20 years of Making A Mark

Making A Mark has now been published for 20 years. 

I meant to highlight the big birthday at the beginning of January - and then forgot!  I think I'm one of a very few art bloggers left from the art blogging explosion of c.20 years ago. (I must do a blog post about who's left!)

I was three months into early retirement in January 2006 when I started this blog as a way of recording what I was trying to do in terms of getting back to my art after a fairly intensive career in government and management consultancy which hadn't left a lot of time for anything else. (If you want to know more about me, try this page!)

I trialled it in December and then went public at the beginning of January.

What it turned into over time was a platform with a very strong emphasis on trying to help other artists with their own art and an educational slant. 

If you are a regular reader I hope you've had some benefit.

Incidentally, there's been a few side effects 

• I now know an absolutely phenomenal number of artists from across the UK - and across the world.  As you can see from the stats below I have a very global following. 
• Some I only know online. Many I have actually met. Unfortunately, I've got to that age where I know the face if I've met you before but the name only comes along about two minutes later! 
• One of the very weird side effects of all this is that complete strangers now come up to me in the middle of central London and say "You're Making A Mark!!". The first time it happened I was crossing Trafalgar Square!

What follows are 

• some edited highlights about how the blog progressed in the last 20 years - and
• what Google AI has to say about it. (That was really interesting!)
• I also added in some PICS and links to the latter so you can get a flavour of what the archives hold

Plus here are some stats:

• there are now 4,720 published blog posts!  That's an average of 236 blog posts a year or an average of 0.65 blog posts a day for the whole 20 years!
• nearly 27 MILLION pageviews - which averages out at more than a 1 million pageviews a year
• over 6.5 MILLION visitors - a lot of you kept coming back for some reason!
• Plus this blog has been no 1 on Google for the words "Making A Mark" for very many years

Making A Mark Statistics as at 31st January 2026

 

2006-2011

The first 5 years were spent 

• writing a blog post every single day - I kid you not. Check out the numbers on the months on the blog archive in the right hand columns
• doing major projects each year - and then blogging about them
• starting and then developing "Who's made a mark this week?" which highlighted the activities of other artists which generated a lot of engagement and followers - but fell by the wayside when others switched to instagram and stopped long form blogging
• writing about major exhibitions and art competitions n London. I'd worked out how to get into the press views because my blog was doing so well

By January 2011 I wrote Making A Mark achieves #2 in Top Ten Blogs of 2010!

This is what Google AI had to say about 2010

Based on the archives of the Making A Mark blog, the most significant and engaging content in 2010 revolved around the annual art blog awards and in-depth reviews of art books, particularly regarding colored pencils and watercolours. 

• Top 10 Art Books Series (2010): Katherine Tyrrell's specialized posts, such as "Top Ten Art Books in October," were major, highly interactive, and resource-heavy posts for the blog.
• Making A Mark Awards 2010: A major, popular series at the end of the year included the nomination and voting posts, such as "Nominate the Best Art (Place/Landscape) on a Blog in 2010" and "Best Picture of 2010 on an Art Blog".
• Art Competition Coverage: Throughout 2010, posts analyzing major competitions, such as the BP Portrait Award 2010 (noting a record number of entries), were highly read; specifically "BP Portrait Award 2010 - Shortlist announced," was also a significant, high-traffic topic in April 2010
• In 2010, the Making A Mark blog was recognized for its high-quality, research-based content, achieving the #2 spot in top ten art blogs.

This is the link to my Best Books label - for those who like reading about art books. 

Making A Mark Awards 2010: Here's what happened at the end of the Year

• Best Picture of 2010 on an Art Blog
• The Making A Mark Awards (Part 4 - The Home Front)
• The Making A Mark Awards 2010 (Part 3 - Generating Art)
• The Making A Mark Awards 2010 (Part 2 - Learning about Art and the Art Business)
• The Making A Mark Awards 2010 (Part 1 - Getting Out of the Studio)

2011-2015

Goodbye - ALL THREE Artist of the Year Judges

So it's not just Bye Bye to Kate Bryan. Kathleen Soriano and Tai Shan Shierenberg will also NOT be the Judges for the next Series of Portrait Artist of the Year.

Which makes me wonder whether Kathleen and Tai are also not filming Landscape Artist of the Year later this year too. (There's no statement on either of their Instagram accounts)

So, first the announcement and then a recap of where we are at.....

