I spotted an amazing reel on Miriam Escofet's Instagram account about the opening of Beyond Realism: Figurative Art in Spain and China I highly recommend you watch it for: the wonderful paintings - she has done an absolutely marvellous video of the exhibition! the amazing gallery in the Royal Palace in Madrid in which it's being exhibited the music which just transports you to Spain! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Miriam Escofet RP (@miriam.escofet.artist) About "Beyond Realism: Figurative Art in Spain and China"   The above includes an image of the painting by ..read more

Yesterday was World Art Day and I forgot! Today I'm posting one of the best of what was posted yesterday. Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain Starting with the Prado Museum in Madrid - where they are promoting a Virtual Tour of the Museum for World Art Day. Make sure the language selected is English to get it in English below the image.  ACCESS THE VISIT HERE This is the image which explains how to use the commands during the InteractiveTour The introduction to the Tour has Spanish labelling throughout the video - but if you scroll down this page you can see what's on offer This includes Te ..read more

The Holbein at the Tudor Court Exhibition at the King's Gallery closes today. I'd spent forever making up my mind about when to go - but not booking - and then realising I need to get a move on. Which is how come I saw it yesterday. You can see some of my pics from it on my Facebook Page To be absolutely honest, I enjoyed the "Holbein in England" exhibition at Tate Britain in 2007 much more and it remains a vivid memory for me. (see Holbein in England - and at Tate Britain). Mainly because it which contained more portraits by Holebin including my favourite Holbein portrait "A lady wi ..read more

This is a summary of my thoughts about the Derwent Art Prize Exhibition at gallery@OXO. This is in addition to: my review of the prizewinners - see Derwent Art Prize Exhibition 2024 - Prizewinners my Making A Mark Facebook Page Album of views of the exhibition - The Derwent Art Prize 2024 The aim of the Derwent Art Prize Exhibition is to  reward excellence by showcasing the very best artworks made in pencil by artists from around the world. showcase c.80 artworks in an exhibition. The Prize invites artists to submit the very best 2D and 3D artworks created in any pencil, including co ..read more

Yesterday, I visited The Derwent Art Prize 2024 Exhibition at gallery@oxo in London and this post is a review of the exhibition and the competition. the Derwent Art Prize is now very much an international prize and one seen as prestigious to the careers of young up and coming illustrators. (from my review of the 2020 Exhibition) This is my first post about the Derwent Art Prize - focusing on the prizewinners.  My second will come shortly and will focus on the exhibition.  I'll also be uploading my photos of the exhibition to a folder on my Facebook Page The Derwent Art Prize - the ..read more

The longlist of the Jackson's Art Prize has been revealed and the shortlist will be announced on the shortlist on Friday 12th April 2024. An amazing 15,345 submissions were entered this year, and the judging committees faced the daunting task of selecting just 426 entries to go through to the longlist.  (Two notes: Might I be so bold as to ask why National Art Societies are not attracting this level of entry for their actual exhibitions of art - with decent prizes? Anybody noticed they've changed the title of the prize from Jackson's Painting Prize to Jackson's Art Prize?) The Peopl ..read more

This is about Miranda Brookes who, for me, was the standout new discovery (to me) at the RI's annual exhibition - currently on at the Mall Galleries. She is a proper watercolour painter doing realistic landscapes which exploit the potential of watercolour AND does not 'shorthand' the trees. It's very rare for a new artist, submitting via the Open Entries, to get more than one or two artworks per artist accepted - unless they're being considered as a Candidate for Membership. I think this is her first RI Exhibition. (There's none prior listed on her website - and besides which I'd hav ..read more

Last week I reshared a post on Facebook (see below) which highlighted how many images are now created using "artificial intelligence" aka AI.  It occurred to me that ALL those organising open exhibitions and/or art competitions MUST now to factor the proliferation of AI into  the calls for entries the rules and regulations the submission process the vetting process the judging process plus briefings on legal decisions for all those in charge It simply will NOT be acceptable for all entries to be judged on digital images - only to find that a selected entry is a digital print w ..read more

This post is all about the new £10,000 Cass Arts Prize - which has decent prizes and decent Judges.  The deadline for entries is Noon on 20th May 224 After a LOT of art competitions have "died a death" in recent years, it's a very great pleasure to be able to announce a new one! Especially with a backer as reputable as Cass Arts - who have a long tradition of supporting artists. Below you can find a summary of the facts.  This means it does not include everything - and you MUST READ the following: Frequently Asked Questions - which are very well written! (It makes a chan ..read more

This is VERY LONG! It's about looking how Landscape Artist of the Year (LAOTY) might change to provide  a much more satisfactory experience for all the artists who participate in it and  deliver a much better programme to all those who watch it  I think there's some considerable potential for change. So do rather a lot of other people who I've been discussing this with. They typically fall into two camps those who would participate - BUT for the formulaic way it works at the moment where artists are constrained from the outset by the pods those who create art and like ..read more