Selected Artists for Portrait Award 2025 at the National Portrait Gallery

For me, it just goes to show how changing the people doing the selection
changes the focus and the preferences of those judging. Many of the names
I’m used to seeing on a fairly regular basis have not been selected – although some have. 

Those that are here again are very good. However, I think it might be the lowest number of previous exhibitors for some time.

We’ll have to wait until the exhibition to see whether the choices made make
for a better exhibition than usual – or otherwise!

The Portrait Award exhibition is at the National Portrait Gallery in London from 10 July – 12 October 2025. It used to travel but I think that has stopped with the change in sponsor.

I do this preview of who gets selected to help those who will be applying
next year.

• the link in their name is to their website
• plus I include their Instagram account where identifiable
• I embed Instagram posts of their artwork where possible.

I’ve been reviewing this exhibition on Making A Mark since 2006 and I’ll be at the Awards Ceremony in July. I’ll also be publishing a review of the exhibition and pics of artists with their paintings. For all those artists who want a pic with their painting in this blog, make sure you find me on at the press review the following morning!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Artists who describe themselves as “shortlisted” for this exhibition – but who are not listed in my previous post are deceiving themselves and others. It makes you look amateurish. The only artists “shortlisted” are those who will win a prize. Everybody else is SELECTED.

Selected Artists Portrait Award 2025

Images being used to advertise the Portrait Award Exhibition – which is a prize in itself!

The selected artists exhibiting in THE Portrait Award are, in alphabetical
order:

• Jose Antonio – no information
• Thomas Arthurton (Instagram) Art historian turned painter. BP Portrait Award 2020. Prince
  of Wales Award for Portrait Drawing 2022
• Jo Beer (Instagram) – Full time painter based in Cornwall. Her work is predominantly
  portrait/ figurative, always in oil, she produces works that are intimate
  studies of her sitters. Twice featured in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of
  the Year. 

• Tim Benson SHORTLISTED See
  https://makingamark.blogspot.com/2025/06/shortlist-for-NPG-portrait-award-2025.html
• Simon Thomas Braiden (Instagram) a self-taught artist born in Manchester 1971. BP Portrait Award in
  2018, 2019 and 2020. His portrait of Maureen Lipman was acquired by
  the National Portrait Gallery in 2022. He hasn’t given us a clue what he’s
  exhibiting in the Portrait Award. 
• Steve Caldwell (Instagram) – (b.1971) is a British artist specialising in intensely
  observed figurative paintings. Trained as a medical illustrator and uses
  his knowledge of anatomy to create finely rendered portraits with a
  finessed attention to tone and texture. BP Portrait exhibitor in 2014,
  2015 and 2020.  His work has been seen in the annual exhibitions
  of the Society of Portrait Painters, the Royal Society of British Artists
  and the RBSA Portrait Prize Exhibition. He crops up on a regular basis in
  my blog posts…

• Comhghall Casey – what I used to call a BP Regular! He
  paints a self portrait every year. I can’t see the 2024 or 2025 ones on his website
• Moira Cameron – SHORTLISTED
  See
  https://makingamark.blogspot.com/2025/06/shortlist-for-NPG-portrait-award-2025.html
• Camila Carlow
  (Instagram) – born in Guatemala, currently lives in Bristol. Studied at
  Chelsea College of Arts, Goldsmiths University, and the University of
  Bristol. This is
  her portrait.
• Ant Carver (Instagram) (b.1991) is a London-based figurative painter currently working
  from his studio in Hackney Wick. Using oil paint, charcoal or etchings he
  creates intimate small-scale portraits and striking large-scale pieces.

• Yvadney Davis (Instagram) – a Caribbean British artist based in South London. She roots
  her art practice as a love letter to her working class Black British
  Caribbean heritage. She has a background as a Fashion Stylist with a
  BA in Fashion design. This explains not only explains the importance of
  the figure in her work but the significance of style, colour and pattern
  in cementing her pieces in time and culture. Her painting is going to be
  different – that I do know!
• Lucille Dweck
  (Instagram) – a painter who specialises in painting water, people and seascapes.
  Educated at St Martins and Byam Shaw. Her portrait can be seen below. Goof
  to see somebody who is brave enough to capture two people.