There have been a LOT of changes.....

The Announcement

This was the announcement on Instagram - which dropped late yesterday afternoon

View this post on Instagram

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

The text says

After 12 brilliant series of Portrait Artist of the Year, we say Goodbye to our wonderful Judges, Kathleen Kate and Tai. Thank you so much for your expertise and insight. For championing creativity, supporting artists and bringing such wisdom and art to the show. You'll be hugely missed.

More Portrait Artist of the Year Announcements to follow.

I would add that almost every artist I've talked to who has been on the show (and that's a lot of people) have been very complimentary about the production team and the judges.

The Changes

I think first of all, we need to remember that Stuart Prebble (1951-2025), the man who invented Portrait Artist of the Year (and LAOTY) and who had a very illustrious television career before reinventing himself as a producer and starting Storyvault Films with some friends, died in August 2025.

One of the things I think - and I emphasise "think" - is happening is that there has been a change at the helm and they want a new crew.

That's just my hypothesis.

But it's not unusual in these circumstances.

12 years with more or less the same format and people means 

• a series can begin to look "tired" and in need of a bit of a "pick me up" 
• and/or starts to lose viewers 
• and/or applicants
• which prompts the identification of a need for an overhaul. 

What's currently being proposed is that the PAOTY series remains the same - with 72 artists participating across the 8 heats, while LAOTY changes to 10 artists across the whole series- and the terms and conditions have been changed along with the deadline for entries.

(This last paragraph has been updated since original publication)

Why have a Refresh?

Review: Episode 3 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026) - Dover Ferry Port

This is my review of Episode 3 of Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year (2026) aka known as LAOTY

• At the bottom of this post you find links to previous episodes in Series 11.
• Plus you can find all my reviews of previous LAOTY Series from Series 4 (2018) onwards which ALL have lots of tips on my Art on Television page.

Episode 3: Dover Ferry Port

Tai commented towards the end of the episode

It became an interesting exercise to see how an artist who is not used this kind of landscape would adapt.

Location and Weather

Artists enjoyed another good day, but maybe rather more breezy and with lots of sea air this week. The pods were perched right at the top of the white cliffs of Dover - overlooking Dover Ferry Port - with the wildcard artists further down the cliff - right next to the edge.....

Pods above Dover Ferry Port
The little dots to their right are the wildcards further down the slope

Given the commission is a mountain, I'm left wondering whether the original idea was to be down at sea level - maybe in the harbour somewhere - painting the white cliffs of Dover. 

But that message got garbled somehow......??

Apparently though a main aim of the programme is to explore the stories and heritage behind some of the most recognisable locations in the UK. 

There was me thinking that was an "add on" not the reason behind the programme!

The episode sees artists capturing the iconic landscape of the Port of Dover, one of the UK’s most historic and strategically important gateways. The programme celebrates landscape painting while exploring the stories and heritage behind some of Britain’s most recognisable locations.

Incidentally, the port of Dover sees 2 MILLION trucks go therough annually through what is the main connection between the UK and Europe.

The Artists in the Pods

Episode 2 pod artists are listed BELOW in the alphabetical order of their surnames.

• Including a synopsis of their background
• Links to their websites (if they have one) are embedded in their names.
• Social media platforms are also referenced - but typically only one

Before you yelp and screech about who gets shortlisted, I recommend you take a VERY CLOSE LOOK at the profiles below - because 

• I provide a lot more info than the programme does and 
• I know the credentials which make a Judge sit up and pay attention.
• Maybe it's not just down to the paintings...??

the artists after they finished painting

The artists are

• Charmaine Alexander (Instagram) - an artist and retired photographer from Epping Forest. She aims to create expressive landscapes using distinctive mark-making and patterns. She uses strong, defining lines. These “mass lines” are used to connect areas of visual mass, such as clouds, shadows, and reflections; directing the viewers gaze through the composition reinforcing elements such as motion, or silence.Her work has been exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and also at her recent solo exhibition “On The Edge” in Hertfordshire.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Charmaine Alexander (@charmainealexander24)

