Pastel Society Events Programme

I don't normally do a post about the events programme for a national art society exhibition. However this is the BIGGEST events programme from the Pastel Society that I've ever seen - and so.....

The Annual Exhibition 2026 of The Pastel Society opened today at the Mall Galleries and continues until 7th February

The Pastel Society Studio is in the East Gallery at the Mall Galleries

There is an Events Programme 

• all events are FREE with admission and no booking is required.
• Unless otherwise stated, the events will take place in The Studio (East Gallery)

Here's your options - with dates and who is doing what.  Note there are lots of opportunities to try out different media and work on your own to see whether or you like dry media.

To see more of the artwork by the person giving the demonstration/talk/whatever click the link in their name (only applied to the first listing).

Events Programme | Pastel Society Annual Exhibition 2026

Simon Hodges & Richard Rees

Thursday 22 January, 11am and 2pm

• 11am Simon Hodges PS; Use it or lose it A short illustrated talk and Q&A about Vice President Simon's thoughts on the creative process.
• 2pm Richard Rees PPS will take you through the amazing qualities of Caran d’Ache pastel varieties and show you how they can open up a world of creativity.

Curtis Holder

Friday 23 January, 11am and 2pm

• 11am Curtis Holder PS SGFA CBPP Demonstration Curtis will talk and draw through a pencil portrait in his own unique way. A seated model may be requested from the audience.
• 2pm Curtis Holder; Demonstration Curtis will talk and draw through a pencil portrait in his own unique way. A seated model may be requested from the audience.

Simon Hodges

Saturday 24 January, 11am and 2pm

• 11am Simon Hodges; Pastel & the painting process A short illustrated talk, demonstration and Q&A about his thoughts on the painting process using pastel.
• 2pm Enjoy uninterrupted time to use pastels and dry media in the studio. A Pastel Society member will be on hand to informally demonstrate, give advice and answer questions.

BRAND NEW FORMAT for Landscape Artist of the Year Series 12 (2027) announced!

I can hardly believe it. Landscape Artist of the Year is having a RADICAL change of format for Series 12

• which will be recorded summer this year 
• for broadcast in early 2027.

The Public Announcement - see below

Just over a week ago, I wrote a post titled How Pottery Throwdown is a better programme than Artist of the Year

At the weekend I highlighted in my first review of the new series (Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026) - Derwent Water) how absolutely ridiculous it is to be deciding who is the best artist for a commission - when all the artists are being asked to paint very different locations - some of which bear no relation whatsoever to the commission!

Back In December, I had the opportunity to chat to a member of the production team - and said what I don't write on this blog.

Yesterday I was told via email that LAOTY is changing its format - but the announcement was not yet public

This morning we have the formal public announcement 

on https://skyartsartistoftheyear.tv/landscape-artist-of-the-year/ of the change I was told about yesterday.  See belo

We have some exciting news. Landscape Artist of the Year is introducing a brand-new format.

For the next series, we’ll select ten artists to take on landscape challenges across the country, returning week after week to create work in new locations. Each episode will see one artist eliminated, giving those who progress the chance to create multiple works and develop their practice over time. More locations mean more time in the pods, greater opportunity to refine your approach, and a fuller chance to show the range and consistency of your work. By following the same artists throughout the series, ideas can evolve and the quality of the work can build.

If you’re a confident, adaptable artist who enjoys responding to different places, conditions and moods, and you’d like the chance to create work in the pods more than once, we’d love to hear from you.

As part of the show we will still be inviting artists to join us as Wildcards and paint along with the pods, but we won’t be running the Wildcards as a competition.

In summary:

• 10 artists (rather than the 8 different artists per episode) will be chosen for the whole series
• one leaves each week
• ALL the artists create artworks at ALL the locations
• 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"
• NO Wildcard competition
• If you apply, your work will be reviewed by prominent judges from the art world. 
• If selected for the show, you will receive £500 for each episode you take part in, plus reimbursement for travel, accommodation, and meal expenses. 
• 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 in May before the change).

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.

Filming the heats of Landscape Artist of the Year is planned to take place around the UK in Spring/ Summer 2026

The Benefits for Artists

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

LAOTY: A video all about the Pods!

This is a fabulous new (Instagram) video about the PODS from the Landscape Artist of the Year team at Storyvault Films (who make the programme) - highlighting:

• the Production Designer Bruce French - who is responsible for the design of the pods and how they work
• the Pods and how they work

This post also takes a look at:

• some of the places the pods have been - across the UK and Ireland
• what a production designer is
• who is Bruce French?

