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.

London is the best city for art! (Time Out Survey)

London has been declared to be the best city in the world for art galleries - according to Time Out’s latest guide to the planet’s top places for culture.

This conclusion arises out of a survey of more than 24,000 people around the world about culture in their cities.

An impressive 81.1 percent of surveyed Londoners said that the city does art galleries better than it does anything else. London was a clear gold medal winner in the category, scoring much higher than Paris (which came second with 67.9 percent) and New York (third with 67.7 percent).

Of course, one of the main reasons for this is that so many are free to access - which is a very significant bonus for both residents and visitors alike.

In addition, 88.4 percent of London’s residents backed London’s museum venues. That put us third, only behind Paris and Madrid. 

Below is a summary of Time's Out View - based on its survey - of:

• the top 50 art galleries in London
• the top 25 museums in London.
  

I really out to get back to doing my twice a year overview of what's on where at the major art galleries....

The Top 50 Art Galleries in London

This is the Time Out Guide to The 50 best art galleries in London

Frankly, I don't think they're in any order of "best". 

• Rather this is a collection of what they think are the best. 
• I guarantee that the majority of Time Out Readers will not have heard of the majority of them - which makes it a very odd list in that sense.
• It also excludes rather a lot of very active art galleries which are well worth a visit - mainly because they forgot to say.....

There is a VERY STRONG Contemporary Art bias

Hence they EXCLUDE:

• any of the long running and very respectable art galleries (eg Cork Street and associated area) which a lot of artists would give their eye teeth to get into
• anything to do with art societies - which is sad, because it basically indicates that anything associated with an art society is of no interest. Which is very far from the truth.

As such I'll tell you which I think are the best!

Plus all the ones I have never visited

They are listed in a very odd order - so I have reordered into my particular order of preference

The Sainsbury Wing is now effectively the main entrance to the National Gallery
- and all temporary exhibitions

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.

Review: UKCPS Silver Anniversary Annual Open Exhibition 2026

After 25 years, the UKCPS is celebrating its Silver Anniversary with its first exhibition at the Mall Galleries.

It's always been an ambition of the UK Coloured Pencil Society (UKCPS) to hold its Open Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries. Making it to its 25th Birthday seemed like an opportune time to spend some money and celebrate in style.

UKCPS Annual Open Exhibition
Part of the Hang in the West Gallery

For those UKCPS people not familiar with me or my blog (although I gathered from the PV on Tuesday night that a lot were), I am 

• a coloured pencil addict and a past signature member of UKCPS. I've written about its exhibitions a lot over the years (see the list of blog posts at the end which also give an insight into artwork in past exhibitions)
• somebody who reviews ALL the national art societies which exhibit at the Mall Galleries - and has done so for nearly 20 years. So I've got a very good basis for saying how this exhibition compares with the norm at the Mall Galleries.

History of the UKCPS Society

The Society was founded in 2001 by Bob Ebdon and Pat Heffer.

The UK Colour Pencil Society (UKCPS) was founded in 2001 by Bob Ebdon, spurred by a letter in A&I magazine from Pat Heffer (who became a founder member, enthusiastic supporter and finally President). A few people sharing their interest of colour pencil art, who had never met except via the Internet, started the Society and it was launched at Patchings Art Centre in Nottinghamshire. The Society has grown over the years: the second issue of the quarterly magazine (September 2001) reported they had just reached the 100 member mark, and now there are just over 750 members.

I was also a coloured pencil fan and found them online a little later and subsequently became a member and exhibited with them between 2007-2010. After that I gradually withdrew as a member from all national art societies I belonged to so as to be able to do better reviews of their exhibitions!

The society is different in some ways from other national art societies.

• anybody can become a member
• recognition of expertise and contribution is made through
• becoming a Signature Member (which I became in 2009 - see my blog post Signature membership)
• progressing to Silver Signature status (pictures accepted into 5 exhibitions within 10 years) and Gold status (pictures accepted into 10 exhibitions within 15 years.)
• it holds three exhibitions each year
• an open exhibition for all artists using coloured pencils - which is competitive
• an online exhibition for all members
• members only exhibition held at the Derwent Pencil Museum, Keswick. (This year it will be 31st August to 30th October 2026)

In June 2018 it was granted charitable status - with an objective of:

• promoting the art of drawing for the public benefit through the use of colour pencils
• holding a public exhibition at least once a year to showcase work and provide tuition
• help educate the public how to use colour pencils

The definition of a coloured pencil for the purposes of the exhibition is 

"wood-cased, wax- or oil-based colour pencil"

i.e. pastel pencils are excluded.