• Prasad Beaven (Instagram) - Prasad Beaven is a visual artist whose practice explores inner and outer landscapes through spiritual and intuitive processes. A graduate of the Kings’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts (MA, 2021) and the University of Brighton (BA Illustration, 2017), he has recently been elected as a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour. He has exhibited internationally, including a solo presentation at the Saatchi Gallery and he is the recipient of the Ciclitira Prize (2021), presented by HRH King Charles III. He works primarily in water-based media, combining ink marbling with drawing and painting. His artwork develops through a slow, meditative process of layering light washes of ink and allowing the image to take shape gradually. He spent six years of his childhood in northern India, in the foothills of the Himalayas which informs his meditative approach to art. 
• He has taught a number of watercolour landscape courses  at The King's Foundation School of Traditional Arts in Shoreditch. eg last November he taught a "Landscape Painting in Watercolour: Turner, Cotman, Seago and Beyond" course. 
• Next month he's also teaching a course on Ink Landscapes: Discovering Form Through Chance (16 – 20 February 2026). 
• Alison Clarke (Instagram) - A semi-abstract landscape painter based in Wimbledon. She comes from an artistic background, all her life she has been involved in various forms of art expression. She moved to Canterbury to study Fine Art and then spent many years working in photography. She returned to painting in 2019 and likes painting in large gestural strokes and also painting skies. She has had paintings shortlisted for shortlisted for both the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the Royal West of England Academy Autumn Exhibition. She has a page on her website about her experience LAOTY. 

"painting outside in the sunshine sounds like a holiday to me!"

• Chris Odgers (Instagram) - a UK based artist and an urban designer with over 20 years of experience in master planning, regeneration and design strategies. He has exhibited with the Royal Society of Marine Artists in 2024 and 2025. His aim is to portray light, weather, and place through bold brushwork and atmospheric colour.
• Pauline Patrick (Instagram) - A Glasgow School of Art graduate with postgraduate and doctoral studies in art. Pauline lives in Pittenweem, a fishing village on the east coast of Fife. She is a contemporary still life and landscape painter, influenced by the Scottish Colourist tradition, whose work balances realism and abstraction and is typically painted in oils on linen. She also exhibits at the Pittenweem Arts Festival and with Scotland Art, a leading contemporary art gallery in the centre of Glasgow.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pauline Patrick Artist (@paulinepatrickfineartist)

• Katie Sims (Instagram) - a nature lover and artist from Taunton in Somerset. She has been collaborating with The Thousand Year Trust (TYT), based at Cabilla Woods on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall and creating artwork to raise awareness of the temperate rain forests in the UK.

I had the most incredible experience taking part. From the nerves to the joy, the creativity and the community — it’s a day I’ll never forget.

• Carmen Tsui (Instagram) - a former banker from Hong Kong who now lives in Hindhead in Surrey.
• Steve Vanstone  (Instagram) - a professional artist, working both plein air and in the studion and based in Stroud in Gloucestershire. 

NOTE: Three artists in this heat do not have a live website.  

Dear Artists - if you want a nice profile from me, I need to be able to find a website which tells me about you! 

The Wildcard Artists

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.

Review: Episode 2 of Landscape Artist of the Year Series 11 (2026) - St James Park

This is my review of Episode 2 of Series 11 of Landscape Artist of the Year 2026.  (LAOTY)

You can see listings for all previous reviews of most of the previous LAOTY series - which ALL have lots of tips on my Art on Television page.

Pods set up on an angle next to the lake in St James Park

Episode 2: St. James's Park, Central London

Location and Weather

The location was St. James's Park in central London - which is the oldest of the Royal Parks. It was created so that King Henry VIII could ride from his palace in Whitehall up to where he hunted in Hyde Park.  This is a video about it by Royal Parks, which enables you to see more of what the people there at the heat could see.

On the map of the park below you can see a red mark. This is where the artists' pods were located at an angle looking west to Buckingham Palace and the Queen Victoria Memorial which are just outside the park at the western end.

Map of St James's Park - in between The Mall and Birdcage Walk
- with Buckingham Palace and The Queen Victoria Memorial at one end
The red patch is where the pods were located next to the lake.

Top down view of the location of the Pods in St James's Park
- and the view they had up the lake to Buckingham Palace
and the Queen Victoria Memorial

Filming was on one of the hottest days of the year in June 2025. There's quite a few pics of artists enjoying lollies and icecream!

I know this park extremely well and was very keen to see what the artists would make of it. 

