Art

Although miniature art was considerably bigger when the society was first created, the current state of play is highlighted in this introduction to the art form by Anthony Lester (which comes from one of my earlier blog posts).

With a maximum size of 6 x 4 inches (15.24 x 10.16 cm), the painting of miniatures demands self-discipline, for where large pictures give some latitude in composition, miniatures are unforgiving of the least mistake; a tolerance of even a millimetre is hardly permitted. 

The Gold Bowl Award winning work in 2025

plus the "Honourable Mentions"

which I had the honour of judging 

with London art critic Tabish Khan

(bottom row second from left came home with me and now hangs in my hall!)

RMS Annual Exhibition 2026

Below is a quick summary of arrangements for

• the exhibition
• online entries
• submission of selected artwork by non-members

Final Call: The Discerning Eye Exhibition 2026

You have THREE DAYS LEFT to submit an entry to the Discerning Eye Exhibition which will be held at the Mall Galleries in November.

This prestigious annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London celebrates small-scale artworks by UK-based artists.

From call for entries by Parker Harris
amended by me to highlight the small nature of the artwork!

This is a very different sort of art exhibition - because it only contains small scale works - defined as a maximum diameter of 50cm in any direction.

In 2025, this exhibition featured 

• more than 730 artworks 
• by 529 artists, 
• selected from an outstanding 6,500 entries.
• curated by six invited selectors

Parker Harris post

Below is what you need to know to enter

Essential Details 

• Deadline for Online Submissions ONLY: 5PM on Thursday, 27 August 2026 via https://artopps.co.uk/checkout/165
• Exhibition: 13 to 21 November 2026 at the Mall Galleries in London.
• Prizes: Over £9,000 available across multiple categories.
• Who can exhibit?: emerging and established artists
• Artwork Rules: 
• Small-scale works - This is defined as a maximum 50cm in any direction, INCLUDING the frame
• in any medium
• all pieces must be available for sale. (a commission of 40% + VAT will be charged on all sales)
• How to Enter: You can submit your online application through ArtOpps https://artopps.co.uk/opportunities/discerningeye-26. 
• This the page with the RULES
• This is the Page with answers to the FAQs
• All entries must be entered online in the form of digital images and must be accompanied by the following information: Title, Medium, Year, Dimensions and Price.
• all images must be either JPEG or PNG files, no larger than 5MB
• if the work contains offensive material it's likely to be withdrawn from the exhibition (which is a new one on me - I can only assume Parker Harris has run into this issue on another exhibition)
• Who runs/organises the competition? 
• The exhibition belongs to The Discerning Eye. (Note: The ING Bank which has previously sponsored the competition no longer seems to be involved)
• It's organised by an art consultancy called Parker Harris 
• who use ArtOpps as the platform for dissemination of the rules etc and all digital submissions

Discerning Eye exhibition in the West Gallery last year
- which usually contains the exhibitions of four of the selectors

The Selectors in 2026

As always, this year's exhibition will be curated by six prominent figures from across the art world.

Each selector works independently, bringing their own distinct perspective to create six exhibitions within the whole. You cannot rely on looking at past exhibitions to know what sort of work would be suitable. 

However you might try reviewing the selectors' instagram accounts.... 

Call for Entries: The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2027

The Call for Entries for the 128th Exhibition by the Pastel Society in January 2027 has been published on the Mall Galleries website. 

Artists working in pastel and contemporary dry media are invited to submit their work for the Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2027

This post summarises what you need to know. 

• Submissions are ONLINE ONLY and 
• open from 17 August to 20 November 2026

Benefits of Exhibiting with The Pastel Society

This is an OPEN ART EXHIBITION. If you submit and are selected for the exhibition your artwork will be

• included in the catalogue
• seen by visitors to the Mall Galleries - and it gets a LOT of visitors
• viewed online via the Mall Galleries website and that of the Pastel Society - before, during and after the Exhibition
• eligible for a number of prizes & awards - and some have significant cash awards (see below)if you want to become a member, you first need to get exhibited via the open entry
• may well sell - but ONLY if you pay attention to what I have to tell you below about pricing and sales!!

