A top art blog for artists and art lovers: news about major art competitions and exhibitions, interviews with artists, techniques and tips for art and business
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.
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
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
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.
Are you interested in watching Series 12 of Landscape Artist of the Year being filmed? This is the series which will be broadcast in early 2027.
This post is about:
where 5 of the locations are and the day they are being filmed
useful info about how to get there
You will recall from earlier posts that this series has
The ten artists for this new series have been selected (see Call for Entries: Landscape Artist of the Year (Series 12). This new format means they all travel the length and breadth of the country visiting different locations - with one artist dropping out after every heat.
Every year, SKY Arts and Storyvault Films allow people to watch various of the heats of Landscape Artist of the Year as they are filmed.
They are welcoming people to come and watch SOME of the heats on specific dates this summer.
BUT only some as they cannot accommodate audiences at the remaining heats and the final this year, due to the lack of parking and facilities. (I also suspect that some of those turning up to the Final last year were a few too many / maybe blabbed online before the episode aired?)
They're calling them Episodes, I'm calling them Heats as the Heats often change order when they work out how to air them. As in they usually want a really good one up front to hook viewers - and yoiu don't know what that is until after it's been filmed!
On the Day
The competition will start at approximately 9:30am and finish around 6pm. You do not need to contact us to reserve a place, but please note that some locations may charge a fee for parking. We hope to see you there!
Please note that posting of photos or videos of any artists or artwork will NOT be permitted until after the show has broadcast. This is to help us avoid spoilers ahead of the show's transmission. (They also keep their eyes peeled for such posting in advance of the broadcast!)
Series 12 LAOTY Locations
HEAT 1: Richmond Riverside, London – Monday 15th June
Richmond Riverside is not a generic term, it's a very specific place/development in Richmond in South West London near to Richmond Bridge. It also offers
a large flat space where they can erect the pods so that the artists can paint the oft painted view of the bridge and/or Corporation Island.
Plus lots of services nearby.
Accessible by public transport (eg Richmond Station is a 9 minute short walk). Limited parking (you're competing with the workers and shoppers of this very popular place)
Richmond Riverside: the Red pin is located near the large flat terraces
There is very likely to be a second heat close by on the following day or more likely Wednesday - depending on the time needed to strike the set and set up again.
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
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
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
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.
for a chance to be of the UK’s leading open exhibition dedicated to drawing,
with a new first prize of £15,000.
This is one way of reading what you need to do ALL ON ONE PAGE!
You are
you are invited to submit up to three drawings
Deadline for entries: Stage 1 digital submissions online must be completed by Tuesday 9 June 2026 at 5pm.
Things you need to know
(the) exhibition has an established reputation for its commitment to championing excellence and promoting and celebrating current drawing practice in the UK.
The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize
....offering artists the opportunity to showcase their drawings in the UK’s leading open exhibition dedicated to contemporary drawing,
The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition and awards are supported by the Trinity Buoy Wharf Trust.
It's a prize which has had many names in its time - see the end for more about its background.
The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2026Exhibition
The selected drawings will be included in a high-profile exhibition held as follows
VENUE: Buoy Store, Trinity Buoy Wharf, 64 Orchard Place, London E14 0JY from Thursday
DATES: 17 September – Sunday 4 October 2026
TIME: open daily from 11am to 6pm.
It will also tour to various venues in the UK until 2027.
The annual open exhibition is led by its Director, artist, curator and educator, Professor Anita Taylor who has held various posts in art education.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated publication and a programme of educational and engagement activities, including a symposium at Trinity Buoy Wharf.
View of the exhibition in 2024
The Prizes
In 2026, there will be a new prize structure and awards with a total value of £18,000:
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2026 - £15,000 - open to all artists with drawings shortlisted for the prize
Trinity Buoy Wharf Student Award - £2,000 - All students registered on a degree programme in the Academic Year 2025/26 who submit an entry
Three Boroughs Award - £1,000 - open to all those living and/or working in the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Greenwich boroughs
Alongside the work of its elected members, leading figures in contemporary
watercolour and water-based media, the RI welcomes both emerging and
established artists who push the boundaries of the medium through traditional
and experimental approaches.
