Two years since winning life changing Sky Arts competition, Monica crafts her creative career

It has been two years since Gibraltarian artist, Monica Popham, won a life-changing television program the Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year, and made the leap from a nine-to-five job to a full-time artist.

“It’s been two years now since the program came out. There’s been a lot of learning curves about being a full-time artist,” she told the Chronicle.

“I won the program and quit my nine to five. It’s been a lot of figuring out how to be a full-time artist, because they don’t really teach you that in school.”

Art school, she said, offered foundational skills, but little practical business education.

“My degree was fine art, and we got taught how to develop film, we got taught how make pots and do print, but we didn’t really get taught how to do your tax and to organise, as you are a business.”

Another element of this is not being taught how to price her work.

“There’s no rule book, and I think the art world is quite a closed door. If you don’t know the right people, then you don’t really get let into the room. It’s been a big learning curve.”

She also spoke about the whirlwind the past two years have been.

“The year that the landscape programme came out was ridiculous and crazy,” she said.

“It was very heavy on commissions in 2024. I ended the year and I didn’t have anything to show for all the work.”

“My goal going into 2025 was to finish with a body of work that I was proud of, and I felt confident in and sort of had more of a direction.”

She worked on just three commissions last year and focused on creating a body of work.

The issue with this is that with commissions there is guaranteed payment, whereas collections may possibly go unsold.

“When you’re creating a body of work, you don’t know whether people are going to like it,” she said.

“You don’t know if it’s going to sell. That was also a mindset shift because doing commissions it’s a guaranteed sale. You do the painting, and you get paid.”

This year she continues to be open to opportunities and is hoping for success within galleries, as well as taking part in a show that she has in the pipeline for this May. The details of which cannot be released yet.

In addition, she will be applying for open calls and a residency.

“There’s lots happening,” she said.

She has also moved to London and can now easily visit galleries.

“I feel like 2025 was putting in a lot of groundwork for hopefully this year,” she said.

Successes and failures have made her more resilient, she said.

“It’s just the name of the game. It’s just trying to get your work out there and trying to get seen by the right people. Rejection is redirection, I keep telling myself.”

Despite there been some rejections 2025 certainly had highlights, which included a sold-out tile series, ongoing private commissions, including a 3.6-metre canvas delivered to a client’s home, and a significant commission for Soho House Barcelona.

On the SoHo House piece she said: “I wanted the vibe of the pieces to be Mediterranean and sort of like that warm light you get of that.”

“I really, really enjoyed making them. It was two palm trees, one’s like, orange and purple and the other one’s more, like a cool blue tone. I feel like that was really quite the catalyst of like, oh, this is I really enjoy this. I enjoy this type of work.”

She added there is the challenge of balancing art with life’s demands.

“I was so burnt out from balancing moving country [from Gibraltar to the UK], applying to landscape [artist of the year], starting a new job, finishing a new job as I was only in that job for nine months, so it was quite a whirlwind and we’ve moved to London.”

Now there are more big changes and plans to be made for the artist as herself and her partner Jack plan to get married this coming September.

While she navigates her new home, wedding planning, working full time as an artist and all other life aspects she still aims for her creative skills to grow.

“I want to do more sketching this year,” she said.

“I did my first oil painting last year. It’s very different to acrylic, and it’s something I’ve been meaning to try for so long.”

“When I was still working for a commission I couldn’t experiment when it’s someone’s painting.”

“So it always felt a bit selfish, I suppose, to try. And I kept saying, I didn’t have the time, and it’s just a lie. I do have the time.”

“I did enjoy it. It’s very much a medium that needs a lot of practice. I’m hoping to give myself the time to do that this year, because I do feel like it might bring my work up a step.”

For more information on her work and upcoming events visit https://monicapopham.com/