Pastel Society | Annual Exhibition 2027 | Key Facts and Dates

What drew me to the Pastel Society was the thought of being surrounding by other people fascinated by dry media in particular
Curtis Holder

Venue: Mall Galleries, The Mall, London
Exhibition Dates: Wednesday 27th January - Saturday 6th February 2027
Private View (invite only): Wednesday 27th January 2027 - 5pm to 8pm, official opening at 6:30pm

Submissions: ONLINE ONLY and open until 12 noon Friday 20 November 2026
Notification of selection: Friday 4th December 2026, 12 noon
Receiving Day (if selected): Saturday 16th January 2027 10am to 5pmCollection of unsold work: Thursday 11 February 2027 10am to 5pm
Awards and Prizes - see listing near the end of this post

One of the walls in the Pastel Society's Annual Exhibition in 2026

Call for Entries

What you read below is most - but not all - the terms and conditions of entry and information about what and artist must and must not do. 

It's down to you to read the Full Details, Entry Terms & Conditions

Find out more about how to enter:

Diploma Graduates Exhibition at the Heatherley School of Art

I was at the Heatherley School of Fine Art in Lots Road, Chelsea yesterday evening for the PV of the Diploma Graduates Exhibition.

You can visit this for free between now and Sunday afternoon (10.30am-4.00pm) at the School at 75 Lots Road, London, SW10 0RN. The nearest tube is Fulham Broadway and then it's an approx. 12 minute walk - right past the entrance to Chelsea Football Club!

I'd been invited by Sarah Jane Moon (who teaches there) to come and see what those following the Portrait Diploma Course had been producing. There are also other courses exhibiting their work. 

I often come across Heatherley graduates doing well in other exhibitions and art competitions so I made the trek from East to West London!

You can 

• see some of my photos from the show on my Facebook Page
• find out more about the courses on the website

I was very impressed by four of the artists who were producing portraits which looked like they will be followed by even better in the years to come.

As it happens they were all women!

One of the very interesting aspects of Heatherley's is the number of middle aged women students it attracts - which I find a very refreshing aspect of its student body.

Akiko Saiko with me
Her portrait had been commended by Andrew James RP

Standout artists for me were:

• Akiko Saiko (above) who has a very refined approach to painting a portrait which reveals the tonal light and shade and hence the form - which was something of a weakness in some of the portraits by some other artists. I also really liked her profile text which was engaging, simple and direct. That's the kind of effective communication which gets through to the most people. She does however need a website!
• Amy Roberts is a former fashion designer who works primarily from observation. She is very obviously not phased by either large groups, complex compositions or more complex dress. I've been waiting for somebody brave enough to take on group portraits for a long while - and it looks as if we might have somebody at long last!

Amy Roverts won the Worlds End Studio Prize with this group painting

• Marlies Forster (Instagram) - who last year won The Composition Prize 2025 awarded by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and consequently had her painting hung in the RP Annual Exhibition

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Forster London Art (@forsterlondonart)

• I also really liked Janet Marsh's Holbeinesque self? portrait of a women with a squirrel (see my blog post The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein by Franny Moyle for the original) which won the Susan Engledow Portrait Prize

By Janet Marsh

Note to the School: Please update your galleries with the artwork from the show so it's online at the same time as it's on show at the school. Everything on the website seems to relate to 2025.

PS My five year old post about Favourite Quotes about Portraiture has been attracting a lot of visitor of late - so I'll include it here as well to share the love some more!

Major LS Lowry Exhibition in the autumn

There is to be a major exhibition of the paintings of LS Lowry in the Autumn. 

The exhibition L.S. Lowry: The Theatre of Life marks the 50th anniversary of Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887 – 1976) and opens at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes in October.  It represents a culmination of a nationwide celebration and features over 140 works, including A Football Match (1932). 

