Royal Institute of Oil portrait preview

I had a really fun few days in London last week visiting the much anticipated Royal Institute of Oil painters exhibition at the Mall Galleries. I was able to catch up with lots of painter friends and meet a few new ones too, lots and lots of chatting. I will get a better chance to look at the actual paintings when I go back this week for the annual portrait painting evening, which feels a bit like a 'works Christmas do' as I'll know so many of the other artists. I can't think of a more fun event than painting a portrait under time pressure in a jam-packed gallery with spectators milling around drinking wine and eating mince pies! Strange to say but I do like a bit of pressure!

Here's a photo of me with my painting 'Galley hill allotments in snow' which I'm thrilled to say sold before the exhibition even opened.

If you can't make it to see the show in person, do have a look here where you can see most of exhibition online.

My friend Adebanji Alade artist has written a really great review based on his experience of the preview day and kindly given mention of my painting 'Sails up in harbour, Paimpol' as seen below (top painting). To see Adebanji's blog post about the exhibition click here.