The 25th Annual Exhibition of the UK Coloured Pencil Society

Venue: Mall Galleries - West and North Galleries
Dates: Open from Tuesday 17 March 2026 - Saturday 21 March 2026,
Hours: 10am to 5pm

Workshops: click for more information

How the work was judged

• One member and two independent artists selected the artwork for the open exhibition.
• Another artist judges the selected artwork for awards. This year it was Curtis Holder - a leading exponent of coloured pencil artwork.

You can see all the artwork in the exhibition in two ways:

• In the albums of my pics that I've uploaded to Facebook - just click the link in the listing below. BTW, if I like a work I tend to take a photo of it on its own.
• UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2026 - West Gallery
• UKCPS Annual Exhibition 2026 - North Gallery
• Via the UKCPS website where all images of all the artwork are now uploaded

BEST PICTURE IN SHOW

Where ­Time ­Rests by Pauline Stuart

(which I had spotted as a "go back and look again" pic!)

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

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. 

Review: The 127th Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society

The 127th Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society starts another year of annual exhibitions by the leading national art societies who are members of the Federation of British Artists - and hold all their annual exhibitions at the Mall Galleries. It's on until 7th February 2026.

For those who don't know, I'm an avid fan of pastels and pastel artwork and used to also produce pastels and exhibited at the Pastel Society in the 90s.

Facts about the exhibition - and how to see it

This is an OPEN exhibition and is not limited to work by members and it contains 377 artworks in.....

All types of pastel including: soft pastel, hard pastel, oil pastel, ink pastel, water-based pastel, conté crayons or sticks, sanguine, and other dry mediums that are similar in their application including charcoal, chalk, and pencil.

You can see the exhibition at the Mall Galleries until 7th February 2026.

• Open every day (10am-5pm)
• Admission £7, Free for Friends of Mall Galleries and under 25s. Concessions available. No booking required.

You can also see the artwork as follows

• on the Pastel Society website
• all the individual artworks online - on the buyart@ the Mall Galleries website
• you can view some of the artwork online in the online catalogue. The paper catalogue is available from the Gallery
• view all the artwork - on the walls - in my Facebook Albums
• East Gallery
• North Gallery
• West Gallery - to be uploaded
• The artwork I liked typically gets a photo of just that work.... unless there's another reason for photographing it on its own.

Cover of The Pastel Society Catalogue for the 127th Annual Exhibition

A week ago I attended the Private View - and that's when my problems started - and why this review has taken so long to write. 

A very popular Private View

It was very crowded and I was unable to sit down. I'd noticed a slight problem with my feet before I went - but standing up for two hours and not moving much really lacerated them. I had problems walking home, even more when I removed my shoes and I couldn't really walk very much for the next 2-3 days. Needless to say - but I will - with my mobility issues, I do not mess about when my feet scream very loudly at me!

I managed to photograph the artwork in the East and North Galleries at the beginning of the PV. So I returned on Sunday intending to do the West Gallery - but ended up talking (and sitting) for a long time with both the President and the Vice President - which was really interesting!

So I then went back AGAIN yesterday - and this time 

• I saw the exhibition properly i.e. not so full of people that you can't see the art as happened at the PV, 
• photographed the West Gallery - to be uploaded very soon
• started making my notes about the exhibition - for this review - in the new Apple Journal.

So this is my review....

The 127th Annual Exhibition of The Pastel Society

This post provides you with:

• events - and when they're on
• prizes - who won what
• what's different about the 2025 exhibition
• what I liked and....
• ....what I think can be improved

Events - and when they're on

I wrote a post about the Events Programme  last week, after I realised I couldn't walk and wouldn't be visiting the exhibition again last week!

• See Pastel Society Events Programme

Prizes - who won what

The Prizewinners with their Certificates

This page provides info about the prizewinners.