• The new exhibition is the first major career survey of his work in over a decade. In addition to iconic “matchstick men” industrial scenes, the showcase will explore lesser-known works such as portraits and surreal pieces. 
• a rare overview of his career, bringing together lesser-known aspects of his practice, including pencil and charcoal studies from the antique and life, detailed urban drawings, and works in pastel and watercolour that reveal the breadth of his practice (MK Gallery)
• A key theme of the exhibition is a re-examination of the myths that grew around him, situating his life and career within the wider transformations of twentieth-century Britain, as the mills, terraced streets and working communities he depicted were bombed, cleared and replaced.

L.S. Lowry, Our Town (1943). Oil on canvas.

Purchased from the artist, 1944.

© Touchstones Rochdale, Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service.

Basics: 

• L.S. Lowry: The Theatre of Life
• When: 24 October 2026 – 28 February 2026
• MK Gallery, 900 Midsummer Boulevard, Milton Keynes MK9 3QA
• Tuesday – Sunday, 10am – 5pm. Closed Mondays
• You can book tickets on the MK Gallery website.

L.S. Lowry: The Theatre of Life is also accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

Why people like Lowry's art

What I liked at the Society of Women Artists 165th Annual Exhibition

I was mentally sending good wishes to the Society of Women Artists who had their 165th Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries last week. That was because last week was ridiculously hot weather wise in London (c.35°C / 95°F) for most of the week)!

Anybody who went would have actually enjoyed a very pleasant air conditioned gallery - with refreshments on tap!

However I was busy with other prebooked / prior commitments for the first half of the week. 

Then my brain started to fry because my 18" thick brick walled home had heated up! I was struggling to keep the temperature inside below 30°C - while my brain fried.... despite having all the windows closed and all the blinds down!

The incentive to go out - where it was even hotter - was minimal!

Which is by way of explanation as to why no visit on Tuesday and why no review.

I am eventually going to work out who painted this....

However, I did get there on Saturday afternoon, when it was a few degrees cooler, and managed to photograph the artwork in all the Galleries just before it closed.

Interestingly one comment I saw about the exhibition online was "better than the RA Summer Exhibition" and - having visited that particular exhibition with my sister (who was over from Australia) on Tuesday - I can confirm that comment was very far from fanciful in nature.

You can see my albums of photos of the exhibition on my Making A Mark Facebook Page

• West Gallery
• East Gallery 
• North Gallery

10 things I liked about the SWA Annual Exhibition 2026

• I thought a lot of the art was very much better than a lot of the open entries and some of the RA artwork in the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. Below was one of the standout pieces. 
• What I noticed in particular was there was a very strong entry by the open artists. You really need to raise your game to get selected nowadays!

"Suffer the little children" by Penny Hardy
(mild steel)
who uses her sculpture to raise money for UNICEF

• The hang was excellent - and one of the best I've seen in the Mall Galleries this year so far. Parts of the hang were definitely superior. It came across as very considered. 

Review: New English Art Club Annual Exhibition 2026

This is a very late review of the 2026 Annual Exhibition of the New England Art Club (NEAC) - which celebrates the 140th Anniversary Exhibition, which also remembered some of its past members.

NEAC 2026: The end of the West Gallery

I particularly liked the way that they included the surnames of past members on the title page of the Catalogue and also had paintings in the show by past member Paul Nash.

Title Page of the NEAC 140th Exhibition Catalogue

The 140th Annual Exhibition has 396 artworks and is on at the Mall Galleries until 20th June.

• the catalogue is available online on Issuu
• you can also view the 396 artworks online on the Mall Galleries "Buy Art" website

For some reason I didn't have the PV in my diary last week and since then my diary has been packed with hospital appointments.

However, on Monday, after the first physio date this week, I got myself to the Mall Galleries early and managed to see the exhibition with very few other people there - which is the way I like it. I can then see the art rather than people looking at art. PVs are a dreadful time to try and take pics of an exhibition!

