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

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition 2026

This is about the call for entries for the annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters - and why it's a good idea to enter if you an aspiring portrait artist.  It covers:

• reasons to enter
• who can enter
• what you can enter
• how to enter
• the timeline of important dates

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 an extremely well used commission service for portraits
• 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)
• The Selection Committee is rotated annually. 
• There are no administrators, sponsors, gallerists, art critics, television personalities or other such éminence grise who get a say on what gets hung.
• 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)
• An expert Commissions Consultant service runs throughout the show. Exhibiting artists are invited to
• display additional material
• 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.

Your chances of getting selected

PAOTY 2025: Commission Painting of Hannah Fry

This is about "The Winner's Story - Painting Hannah Fry" and the very last episode of Series 12 of Portrait Artist of the Year (2025)

I include this here, because of course this is not painting so much as printmaking. I guess that the good people at Storyvault Films forget that artists and painters are not interchangeable words - and one is a subset of the other.

Either that or they made up this graphic in advance of the series on the basis you might as well get all the titles done at the same time.....

Title frame for the Winner's Story - Episode 11 of Series 12 of PAOTY (2025)

That illustrates how much a PAINTER is expected to be the winner. 

Yet this year Chloe Barnes, who is a mono printmaker, won and hence this winner's story is about the process of moving from winning to getting the commission to create a portrait of Professor Hannah Fry for the Royal Society started, worked on, done and then unveiled - as a MONOPRINT.

The portrait was commissioned by the Royal Society as part of a year-long celebration of the 80th anniversary of the first women elected to its Fellowship, Kathleen Lonsdale FRS and Marjory Stephenson FRS.

The Sitter and the Unveiling

We'll start at the very beginning and then the end - with the Sitter and the Unveiling

Every year the last episode in each series of the "Portrait Artist of the Year" programmes, made by Storyvault Films and broadcast on Sky Arts, is about the £10,000 Commission awarded to the winning artist.

The Commission

Every year, the winner of the Portrait Artist of the Year Award receives a £10,000 commission to 

• create a portrait of a specific individual - who is typically well known and has contributed in a significant way to public life.
• for a particular organisation - who would like to have a portrait of that individual. 

The Client

So this year the organisation was The Royal Society 

• formally founded in 28 November 1660 and  formally known as The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, 
• It is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. It is also known as

the oldest scientific organisation in continuous existence in the world

In 2025, the Royal Society is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the admission of the first women to the Royal Society Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjory Stephenson in 1945.

The Sitter

The Sitter, Professor Hannah Fry, is the 

• first ever Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. Previously she was the Professor of the Mathematics of Cities at University College London (UCL)
• President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
• a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering
• has received various awards, including latterly the Royal Society's David Attenborough Award and Lecture 2024 in recognition of her significant work in public engagement with science and for her prolific role in popularising mathematics. The medal is bronze, is awarded annually and is accompanied by a gift of £2,500.
• plus she has 1.7 million followers on Instagram @frysquared

Interestingly she is NOT a Fellow of the Royal Society - although I'm assuming that this will probably follow.

In November 2025, she also joined Goalhanger to deliver a brand new podcast The Rest is Science with educator Michael Stevens (Vsauce). This is what's currently all over her Instagram account @frysquared - NOT the portrait!

The Unveiling

First we all wait, 

Left: Royal Society people and programme presenter
Right: Chloe Barnes and Prof. Hannah Fry with her two daughters

Then we all take a jolly good look

Keith Moore, Head of Library at the Royal Society comments on the fact
this is the first print portrait of a living female scientist at the Royal Society

and then, like at all good parties, we get a pic taken with the most important person in the room i.e. the monoprint

Posing for photographs - Hannah Fry and her daughters
with the monoprint by Chloe Barnes

....and then the Royal Society publish a news statement / press release about the new portrait of Professor Hannah Fry. 

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..and then we get to see the portrait

Chloe Barnes wins Portrait Artist of the Year 2025

Yesterday, Portrait Artist of the Year programme revealed that Chloe Barnes won the Final of Series 12 of Portrait Artist of the Year.

Chloe Barnes and her monoprint of Brian Cox in the Final

I'm splitting my comments about PAOTY Series 12 and the two most recent programmes into three separate posts:

• Today - a review about the Final and the final and commission paintings produced for the Final by the artist 
• Sunday 7th December: the Winner's Programme and the Commission
• Monday 8th December: - a review of the PAOTY series and approach taken this year, and a summary of why the Judges , rather than the programme, continue to annoy so very many viewers and whether the competition is really a competition.

Followed sometime soon after with the details of how to enter Series 13 in 2026!

This review covers:

• The Final: Artists, Sitter and Set
• The Portrait Paintings for the Final
• The Judges' Perspective
• The Final Portraits - and my comments
• Why Chloe Barnes won.

The Final

The Artists working in the Final - watched by the audience
(left to right) Lauren, Katie and Chloe

The audience for many of the episodes was largely female and middle aged to older; plus very proud parents and a smattering of young people who seemed to be associated with individual artists. I think this probably reflects the audience for the programme too.

They are VERY well behaved - as you have to be when filming is taking place. I highly recommend those that want to, to apply to watch the heats next year - and you'll learn a lot more about this competition is really like!

The Artists

Katie Jones, Lauren Ross and Chloe Barnes
sat on the steps outside Battersea Arts centre

In order of the heat they appeared in, they are

• Episode 3: Katie Jones (Instagram) - A community arts tutor who lives and works in Somerset and has a studio on the Mendip Hills.
• Episode 4: Chloe Barnes (Instagram) - a printmaker with a first class honours degree in Illustration and an MA (Distinction) in Multi-Disciplinary Printmaking. She works as a Gallery Production and Studio Manager and lives in Peckham in London. 
• Episode 5: Lauren Ross (Instagram) - an art tutor and painter from Edinburgh. 

You can read more about them in The PAOTY 2025 Semi Finalists + their Exhibition!

The Sitter and the Setup

The Sitter was Brian Cox, the 'media mogul' star of "Succession"who is 79, still active and still acting to great acclaim.

There was no repeat of the craziness of last year when, with absolutely no notice, the contestants suddenly found themselves painting two sitters - with an extra half hour for the challenge!

Instead we had a stripped back set and one sitter this year.

• The Set used a comfortable burnt burnt orange armchair. 

"That armchair is doing a lot of work" Kathleen Soriano

• The cloth hanging at the back was Jute which is very much associated with Brian's home town of Dundee and his ancestors where it has been produced for very many years
• The jute and the armchair, both combined to create a very warm set.

The one benefit for the artists is that were rather nearer the sitter in the Final than they were during the semi final.

The Start: The sitter - Brian Cox - and the setup for the three artists
and how close the cameras are over every artist's shoulder

Review: Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition 2025

There's a new look to the Annual Exhibition of the ROI  - which is an annual exhibition that features a variety of oil paintings by both established and emerging artists, the majority of whom are members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters.

The theme of this year's ROI Exhibition is "Home"

I visited last Wednesday for the PV and Awards Ceremony and then again on Saturday afternoon to finish my photographs and it gradually dawned on me that it felt and looked different - and then slowly I realised why that might be.

The Demographic Change

It took a while to work it out - and then I realised, almost all the "old guard" who I've been seeing in the Annual Exhibitions for the last 20 years have almost all gone. 

Of those still alive, relatively few are still painting and exhibiting. 

It feels like the overall demographic of ROI members has really changed - so there are now many more younger artists and many more female artists.

• Older members have been replaced 
• by much younger artists who have done their bit as open artists and 
• who have now progressed to becoming members and 
• in turn, some of them are now officers of the ROI in their middle age. 

I'm now older than most of the people running the show - which feels very different for me too!

I remember well walking around the ROI annual exhibition in 2010 with Adebanji Alade PROI while we discussed how we could make even more of an impression than he was already and become a member!

Last Wednesday, I saw him deliver the most electrifying tub thumping awards ceremony I've seen in years - as President of the ROI. It feels like maybe the engine room has had an overhaul and there's a new drive to reinforce and develop the ROI. 

While on the wall next to the cafe, very sadly, there's a record of a number of the stalwart member exhibitors of the past who have died in the last year. The last year we lost so many in one year was 2022. These included:

• Fred Beckett FROI (1933-2025) who was an ex President of the ROI and the Wapping Group; 
• John McCombs ROI (1943-2025) who never grew tired of painting the Pennine village of Delph and 
• Brian Ryder (1944-2025) -  whose landscapes I always looked forward to seeing and who never ever had a painting rejected by the ROI.  I found these "bon mots" on his website - which I'm sure some of you will value

1. Art is not what we see but what you can make others see.
2. Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things.
3. A painting requires a little mystery, some vagueness, and some fantasy. When you always make your meaning plain you end up boring people.
4. Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.”

So it felt a bit like you do on New Year's Eve - it's goodbye to the old guard and hello to all the new much younger painters hoping to become members as well as those who have been around a few years and are now running the show!

Interestingly most of those new artists are ones I first came across online. 

 It was good to see that Greg Mason has now become a member and taken over the role of looking after the website and social media  (PS You may remember Greg from Landscape Artist of the Year - when he abandoned the chosen view and still made it to the Final! (His blog post / My Blog post. For the unitiated, I have a memory like an elephant and an archive which services it well!!)

This is his video tour of the exhibition