Some highlights from 2025, Mill Road Fair, plans for next year and exhibition recommendations

I'd like to start by thanking everyone who has supported me, come to exhibitions, bought work or just offered kind words of encouragement and advice this year! Coming together and making, appreciating and critiquing art is a really important response to the AI-driven shitstorm aiming to keep us glued to our screens and consuming.

My residency at Cill Rialaig in County Kerry drove home to me the societal benefits of folk culture, as in, stuff you do together with other people in the room. From the interactions with other artists, to drawing at the weekly music sessions at Tig Rosie's, to the closeness to nature (both inside and outside the cottages!), this is a place that exists outside the thrust of that AI shitstorm, one where you appreciate a bigger history of of struggle and migration.

I'm delighted to announce I'll be doing an exhibition at Cill Rialaig Arts Centre, probably opening 9th August 2026 and running for two weeks, but I will confirm that in the next post. If you've never been to County Kerry, or you're starting to think about your summer 2026 plans and might be able to make it down, then get that in your diary! I will show work created there (such as Island of Strangers, above), as well as a range of other new work, including a huge recent etching. I hope to also arrange a printmaking demonstration event / talk about my work, perhaps on another day during the show, for those who can't make the opening. Here's a few more pieces I made during the residency, expect these and plenty more.

Another highlight from this year was presenting an etching to the London Irish Centre (who I continue to have a close relationship with) for their 70th anniversary event at the Irish Embassy. Like Cill Rialaig, spaces like the Irish Centre are incredible important for supporting the bridge between the arts and community. They reach people and places, e.g., the beautiful Cork Street galleries usually can't or don't bother to.

Mill Road Winter Fair

It's a few weeks ago now but I wanted to shout out how brilliant Cambridge's Mill Road Winter Fair was this year. Thousands upon thousands of people descend on Cambridge's buzziest street (not saying much I know), and the street's eateries set up stalls offering an incredible, multi-ethnic array of delicious food and drink. A delicious way to say "up yours" to the flaggers.

St. Barnabas Press held a sort of festival of print in the old print room behind St. Barnabas Church, which was brilliantly curated and coordinated by the brilliant Danica. Glynn Canon and I did some live speed portrait painting which was a lot of fun.

My favourite etchings from this year

Left: A confession, 35 x 28 cm (image), £375 unframed, middle: Cain & Abel, 20 x 27 cm (image), £325 unframed right: Sheltering a small remaining trace..., 27 x 25 cm (image), £325 unframed.

Having focused on painting during the first half of the year, I've been getting back to etching, including a whopping 80cm wide plate that is in progress, which I'll be showing at Cill Rialaig. But for now, here's a few of my favourites from 2025. There are some copies of all available, let me know if you're interested.

Exhibition recommendations

There are some excellent shows on in West London at the moment, and I did a bit of a gallery walk recently, starting at Cristea Roberts (near Green Park tube), for Paula Rego "Drawing from Life". Then walking north, there is an incredible show of large-scale figurative paintings by Eva Helene Pade at Thadeus Ropac. Nearby at Nahmad projects is Picasso/Pistoletto, a beautiful juxtaposing of Picasso cubist classics with Pistoletto's escapist mirror paintings. Also on Cork Street is David Shrigley's Old Rope, which proudly foregrounds a Telegraph article recoiling at the artist attempting to sell piles of old rope for £1 million (Shrigley claims that by weight, this is very good value for contemporary art).

Upcoming, I highly recommend a show on experimental printmaking, focusing on unframed and unframeable work - "Out" at Unit 2 gallery, St. Leonards, curated by Matty Emery, a brilliant London printmaker. The show is 24th Jan - 3rd Feb and I'll send more details when I have them.

My favourite life drawings from this year

Life drawings has remained a really important part of my practice this year. Looking is obviously important in art, and looking well takes a lot of practice.