Wisbech Gallery DRAW26 Awards

As DRAW26 is an Open Drawing Competition, we are delighted to be able to award cash prizes to recognise two artworks that the Judging Panel felt were exceptional. This proved to be difficult given the high standard of the works submitted again this year and the panel took some time to make their unanimous decisions on the winning artworks.

More information on the Judging Panel can be found here.

Winning Entry
The Winning Entry for DRAW26 is to be awarded £250

Runner Up
The Runner Up for DRAW26 is to be awarded £100

Judges / Wisbech Galley Manager Special Mentions
The DRAW26 Judging Panel and the Wisbech Gallery Manager have also awarded personal commendations to individual artworks that they determined were worthy of a Special Mention.

Scroll for information on the artworks and artists selected for the DRAW26 Awards…

DRAW26 Winning Entry – ‘Go And Find Something To Love’ by Alison Griffin

Alison shared some information with us about her work:

Can you tell us a bit about your creative practice?
‘My work explores my relationship with memory, landscape and place – how memories are delicately woven into the intricate patterns and shapes of our surroundings. Obsessing over these details takes me on a journey of reflection – an integral part of my practice. I love the tones of pencil, the interplay of light and shadow creating an unsettling stillness, sense of longing and collective memory. 

I graduated from Central Saint Martin’s in 2012 and recently had the honour of becoming Associate Member of the SGFA. In 2020 I moved back to Norfolk, living in Norwich with my partner and cat.’

What inspired ‘Go And Find Something To Love’?
‘I recently visited the small Norfolk town where I grew up to retrace the steps of my youth, the streets and places of many significant and insignificant moments and memories. In this series I worked from the photos taken on this trip and the small cropped drawings act like snapshots to highlight the everyday and overlooked; fragmented memories reminiscent of a time when photographs were printed and treasured. The smooth, dense texture of carbon pencil is ideal for creating images suffused with light and shadow and a nostalgia that I hope resonates with the viewer.’

If you would like to keep up with Alison’s work follow her on Instagram @alisongriffinartist

DRAW26 Runner Up – ‘Passing Through 3’ by Patricia K. Kelly

Patricia shred the following with us about ‘Passing Through 3’ and her creative practice:

‘‘Passing Through-3’ is from a series of views from #9 bus windows on winter journeys across the Fens. During these journeys I explore mark-making on paper folded into sixteen sections. The pencil drawings are rapid responses to spaces, shapes, and skies of the natural and built environment.

My abstract paintings in hand-made egg tempera (egg yolk mixed in water with dry pigment) suggest primal form and woven pattern. Outcomes vary, but the origins of a painting emerge from nature.

Though I paint from imagination, observational drawing informs my paintings.’

If you would like to keep up with Patricia’s work visit her website: www.patriciakkelly.com

Judges Special Mention, awarded by Amanda Palmer – ‘Tithe Barn’ by Julia Turner

Julia shared some information with us about her work:

Can you tell us a bit about your creative practice?
Julia Turner is a Fenland based artist whose practice centres on nature with much of her inspiration drawn from the changing life of the natural world around her.  Exploring organic form and natural rhythm Julia creates work using acrylic and ink that reflects both close observation and an intuitive, process-led approach.

What inspired ‘Tithe Barn?
Chatteris Tithe Barn has been part of the agricultural landscape since the 16th century.  Julia Turner wished to capture it in its glorious isolation before work began on a new housing estate of 1,000 new homes surrounding the barn and changing its rural setting completely.

If you would like to keep up with Julia’s work follow her Instagram: @juliahturner_
paintings

Judges Special Mention, awarded by Louise Haselgrove – ‘Shout’ by Krystyna Wojcik

I explore landscape and figurative compositions in watercolour and acrylic. My life drawings are most often created in charcoal offering immediate scope for expressive mark making. I love to try and capture those split seconds that occur throughout a day and which disappear almost as soon as they have appeared.  

I’ve exhibited my work since 1995, on several occasions as joint shows alongside my husband Paul Joseph-Crank. I’m currently looking for a gallery to promote my work. 

I draw from life every week and ‘Shout’ was an exercise to capture a depth of emotion within a fleeting facial contour.

If you would like to keep up with Krystyna’s work visit her website: www.krystynawojcik.co.uk

Judges Special Mention, awarded by Tim Mann – ‘Fallen Leaves Fill Empty Mountains’ by Simon M Smith

Simon shared a bit about his practice and artwork:


‘Simon M Smith is an artist based in Norfolk, with an extensive exhibition history, including the Royal Academy, Ing Discerning Eye, Newlight Prize Touring Exhibition, Society of Botanical Artists, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Affordable Art Fair, Eastern Open etc.  His work is held in collections throughout the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, Germany, Japan and Taiwan

The drawings in DRAW26 are influenced by Chinese “rivers and mountains” poetry, and Taoist ontology and philosophy, and reference the world emerging out of the originary confusion and sinking back into it, following the great respiratory alternation that brings the world into existence.’

If you would like to keep up with Simon’s work follow his Instagram: @simonmsmith_studio

Wisbech Gallery Manager Special Mention – ‘Lennies Walk’ by David Jarrett

David shared some information with us about the inspiration behind the artwork and his creative practice:

‘This work is an interpretation of the steep country lanes in the Pennines where I used to walk with my dog Lennie. 
It is made using pastel , pencil and ink 

I studied at Central School and worked as a freelance designer before entering the corporate world.
In 2022 I was able to go back to producing artwork and made the move to Wisbech that year 
I am currently working on abstract works and works on paper and have exhibitions in London, Brighton and Cambridge.’

If you would like to keep up with David’s work follow his Instagram: @davidjohnjarrett or visit his website: www.davidjohnjarrett.com

DRAW26 is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10am-4pm, from Saturday 25th March to Saturday 18th April. Please note that we will be closed on Good Friday, 3rd April 2026.


Be sure to visit to see artworks by over 30 artists working across a variety of mediums, including our Award Winners, and have your say by selecting your favourite piece!