Winner of The Pastel Society Prize
Sunrise behind Tower Bridge by Benjamin Hope PS NEAC ROI RP RSMA

The top cash prizewinners were

• Caran d'Ache Prize (£1,000 for the best work in the exhibition as selected by Caran d'Ache) 
• Winner: Sheila Goodman PS, Autumn Glory
• Pastel Society Prize - £1,000 for the best work by a member, selected by the Pastel Society Council.
• Winner: Benjamin Hope NEAC PS ROI RP RSMA, Sunrise behind Tower Bridge
• The Yoshimoto Prize £1,000 for an outstanding work in any dry medium by a non-member.
• Winner: Sarah Manolescue ROI, Flowers in the Window

The one I liked the best was Benjamin Hope's artwork - not least because he seems to have done it on a new kind of wafer thin support. As he's also an oil painter, I'm guessing it is aluminium with some sort of abrasive material mixed in with the gesso.

Last Call for Entries for Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours Annual Exhibition 2026

You have 4 DAYS LEFT to submit an entry to the OPEN Annual Exhibition 2026 of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours.

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

• Information about how to enter starts on the Mall Galleries website
• Submission is via the OESS website
• There is a single-stage virtual judging process for ALL submitted works.
• Selected works should be delivered to Mall Galleries, London, for inclusion in the exhibition by Saturday 16th March (10am-5pm)
• The Annual Exhibition opens on 25 March and closes on 11 April 2026

Who can enter

Call for Entries: The RA Summer Exhibition 2026

This is for all artists interested in submitting their art to this year's Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts.

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.

I think it is a very worthy cause, insofar as receipts help fund the free art education provided to students at the RA Schools.

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. 

Marks of Reflection" Exhibition by the PAOTY 2025 Semi Finalists

Yesterday evening, I attended the Private View of  at the excellent "Marks of Reflection" Exhibition by the PAOTY 2025 Semi Finalists - all organised and paid for by the artists.

Semi Finalists at the Private View

(L toR) Edie Baund - who loves orange and had some excellent advice from old friend Duncan Shoosmith (paint lots of portraits in 3 hours!)

Paulina Kwietiewsska - who paints a lot of children on commission;

Katie Jones - who had a nasty accident and broke her leg straight after the Final

Courtenay Bae - whose painting is behind

and Chloe Barnes - who won!

The exhibition is a combination of some (but not all) the artwork submitted or produced in the show. Plus additional artworks by individual artists.

You can find the photographs I took of the exhibition on my Making A Mark Facebook Page in this photo album Marks of Reflection (PAOTY 2025 semi finalists)

My pics 

• start with the winner 
• then some gallery views, 
• plus collections of pics by semi finalists finishing with the Finalists and the rest of Chloe's art and two past PAOTY winners! 

Well worth a view and you're guaranteed to meet at least one of the artists.

You can read the Cass Arts Interview with each of the semi-finalists here

Exhibition details:

• Artists include: Chloe Barnes, Courtney Bae, Edie Bound, Katie Jones, Lauren Ross, Paulina Kwietniewska, Uthman Wahaab.
• Dates: The exhibition is on until Sunday 21st December (11am - 6pm) 
• Venue: 67 Great Titchfield Street, London W1W 7PT - which is a hop skip and jump due east of the BBC HQ and a few minutes walk north from Oxford Circus tube.
• Entry: Free

It is by the way a very nice "white box" gallery on two floors with excellent lighting. I'd certainly recommend any small group looking for a space for an exhibition to give it a visit.

Call for Entries: UKCPS 25th Annual Exhibition 2026 - at the Mall Galleries.

Next year will be the 25th Annual Exhibition of the United Kingdom Coloured Pencil Society - which will be held at the Mall Galleries in March 2026.

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 art competitions - used by artists who win major art prizes eg Curtis Holder who won the Portrait Artist of the Year using coloured pencils (see Curtis Holder wins Portrait Artist of the Year (Series 7 Autumn 2020) and PAOTY Commission: Curtis Holder draws Carlos Acosta
• 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.

There is a PDF explaining the Call for Entries and how to enter for this exhibition

This is the webpage which does the same thing.

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

What you can enter