Happy New Year’s Eve,
You may have noticed (hopefully it felt seamless) this email is written using Substack - a growing platform for newsletters and blogs. I was seduced by the grammar and lack of catchy videos.
The year behind
2025 has been about investing in more ambitious narrative projects and relationships. Yet again, support has come from my trusty steeds (you) and from the judging panels who selected my work. Museum natural history curators have opened my eyes and their cabinets, setting up specimens under microscopes, and taking me outside to poke around in substances usually stepped over.
The Society of Women Artists were beyond generous with the support and wall space they gave me, selecting The Raft Of The Medusa and The Boy Who Played Cricket as part of their 164th annual open exhibition in The Mall Galleries.
Thank you if you were one of the many people who came to visit shows, open studios, modelled, shared, commented, or bought work from any independent creative this year.
Other highlights:
Behind the scenes some really moving commissions
Giving free talks in a local school, hosting studio visits, and donating work to charity auction.
Getting better at shrugging off rejections.
Exhibiting with The Society of Wildlife Artists for the third year running.
Being shortlisted for the Ruth Borchard Prize.
The year ahead
For 2026 my goals remain: Impact, Resonance, and Reach. To that end, I’ve been seeking opportunities to reach audiences with Dungscape. Happy to report two exhibitions lined up (September and October), and (despite being unconventional narrative work), this project has also been awarded a bursary. This means showing sketches and perhaps even specimens alongside the finished pieces, in places that platform the urgency of recovering habitat and species diversity.
Dungscape is presenting exciting technical challenges too - I can’t see all the solutions, but know it will get there in the end. Impasto medium has been a great learning curve. Click this image to see the impasto going on:
I’ll be ordering some iridescent paint in the New Year sales.
At the more palatable end of the spectrum, I’m delighted to be showing landscapes of the South West, at North Street Gallery from February to April:
Thank you for sticking with me this year, for all your words and actions of support. I hope my transition to Substack is seamless for you, and that you enjoy my correspondence as much as ever. There is no need to re-subscribe. I appreciate your attention very much, and am always open to suggestions and ideas.
Egged on by ChatGPT I have rebranded my newsletters and blog as ‘Journal’! You can find the archives here. I will be updating and re-publishing some of my most popular blogs in the next few months.
Wishing you a happy, healthy, rational, peaceful 2026
Over and out
Gxxx
What a spectacular year.
And methinks the next will be even stronger. Brava Gail. 👏👏👏