• Archie Franks (Instagram) British born 1983. Educated at The Royal Academy Schools, 2012,
  and a First-Class BA, Honours, City & Guilds London Art School, 2009.
  The artist is the recipient of various awards and honours including the
  Jerwood Painting Fellowship (2016)
• Pippa Hale-Lynch –
  a contemporary figurative artist and Architect from Somerset and based in
  the UK.  | https://www.instagram.com/phalelynch/

Still hasn’t sunk in that I will be seeing my own work hung at the
National Portrait Gallery 🤯 something I’ve been working towards over 10
years and so delighted that it’s actually happening!

• Roxana Halls
  (Instagram)- a London-based figurative painter who is best known for
  her images of laughing wayward women. Previously featured in BP Portrait
  Award five times. Featured in Episode 1 of
  Extraordinary Portraits which first aired on BBC One in 2022.
  Her portrait of Dr Pam Hogg has been selected for the exhibition.
• Martyn Harris SHORTLISTED See
  https://makingamark.blogspot.com/2025/06/shortlist-for-NPG-portrait-award-2025.html
• Nelson Hernandez (Instagram) –  a Chilean painter currently living and working in
  London. He graduated in Art from the Pontifical Catholic University of
  Chile and is currently pursuing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of
  Art, London.
• Owain Hunt b.1994) is a self taught British painter. His sitters are carefully selected, to include members of his family (Hunt was born to a family of ten children), old friends and strangers.
• Zaizhu Huo (Instagram) – ?
• Tallulah Hutson – born and raised Londoner who left for Florence, Italy, to train in figure drawing and portraiture at Charles H. Cecil Studios in 2019. Will graduate from her Master’s in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2025.

This figurative artist possesses an unwavering fascination for the intricacies of gender and sexuality, informed by a profound reflection on the influence of a religious Catholic upbringing and its impact on the repression of one’s authentic self.

• Rachit Khandelwal – a student at The Glasgow School of Art, specializing in Painting and Printmaking
• Richard Kitson (Instagram) – a figurative artist based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He has previously been selected for various portraiture related exhibitions. He has exhibited in the UK and internationally and was a participant in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year in 2018.

My work primarily investigates (but is not confined to) portraiture and the human figure, in particular paintings of my wife, family, friends and self-portraits. I paint naturalistic portraits without idealisation

• Stella Koureas (Instagram) – portrait artist, illustrator, drawing and talking practitioner
• Michelle Liu – an oil painter based in London. She mainly paints portraits of people or pets
• Cassandra Mahoney (Instagram) – She has exhibited in London/Italy/Germany with a solo exhibition in Australia.
• Mick McNicholas (no website) (Instagram) – an artist living and working in Wokingham, UK.

Absolutely delighted to finally announce that my painting ‘The Artist’s Mother’ is in this year’s Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award (formerly the BP Portrait Award) at the National Portrait Gallery!

• Matthew Midwood (Instagram) – lives in Hull, makes work in his studio and has been an active member of the artistic community in Hull since 2002. “Likes colour, loves drawing.”

• Li Nang – (name spelt incorrectly ?)
• Kim Nguyen –  (I think) a Vietnamese American illustrator, designer, and artist. Born and raised in a Midwest town, she is currently based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Common themes in her art include food, pop culture, and exploring her cultural identity as a child of refugees.
• Ashley Ogilvy (Instagram) – Born in England, raised in Kenya, East Africa. Studied with teachers in the USA, Europe and England. She has a studio in Cape Town, South Africa. HSF Portrait 2024
• Diego José Aznar Remón – a Spanish painter who also teaches. His selected portrait is of a mother and baby.