The Pods Video

It's a fabulous short video giving your a very nearly complete insight into what they have to do and how they work (obviously somethings are "secret").

View this post on Instagram

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

 

 The Pods in Action - in the UK and Ireland

The Pods at Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire

See SERIES 4: Episode 1 

• Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year (Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire) 

The Pods at Felixstowe Docks

See Series 4: Semi Final

• Review: Semi-Finals of Landscape Artist of the Year 2018 - Felixstowe Docks

Review: Episode 1 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026) - Derwent Water

This is the first of my (very long) reviews of the eleventh series of Landscape Artist of the Year in 2026. I've watched and reviewed every series of Landscape Artist of the Year since 2018. 

This review follows the same format of my other reviews and considers.

• the location and weather
• the artists' profiles
• themes arising during the episode
• who was shortlisted and who won

However I do have a couple of important preambles and information about the commission before we start.

If you want to make sure you get every review of every episode in this series, might I suggest you review my page about how to subscribe - absolutely for free.

Preamble - about the "Landscape Artist of the Year" programme

The episodes are broadcast at 8pm every Wednesday evening on Sky Arts (on Freeview Channel 36 and Sky and Now TV).

• The Series has 9 episodes - at 9 different locations in total (6 Heats + semi-final + Final + Commission)
• Six Heats are held at each of the six locations which were filmed last summer in the 
• Lake District (Derwent Water and one other location)
• London (St James Park and The Thames from HMS Wellington, London)
• Dover (Dover Castle, Kent and Dover Ferry Point, Kent)
• as has happened in the past there are urban structures than landscapes.
• 48 artists are selected from "c.2,000 applications" (they always say this and I'm not sure I believe them).
• Each selected artist arrives with their submission landscape (which I will keep coming back to repeatedly regarding its importance)
• Eight of these artists compete in each heat on location in a pod 
• Each artist has 4 hours to paint the location landscape the artists are given - from the pod they are assigned (unless you rebel as some have done in the past - and turn round / wander off / etc!)
• 50 wildcard artists also attend each heat - although we see very little of them
• Three pod artists are shortlisted and their submission artwork and heat painting are considered together
• The Judges have changed since the last series - see below
• the winner of each heat moves forward to the semi-finals
• The Semi Final and Final look as if they will be at two very big structures
• The Ouse Valley Viaduct, West Sussex
• Falkirk Wheel, Scotland
• In the Semi-Final all the heat winners and one or more wildcard winners will compete for the three places in the final
• The three Finalists produce two paintings - a commission (prior to the final) and a painting in the Final - in 4 hours. 
• One artist is chosen as Landscape Artist of the Year
• The Winner receives a £10,000 commission to produce a landscape artwork for a nationally important museum or art gallery 

The Series 11 Commission

The £10,000 Commission Prize for 2026 is to create a landscape of Ireland's Holy Mountain, the pyramid shaped Croagh Patrick - an important pilgrimage site in County Mayo, in Ireland.

Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland - the subject of the commission

Croagh Patrick, nicknamed 'the Reek', is a mountain with a height of 764 m and an important site of pilgrimage in County Mayo, Ireland. The mountain has a pyramid-shaped peak and overlooks Clew Bay, rising above the village of Murrisk, several kilometres from Westport. It has long been seen as a holy mountain.

The painting commissioned (by Sky Arts) will be on view in The National Gallery in Dublin after the series finishes being broadcast in Spring 2026.

What we need to know about the Commission

THE VERY BIG QUESTION FOR ME

Do the Judges KNOW what the commission subject is going to be when the heats start and they start selecting "the best artist"? 

• I would have thought you would have to - in order to be able to make sensible decisions for the "client commission". Note that I'm working on a "horses for courses" principle here. (i.e. you're probably NOT going to choose a portrait artist for a major landscape commission. However within landscapes, people also have preferences - expressed by their output eg urban vs rural; structures vs land) 
• Surely - in principle - EVERY finalist ought to be somebody who could do a very good job of the commission?
• However, a recent conversation I had suggested that might NOT be the case.....

I think this is something that needs to be spelt out.... 

Maybe in this next series being filmed this summer...???

Surely the whole scope (the locations) and intent (who are the best artists?) of the ENTIRE LAOTY Series should be focused on who is the best artist to deliver the Commission?

You would think so wouldn't you.....?

Preamble - about my reviews