Jackson’s Art Prize Longlist

Delighted to find out that two of the three paintings made it onto the Longlist. From the original 16,280 artworks down to 1000 now so I’m very pleased to have two paintings included (although I am a bit sad for my shelf painting that didn’t make the cut). The shortlist is announced on 11/3/2026.

You can browse the 1000 amazing and diverse work on the Longlist on the Jacksons website by clicking the link here! My two longlisted paintings are pictured below.

I’m was also pleased to hear today that a painting has been pre-selected for the Royal Hibernian Academy show. It went off to Framewerk to be framed today ready to be delivered to Dublin for the next stage of judging at the end of the month.

MULTI STORY #3, CONNSWATER / 70 x 50 cm / Acrylic on Canvas

One of a series of paintings I have made of views from multi-story car parks in Belfast. Being a small and relatively low city they are usually high enough to afford a nice urban panorama. In a city with a complex history of divisions, visible and invisible, which are often simplified to dichotomy, this idea of the multi-layered and multi-storeyed is something I found interesting. 

This is a view from the car-park at the recently closed Connswater Shopping Centre. I managed to get in and take some photos before they fenced the abandoned site off.

MY WAKE / 40 x 30 cm / Acrylic on Canvas

This is a corner of my study/studio at home where I spend quite a bit of time. This lamplit composition seemed to say something about a life condensed to the things we gather round us, and the space we leave in our wake. The word wake also refers to the Irish tradition of the vigil between a death and burial.