• I comment later in this post, in "The View", about what I think about the view which was chosen for this heat.
• You'll also see a couple of artworks I've done in the park and about this location in this post - in relation to points being made.

The Artists in the Pods

Episode 2 pod artists are listed BELOW in the alphabetical order of their surnames.

• Including a synopsis of their background
• Links to their websites (if they have one) are embedded in their names.
• Social media platforms are also referenced - but typically only one

The schedule for the day started at 6:45 am at St James’s Park. I live in Oxford, so I stayed at a friend’s house in London and took the earliest Underground of my life to Green Park, carrying my carefully curated backpack for the contest. Painting Under Pressure: My Day on Landscape Artist of the Year by Alice Kwan

Artists relaxing on the grass in the park after painting is finished

The artists are

• Tanya Farrugia (Instagram) - Lives in Solihull and is a semi professional artist who also works as a family support worker.

The whole day was fantastic from start to finish. Thank you to the amazing crew @StoryVaultFilms who were so friendly and attentive, making us feel completely at ease and enjoy an unforgettable experience.

• Nigel Glaze (Instagram) -   Born in Birmingham and now lives in North Wales where he  works as a professional artist and psychotherapist. He earned a BA Hons (1st Class) from his studies at the Falmouth School of Art (1982-85) and an MA Degree in Art Psychotherapy at St Albans School of Art. Exhibits widely across Wales in group and solo shows. He's interested in directing attention to places where people don't often look - as exemplified by his submission.

Painting, in my view, is a human endeavour, a struggle in trying to capture a human experience. The image is an interplay between the visible and a sort of psychological connection whereby a feeling, or an idea is developed.

• Alice Kwan (Instagram) - A part-time self-taught artist who was born in Hong Kong and now based with her husband in Oxford. She has a Diploma in Fashion/Textiles and now works for the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. She has written a blog post about Painting Under Pressure: My Day on Landscape Artist of the Year in which she reveals she was selected without even having watched the show! However she made up for this by making sure she did lots of plein air sketching before the filming day.

Working from observation and from memory, I use loose lines and a muted palette to create atmosphere rather than photographic detail.

• Mike Lumb (Instagram) - Studied fine art at Manchester Polytechnic. He's now a civil servant from County Durham who studied art at Manchester Polytechnic. His submission is a rural road in Teesdale. His Instagram account also indicates very clearly he is very used to painting very rural hilly landscapes, which to my mind would make him a hot contender! He managed to get a couple of articles about his experience in two local papers! 
• Peter Morris (Instagram) - an architect and interior designer from London. Only started painting about a year go. Seems to be a bit of a TV Junkie as he is apparently also doing Grand Designs and wants to do Interior Design Masters. He also uses AI and acrylic paint markers and gel pens.

"It (AI) is a new tool and I find it fascinating"

• Andrew Sanders (Instagram) - Took early retirement from a career in Insurance and is now an amateur painter in acrylics living on the Isle of Wight and is also a member of NAPA. You can see a wide range of his paintings on his Instagram.  He uses vibrant colours to layer and then scratch out in a systematic way to reveal underlying layers.

"realistic colour left the building some time ago"

• Chris Scott - An older artist who works as a part time solicitor from Shrewsbury and paints evenings and weekends but has never ever painted plein air. He has been painting and drawing as a hobby for over 20 years and has learned "how to" via YouTube videos. he likes dark monochomish paintings. (My first thought is he may have cataracts and lost the ability to see colour. I vividly remember what it was like for me). He has never painted outside before. He typically does loose watercolour landscapes, often featuring British countryside but was working in oils for the programme.
• Jess Shrubb (Instagram) - A recent graduate from Northampton. She has a BA in Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art Drawing from Falmouth University  - and got herself an interview on BBC Radio Cornwall - Falmouth artist takes on TV challenge.  She likes detail. Also, not quite the usual dress for plein air painting - a bit more Love Island than LAOTY! 

The Wildcard Artists

The Wildcards made the most of what shade they could find under the trees.

Normally the wildcard artists head for the sunny spots with their sun umbrellas. Before very long, I gather they were all heading back under the trees for the proper shade.

Oddly they were all focused on the lake whereas very many paintings of St James's Park all focus on the people

Themes & Learning Points

Every week, in my review, I highlight what I observed as being some of the themes arising from the location, the day and the nature of the artists in this week's episode.

This week it's A MAJOR WHINGEFEST!