Why enter this exhibition?
This is the biggest exhibition dedicated to paintings in water
colours in the UK.
around 50% of the artworks are from the Open Submission
The exhibition is the largest of its kind, featuring over 400 of the finest
works from around the world.
displays a wide diversity in approaches to paintings using watercolour
media and subject matter - from traditional to the more contemporary.
although more contemporary artwork has a lower profile in the show
and tends to favour acrylic and mixed media.
relatively little of what I tend to term the "can't draw, can't paint, won't sell" school of painting which lacks application to both concept and craft
The overall impression is that most of the artists in the show, on the whole,
are very much more inclined to paint natural scenes associated with the outdoors
- and have a distinct preference for more traditional media.
To be more precise, last year:
more than a third paint landscapes or cityscapes
just under 20% painted portraits and human figures
14% painted still life and interiors
less than 10% painted Marine and Coastal OR Wildlife and Animals OR other
topics.
very few people created abstract paintings
This is worth a study - in terms of what subjects get painted in
what media (from my review of the 2025 exhibition - see link
above)
Call for Entries for RI Annual Exhibition 2026
The deadline for entries for the
214th Exhibition
of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours is
2pm on Friday 23 January 2026
The entry opens this Wednesday and the number of entries is limited!
First, a preamble before we get on the details of the Call for Entries.
I've always been quite ambivalent about
the Summer Exhibition
held by the Royal Academy of Arts each year.Which has not stopped me
analysing and writing a LOT about it. See the end of this post for links to past exhibitions - and some very useful information for would-be exhibitors.
On the one hand, I think it includes quite a lot of utter rubbish.
However, it
also includes art with incredible impact that you might not otherwise see -
and that's not just by the member RAs.
However it is ABSOLUTELY HUGE and I now find it to be exhausting.
Probably my age (I'm now 71 and have osteoarthritis) to some extent,
but also something to do with the numbers visiting, the noise and the lack
of seats in what is a VERY large exhibition (well over 1,000 artworks - some
of which are large).
In the end it becomes a complete sensory overload. I'm pleased to say
I can cope with other smaller exhibitions very much better - so not just me
being older!
Of late I've stopped visiting - but I do watch the videos AND I do look at the online exhibition!
Partly because I refuse to subscribe to the RA any more - which I did for
years and years and years - because frankly I don't find
the annual subscription cost (currently £148)in the context of
what's on offer to be persuasive any more.
That and the fact they took away the Chesterfields in the Friends Room. After
a long visit viewing art you want a comfy seat - and Fortnum & Masons over
the road now fulfils that need at a much reduced cost!
Call for Entries
Entry opens for the 2026 exhibition on Wednesday 7th January 2026.
Hence why I'm writing this now - as you will see if you read on.
The overall process - from beginning to end - is MUCH MORE COMPLICATED than anything else you apply for so you need to get it right.
The RA have been doing this for a long time and have LOTS of information for you - and you do need to read it.
This is about the Call for Entries for the biennial V&A Illustration Awards - in 2026. Below are the basic facts of what you need to know - plus the link to where you can read more. Deadline for entry is 12.00 GMT on 5 January 2026.
The V&A Illustration Awards is a free, biennial competition celebrating excellence in illustration and contemporary practice, and judged by a panel of prominent illustrators and industry experts.
The Awards aim to reflect the contemporary UK illustration scene,
welcoming published work by UK residents or those resident anywhere in the
world working for UK clients.
Illustration: Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year 2024 Benjamin Phillips,
each of the five category winners will receive £3,500
five runners-up will get £1000.
The overall winner, the Moira Gemmill Illustrator of the Year,
receives
an additional £5,500 (making a total of £9,000) and
their
work will become part of the V&A’s collections.
Winners and runners-up for each category will be announced in summer 2026.
Their work will be displayed in a dedicated, curated display within the
V&A.
The Awards are generously supported by the
Linder Foundation
and the Moira Gemmell Memorial fund.
What you need to know
What are the categories for entries?
In 2026, there are five categories. There are no "designated briefs" for entries in any category.
Below you can find out how to enter. The closing date for entries is 25th January 2025.
My post covers
coloured pencils as a medium
the UKCPS Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries
the Call for Entries
what you can and cannot enter
what subjects I suggest you focus on re entries (ie avoid "same old same old"!
how to enter
Practical matters
images
framing
delivery
for international artists: Regulations re VAT, Customs and money laundering
Coloured pencils are a very contemporary art medium
In the last 25 years, the use of coloured pencils has become very sophisticated.
There are now many professional coloured pencil artists - working on different subject matter and producing some amazing artwork using a variety of techniques and finish. I now encounter coloured pencil artwork:
across many other exhibitions at the Mall Galleries and elsewhere
in the botanical artworld - all the time - CP is used extensively because of its scope for amazing control of tone and colour
by wildlife artists - for reasons similar to the botanical artists
PAOTY Commission 2020: Carlos Acosta by Curtis Holder (courtesy of Curis Holder)
I was once a member of UKCPS(I adore dry media and drawing) - and I used to exhibit in its annual exhibitions. This was one of my two exhibits selected for the UKCPS exhibition in 2010 (I like abstracting plants!)
Not Quite White 7.5" x 11.5", coloured pencils on Arches HP copyright Katherine Tyrrell
The Silver 25th Anniversary Exhibition in 2026
at the Mall Galleries
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, UKCPS has hired the Mall Galleries for their exhibition from 17 - 21 March at the Mall Galleries.
This is a first for the society. It's been very good at holding its annual exhibition in different parts of the country. However, like a number of the more niche art societies, it wants to celebrate a very special annual exhibition by holding it where the major national art societies exhibit - at the Mall Galleries.
The entry to the Mall Galleries in The Mall
UKCPS Silver Exhibition - Call for Entries
This is an open exhibition; submission is open to all living artists, aged 18 or over. The artist must demonstrate compositional and drawing skills and the ability to use colour pencil.
What follows is my version of it, with notes and tips and recommendations. My version does not include all you need to know so make sure you read ALL of the Call for Entries and Terms and Conditions.
Who can Enter
Any artist working with coloured pencils - over the age of 18 years, living anywhere in the world
Submissions are open until Tuesday 3 February 2026
You can also review my past blog posts about the RP Annual Exhibition over the last 19 years at the end.
Reasons why you should enter the RP's annual exhibition
The "Portrait Artist of the Year" competition may attract a lot of entries from would-be portrait artists in the UK - and be on television - but only one artist gets to win.
The annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, on the other hand, welcomes new and emerging talent and ample space to give a boost to more than one artist.
The RP exhibition is an annual opportunity for artists who paint people to see their paintings hung alongside the work of their peers. As always, emerging and established talent is displayed together.
This "call for entries" gives all aspiring portrait painters:
an opportunity to be hung in the same exhibition as some of the leading portrait painters in the UK
a potential first step up on the ladder to becoming a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters
access to a much longer term payoff than an outing on television and not winning the top prize
For all those wondering whether and why they should submit an entry to this exhibition, take a look at the following.
Expert assessment of your portrait
ALL drawings and paintings selected for exhibition from the Open Entry are chosen by practising professional portrait artists who are full artist members of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - and who use a variety of media. (click the link to check out their work)
Judges are are looking for solid skills in portraiture - but they are not averse to new styles and innovation demonstrated by emerging talent.
A prestigious portraiture exhibition - in central London and online
This is a very prestigious exhibition within the international portrait world
It fills all three galleries at the Mall Galleries on The Mall in London
It attracts over 4,000 entries to the exhibition - including very many entries from international artists
The exhibition is also put online so it can be seen all over the world.
An expert commissions service
This exhibition generates a LOT of portrait commissions. This exhibition is much less about sales and much more about being a marketing shop window (e.g. 87 (40%) of the portraits exhibited last year were not for sale as they had been done as commissions and already had owners)
advertise portrait commissions through the Commissions department - on which a commission will be payable.
The Commission Room at the 2024 Exhibition
Entry is digital
Hence you only need to go to the expense of framing and transport IF invited to progress to the second stage of selection. So entries which do not succeed only incur the expense of the submission fee.
Some significant prizes
This is an exhibition with some heavyweight and prestigious cash prizes.
The total prize fund is £35,000, including The William Lock Portrait Prize (£20,000).
It has the most valuable individual prizes awarded by any national art society in the UK.
These include awards for younger artists and portrait drawing.
You have two months to prepare an entry for the Annual Open Exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA). Online entries close on Friday 9 January 2026 (12 noon).
Find out how to enter the RBA Annual Exhibition 2026
This post explains:
why this is a good exhibition for artists submitting via the open entry
why the last two exhibitions have been very disappointing in terms of sales - particularly for member artists - but have lots of scope to "come back" and do as well as they have done in earlier years
how to enter
Why submit to this open entry?
This is a good exhibition for non-members to try and get selected for, because of the variety of media, subject matter and styles which are acceptable to the RBA
This is probably the most eclectic of all the art societies belonging to the Federation of British Artists BA Exhibitions - whose home is at the Mall Galleries. My comment in this post Artwork I liked at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2025
It also has an excellent range of prizes, many of which open artists are eligible to win.
However, there are always a LOT of entries and this exhibition gets more open entries than some of the top flight art competitions in the UK (
Those who enter have a good chance of being exhibited as the RBA aims to split the artworks hung in the exhibition 50:50 between RBA members/associates and the open artists.
Why the last two RBA exhibitions have been disappointing
These were my blog posts about the 2025 exhibition
The artwork selected comes from 3,843 submitted images. To give you a sense of what that represents it's bigger than the entry for some major art competitions.
Mostly it was good work, although it certainly included artwork I personally would have edited out at the selection stage.
I start from the basic premise that major art exhibitions are for selling art as well as showing it. As in people want to recoup their expenses and generate income for an artist.
The reality is that the last two exhibitions have have had VERY LOW SALES
2025: 63 artworks sold (just 11% of the artwork hung) which is VERY LOW
2024: 52 sold from 491 hung (10%) last year - but only just (11%!!)
This is in the context of a society which, in the recent past, has generated in excess of £100K in sales at its annual exhibition (as another FBA Society did recently).
Moreover, in 2025, 60% of the artwork SOLD was generated by the Open Artists(selected via the Open Call to exhibit with the members of the RBA).
My thinking is this is because:
open artists tend to submit smaller and more affordable artworks - priced to sell(I will allow myself to think some have been reading my blog posts which have provided clear signposts as to what sells!)
member artists are sometimes self-indulgent and submit large works which have little chance of selling - and too many don't read my blog posts about the exhibition metrics!
the Selection Panel sometimes seems to be
too indulgent to its members in terms of what they what they want to exhibit and
thinking too little about the business of making money from the exhibition - to fund their contribution of the costs of running the Mall Galleries.
A guide to price brackets at the last RBA Exhibition
I should emphasise that it's not just my opinion it was the members who were mainly responsible for the overall level of low sales. It's a FACT.
There were 554 artworks hung in the show (which in my opinion is about 200 too many) split between:
275 artworks by members
279 artworks by open entry artists
In terms of the number of artworks which sold
60% were by open artists
40% were by RBA Members and Associates
Most sales were, as I constantly reiterate, BELOW £1,500
Most sales in this RBA show were also by OPEN ARTISTS
This sort of performance is a function of:
artwork submitted for exhibition
the critical faculties of those selecting the work that gets on the wall.
Selection for 2026
In relation to the 2026 Annual Exhibition (26 February - 12 March), I'm really hoping that the panel of selectors will get their critical and business faculties in gearand become more discriminating by aiming to:
RADICALLY REDUCE the number of artworks they select (i.e. the more they hang, the less they sell).
BE MUCH MORE RIGOROUS IN THEIR SELECTION - in relation to BOTH members and open entries - about preferring artwork that will sell rather than artwork which will just hang on a wall for 10 days and do very little for art, the artist or the RBA wanting to generate funds to run future exhibitions. After all, this is what commercial galleries need to do all the time if they are to stay in business.
The key is to select the best and not just everything you like the look of it.
artwork at the entry to the West Gallery in 2025
How to Enter
Artists are invited to submit work for exhibition alongside members of the Royal Society of British Artists at the RBA Annual Exhibition 2026. More details below.
You have just under three weeks left to get a submission into the Annual Exhibition 2026 of The Pastel Society.
I've been trying to get round to this post for a while, which makes it much later than usual. However you still have time to start and finish a new work, or review what you did last year that you are proud of and submit that to the exhibition.
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)
Pastel Society | Annual Exhibition 2026 | Key Facts
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, LondonDates: Exhibition Dates: Wednesday 21st January - Saturday 7th February 2026 Private View (invite only): Tuesday 20th January 2026 - 5pm to 8pm, official opening at 6:30pm
Submissions: ONLINE ONLY and open until 12 noon Friday 14 November 2025
Notification of selection: Friday 28th November 2025, 12 noon Receiving Day (if selected): Saturday 10th January 2026, 10am to 5pm
Collection of unsold work: Thursday 12 February 202610am to 5pm
Awards and Prizes - see listing near the end of this post
Mixed media and three-dimensional works are welcome where pastel or another dry media is the primary medium.
HOWEVER.....
ALL work that is submitted must have a full description of the media used and any process which has been employed in the finished work beyond drawing and painting, e.g. printing, photography.
Please note that failure to do this may result in unnecessary rejection on the grounds that work deserves to be judged on a like for like basis and because any buyer should be made aware of what they are buying.
Bottom line - no sleight of hand! This exhibition emphasises the use of dry media and the expertise of the artist in using it.
If you want to enter the 62nd Annual Exhibition by the Society of Wildlife Artists the deadline for entries is 12 noon on Friday 22nd August 2025. (Apologies for this being rather later than usual)
In my opinion, one of the best annual art society exhibitions at the Mall Galleries every year is that by The Society of Wildlife Artists.
That's because
it's uncompromising about favouring artwork which has been created after studying your creature from life (i.e. it is very much NOT a fan of the type of hyperrealist artwork done from a photo without ever seeing the animal or studying it in the wild)
The Society of Wildlife Artists seeks to generate appreciation and delight in the natural world through all forms of fine art inspired by the world’s wildlife.
displays artwork in a wide range of art media (paintings, prints, drawings, sketches, sculpture, ceramics and other 3D artwork)
highlights a wide range of styles and colour palettes
includes artwork developed from projects undertaken by the society and its artists during the year
It is emphatically not boring!
Plus it also has that huge asset known as a solid set of followers and collectors who are both faithful to their preferred artists and are also very interested in new art by new artists.
"The Natural Eye" Annual Exhibition 2024 by the Society of Wildlife Artists West Gallery at the Mall Galleries
Call for Entries: 'The Natural Eye'
It's worth remembering that it's not coincidental that the name of this annual exhibition is "The Natural Eye". This connects to the emphasis which the SWLA places on artwork conceived, started and sometimes developed to completion while observing wildlife "in the field / sea / air" (past CFE post on this blog)
You can find detail of the Open Call for Entries for the SWLA Exhibition on the Mall Galleries website.
Below this post covers:
what sort of artwork the SWLA want to see submitted by open artists
images needed
online submission only
who can enter
what you can enter
how to submit
Plus pics of the last exhibition and links (at the end) to my blog posts about previous exhibitions and the type of artwork hung.
Key Dates are as follows
Submissions open: Friday 23 May 2025, 12 noon
Submissions close: Friday 22 August, 12 noon
Notification of selection: Friday 5 September, 12 noon (log in to OESS)
Receiving Day (if selected): Saturday 4 October, 10am to 5pm
Private View (invite only): Wednesday 15 October, 2pm to 8pm, official opening at 3pm
Exhibition opens: Thursday 16 October, 10am to 5pm daily
Exhibition closes: Saturday 25 October, 5pm
Collection of unsold work: Thursday 30 October, 10am to 5pm
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