The Sutton Landscape Artist of the Year competition returned to Poulter Park for a third year this September for a day of art to celebrate our lovely park and community.
Our artists had beautiful weather and a wide selection of activities and stalls for our meadow day. We were expecting cattle, but due to a worrying weather forecast, we had to postpone our visit from the Downy Grazers until next year. Something to look forward to in 2026!
Judges and winners
We had 15 entries across 3 categories: 3-10, 11-16 and adult. Once again, our judges had a very hard time choosing just one winner and one highly commended artwork in each category. Criteria included composition, style and whether the artwork captured the spirit of the park.
Our judges were Vanessa, CEO of People Arise Now, a local charity that helps young people and families through creative projects. Linda, the Chair of Bishopsford House Residents Committee who’s lived in Poulter Park for 15 years and judges on ‘spirit of the park’. And Rhys Trussler, a fine artist from Brighton whose paintings evoke folk horror themes.
3- 10 year old category
The winner of the 3-10 category was Monica Anreytsiv with her beautiful picture of the Wandle and bushes on its bank. The judges enjoyed the river reflections of the trees and use of different greens to depict the wide range of foliage.
Our highly commended pictures were by Olivia Ly Nguyen and Nina Klusky. The judges loved Olivia’s happy dog walker and Nina’s lovely use of colour in her abstract of a tree in the wind.
11 – 16 year old category
The winner of the 11 – 16 year old category was Mikolay Anreytsiv with his confident pastel drawing of foliage in the park. The judges appreciated the composition Mikolay chose, with a tuft of green grass in the foreground leading the eye to the darker greens and hints of autumn at the back. Mikolay was also the overall teen winner for the borough with his picture of the Grove Park.
Our highly commended artists in the teen category were Yui Ho and our past winner Shreyanch Madichetty. The judges were impressed with Yui’s rendition of Bishopsford House and the bench in front of it. And charmed by Shreyanch’s pencil composition of leaves and berries, reminiscent of a William Morris print.
Adult category (17+)
The winner in our adult category was Ian Shorthouse, whose novel use of materials impressed the judges. They enjoyed the layered textures of the wood and the build up of colourful autumn leaves over foamy water of the Wandle.
Highly commended in this category went to Charlotte Howe for her skillful depiction of one of the park’s beautiful Cedars of Lebanon. The judges enjoyed her sensitive rendering of one of Poulter Park’s most iconic trees. Sam Conquest was also highly commended as the judges loved her striking close up of the cow that *should* have been in the park if we’d had a better weather report!
Lovely to welcome back familiar artists including our 2024 winner Liz. And equally lovely to see new faces. We loved the movement in Liz’s beautiful pastel of the bushes and grasses. William’s watercolour of Bishopsford House was like a dreamscape. Mercia’s fabulous canvas of the rugby pitches and our ubiquitous power cables marching towards Croydon was iconic. Sylvia’s olde worlde postcard with its sepia hues was enchanting. And Rachel’s little mouse admiring a clover stem in the meadow was too sweet for words.
Behind the scenes in 2025
Lots goes on behind the scenes to bring you this competition. It’s a real labour of love supported by friends groups all around the borough. We couldn’t have done this alone, we really do work as a team with Sutton’s community lead Dawn and her colleagues.
Thank you to everyone who came to paint, to our judges Rhys, Vanessa and Linda and to everyone who helped us on the day (special shout to our singers Ted and Charlie, and to Sandra, Spike, Ishani, Andrew, Sophia, Nick, Claire, David, Libby and Ed). We also have to thank the Downey Grazers for donating plants in lieu of cows, Mark and colleagues from Sutton’s biodiversity team, Kasia and Kai our SEND experts, Dave and John from Watermeads Beekeepers, Nick from BugFest, our lovely friends from Team Imagineers and our incredibly talented face painter Robyn from the Colour Junkie.
We were funded by Sutton Council local fund, the Mayor’s Fund and the Wandle Valley Forum. Our prizes were funded by the Carshalton Rotary Club and the show is hosted in the Civic Centre Library. Huge thanks to all the volunteers who hung the show and got involved behind the scenes!
Overall winners
6 parks took part in the competition this year: the Grove, Beddington, Oaks, Carshalton, Manor and us at Poulter. By an amazing coincidence all the winners were from Grove. See them in the gallery below, and check out all our winners at Sutton Library this weekend until Sunday 29 November.
Friends of Poulter Park and Revesby Wood 