Judgemental

A few weeks ago I was invited to join the judging panel for the annual exhibition of TWASI, The Wildlife Art Society International, having been suggested to them by a (former) friend who'd judged for them previously. TWASI are permanently based in a rather fine Georgian mansion called Wallsworth Hall, situated between Tewkesbury and Gloucester, but I confess that I wasn't aware of the organisation before they got in touch with me, and this was my first visit to the Hall. 

Never having judged an exhibition before, I arrived (several minutes late, courtesy of bad traffic and a rather insulting decision by my satnav to deliver me to the tradesmen's entrance rather than the front door) with a severe case of Impostor Syndrome. But all the Society officials and members I met were entirely welcoming and seemed genuinely pleased to have me on board, and I soon found myself working collaboratively and (I think I can say) effectively with the two other judges - one a successful professional artist, and the other a highly experienced conservationist.

The standard of work was very high ("Intimidating," said one Society member in my hearing), there were quite a few awards for us to adjudicate, and we all took the process as seriously as if our own work had been under consideration, so it took a long time and a lot of discussion for us to reach our final conclusions. And for me at least, it took a lot of trips around the marquee: I'm amused to see that my phone (which underestimates by at least 10% compared with R's Fitbit) believes that I took over 14,000 steps today.

I would love to wax lyrical here, as I did to R when I arrived home, about some of my favourite pieces of work. But I don't think that it would be appropriate for me to do that publicly: I believe that the Doctrine of Collective Responsibility should apply to something like this, and therefore I'll just say that I'm very happy with the awards that we made, and my only regret is that we couldn't stretch the available commendations to include a few other lovely pieces. If you're in the north Gloucestershire area during the next six days, I'd strongly urge you to go to Wallsworth Hall to experience the exhibition for yourself, and maybe vote for your own favourite to become this year's People's Choice.

My top tips if you do visit Wallsworth Hall: 

1. If your satnav tries to take you down Sandhurst Lane, speak to it severely and simply stay on the A38 until you see the museum signs; and

2. If the café is serving quiche, don't deprive yourself: it's exceptional.