THIS year’s h.Art proved the most successful to date, with visits up by 13 per cent on last year and sales of art up an impressive 36 per cent on 2008 – more than £150,000 was taken by participating artists and makers.

Last week, as the h.Art Open Exhibition at Hereford Museum and Art Gallery came to a close, the organisers revealed the result of the inaugural h.Art People’s Choice prize, announcing that Walford-based artist Alison MacGregor Grimley’s Shadowland was the favourite work in the exhibition, as voted for by visitors to the exhibition.

Close on her heels was Serena Bell’s The Lighthouse and in joint third place were Joanna Griffiths’ Blowy on Blorenge Mountain and Ciara Lewis’s The Capitol Building. Alison wins 10 high quality giclee prints of the winning work, kindly donated by Giclee Fine Art, which she will be able to sell on.

Describing her work, Alison says: “The winter landscape is my starting point. This is a time of the greatest clarity, texture and contrast. I use a restricted palette of earth colours and layers of glaze to create a sense of translucency.”

The original Shadowland was sold during the exhibition to a visitor from the Peak District.

The lucky visitor whose name was pulled from the hat of names of those who’d voted for the winning work was Liz Bomford, from Dulas, who wins a giclee print of Shadowland.