You can see the results in the three Facebook albums I've created on my Making A Mark Facebook Page

• NEAC West Gallery - Annual Exhibition 2026
• NEAC East Gallery - Annual Exhibition 2026
• NEAC North Gallery - Annual Exhibition 2026

First five photos in the album about the NEAC Exhibition
in the West Gallery

Observations

Overall, I thought this was an exhibition which included some really excellent artwork - but could also have looked better than it did. It impressed - in part.

This is a review which reflects my likes and dislikes. I find I'm repeating myself each year. So this year my review is shorter than usual.

Selected Artists (Part 2: I - Y) for The Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery

This is Part 2 of my post about the artists selected for the Annual Exhibition of the Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2026.

It's rather longer this year as most of the artists have been sending me their portraits - see below!

You can also read my previous post Selected Artists (Part 1: A-H) for The Portrait Award 2026 at the National Portrait Gallery

NOTE: If you can't see the portraits which are pics embedded from Instagram, this is probably because you're not logged into Instagram. 

Artists Selected for The Portrait Award 2026

There's a lot of artists selected for the first time in this half of the 52 artists selected for this year's exhibition.

The Portrait Award too is an amazing event. It’s like the Oscars of the Portrait Painters world (for those who don’t know or might be unfamiliar with the name of the current sponsor)....I am… utterly gobsmacked. And won’t probably really truly believe it until I’m standing there next to my painting in June. Ros Koch

Selected artists who want to see my photos of past exhibitors - taken on the Artists Press View morning - should take a look at my reference where they all my "Artists with their Paintings" posts are listed.

Selected Artist Statistics

I'm proposing to do a statistical analysis of the artists ( re. male/female; country; first/previous exhibitor) as the National Portrait Gallery has not published one this year. I publish this in another post.

PART TWO

This covers the artists whose surnames start with "I" through to those who start with "Y".

Links to their websites are embedded in their names - and Instagram accounts indicated if they have one (that can be found easily!)

I've also indicated which artists are prior exhibitors - and the years in which they exhibited. All other artists are First Time Exhibitors.

• Shinji Ihara (Instagram) - (Prior Exhibitor - 2024, 2025) - a painter and contemporary artist based in Hiroshima, Japan. Born in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1987, he received his MFA in Oil Painting from the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts. He is the Founder of HDL+ (formerly Hiroshima Drawing Lab), an artist-run space in Hiroshima. He has had multiple solo exhibitions in Tokyo and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Japan and internationally, including Asia and Europe. Previously selected for the Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in 2024 and 2025. I predicted he would be back again and I believe him to be a future prizewinner. 

Working primarily through painting, Ihara explores memory, relationships, and the position of the individual within society. Portraiture has been central to his practice, through which he examines the dynamics between seeing and being seen, presence and distance

After the rain, we remain by Shinji Ihara
oil on canvas, h72.7 × w91 cm
© Shinji Ihara

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• Martin Jessup - a portrait painter living in Kent, working in traditional oils, specialising in highly detailed portraits for private clients and institutions and accepting a limited number of commissions each year.

Diane M Benoit 
oil on stretched canvas, 60 X 40 inches

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• Ros Koch (Instagram) - Contemporary South African painter. Born in the UK and she has lived in South Africa since 1998. Paints landscapes and portraits. Ros is a self-taught artist, who - thanks to traditional parents and schooling - took a long time to allow herself to transition from ‘art as hobby’ to ‘art as a career’

The Age of Adolescence (2024) by Ros Koch

Oil on board, framed in Kiaat; 250 x 250mm 

© Ros Koch

The fact that THIS painting - my first ever submission to the HSFK Portrait award - has been accepted to hang in the NPG is a beautiful full circle moment for me. It’s a coming of age (both in its title and artistic affirmation) and homecoming of sorts. Like many other artists, I used to go to the NPG as a child, always drawn to the people and their lives. And it is truly serendipitous that this one has been selected as its subject matter is so immensely meaningful and deeply personal to me, representing the intersection of things things I feel most passionate about.