Maple Palette 2026 brings painting, workshops, and open judging to London

Maple Palette 2026 gave miniature painters in London a single-day stop where they could compete, learn, shop, and watch the room work. The full-day expo at Siskinds LLP on April 25, 2026 was pitched to first-time competitors and veteran display painters alike, with an open judging format that measured entries against a standard instead of sending them into a head-to-head bracket.

That judging structure mattered. