I feel so lucky to have got into the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and be back at the Mall Galleries so soon after the ING exhibition. I went to the private view yesterday and it felt very grown up.The ING was a real range of ages and styles, here at the ROI were serious, established oil painters, faces familiar from all those painting DVDs, painters of serious oil paintings, no playful modernism here.

It was a  great chance to meet some Twitter acquaintances in real life too including Andrew Farmer who was the runner up for the W&N Young Artist prize, surely being young enough to be categorised as a young painter is reward enough?

The selected painting was the prizewinner from the Clifton Arts Club exhibition from the Summer. Here it is (and me) hanging out with (under) a Lachlan Goudie painting (off of the telly).

Here are a couple of paintings from the work on show that caught my eye by David Walker, Clive Burnell and Michael Ashcroft  as well as work by Mo Teeuw which I didn’t snap, given the terrible photos below this is no bad thing.

David Walker, Caesura

Clive Burnell, Dartmoor

Michael John Ashcroft, Afternoon in March

It runs until the 13th of December 2015 and admission is £3. If you get a chance to go then do take advantage of the great location by visiting the National Galleries off Trafalgar Square as well. On a random wander I found a painter called Boltraffio  near some humbling Moronis. The snap doesn’t do the quality of the modelling and colour justice. 

Boltraffio at the National Gallery

Also go and visit the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery.

Amongst the refugees and bleak locations this portrait “Norma” caught my eye, there as a counterbalance to the negative representation of older people in the media.

If you get a chance go and enjoy any or all of it.