• Jamie Routley (Instagram) – Born in Newport, South Wales in 1982. Now lives in West London with his wife and children. Jamie Routley was educated entirely through the Welsh language at
  Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw. He went on to earn a BA (Hons) in Illustration from Swindon College before moving
  to Florence, Italy in 2004 to study classical painting under American artist Charles H. Cecil (2004–2008).  Elected a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2022. BP Portrait Award in 2012, 2013, 2022, 
• Cesar Santos (Instagram) – a Cuban-American artist, born in Santa Clara, Cuba and
  brought up in Miami, Florida. He studied at the New World School of the
  Arts in Florida, followed by a period training in Florence. He has been
  exhibited in the United States, Europe, Latin America and Asia

• Nathalie Scott (Instagram) – a mural and portrait artist. Her meticulous approach to portraiture resulted in her work being
  displayed as part of the BP Portrait Award in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2015. Born in Fontainebleau near Paris.

• Dide Siemmond (Instagram) – a Painter, poet, composer-soprano-violinist. She started
  teaching herself how to paint during a covid pandemic lockdown and is now
  a multiple award-winning artist. An RBA Rising Star in both 2023 and 2024
  (which is a competition which keeps throwing up excellent artists). Looks to me as if she is very attuned to lighting and how to create an
  impactful painting.
• Anca Luiza Sirbu – Spanish artist
• Emily Stainer

• Finlay Trevor (Instagram) – Graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2025. His
  portrait is of Willie Mackintosh. I have a feeling he may be a
  musician….
• Joshua Waterhouse RP
  – Exhibited in the BP Portrait in 2016. Very much influenced by the
  Northern Renaissance. Born in Newcastle in 1989, Joshua first
  completed a Foundation in Art & Design at Edinburgh College of Art
  before studying Fine Art & French at the University of Aberystwyth,
  graduating in 2014 with a First Class Honours. Joshua also spent a year in
  Paris studying Art History at the Sorbonne (Paris IV). Lived and worked in
  London for 10 years before moving to Somerset in 2024 with his wife
  and son. His work has been exhibited in numerous group exhibitions
  including the BP Portrait Award, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters
  and New Light. Awards include the De Lazlo Foundation Award for
  excellence, the Burke’s Peerage Award and the Patron’s Choice Award from
  New Light.  His portrait is the third of a series done as a
  commission for a family. The other two were exhibited at this year’s
  annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.

• Simon Watkins Born in London in 1988, Simon studied drawing in Florence for a year with
  American artist Charles H. Cecil. After a degree in History of Art from
  the University of York, he went back to Florence to continue studying oil
  painting, focusing particularly on portraiture.

• Sofia Welch (Instagram) –  Looks to me like one of
  those artists who has been doing consistently well for some time – without
  being shouty about it. She is a classically trained contemporary
  figurative artist based in London. Her work explores a variety of subjects
  including portraiture and still life, experimenting with both drawing and
  painting. She received four years of intensive training at the London
  Atelier of Representational Art in which time she was awarded the LARA
  teaching Scholarship, the Art Renewal Centre Scholarship for continued
  study and the Florence Academy of Art Summer Scholarship leading to one
  month of study in Florence Italy. she was Director of Studies at the
  London Atelier of Representational Art and now produces art work for the
  film and television industry. Her work has been used in large Netflix
  Productions such as The Witcher and Black Mirror.
• Paul Wright b. Leicester, UK 1973) educated at Falmouth and Loughborough. Two time
  longlisted for the National Portrait Gallery BP Award 2006 and 2015
• Xu Yang (Instagram) – an Asian queer female who moved to London to live and work – and
  has been commissioned to create a painting inspired by the collection at
  the Tate
• Brenda Zlamany (Instagram Facebook) – born in 1959 in New York City and raised in Queens. Now a
  painter who lives and works in Brooklyn. Since 1982 her work has appeared
  in over a dozen solo exhibitions, a number of museums in the US and
  numerous group shows in a number of countries. Wikipedia asserts that
  she is an American artist best known for portraiture that combines Old
  Master technique with a postmodern conceptual approach. I rather think she
  might be in with a good chance of “most popular with the Public”!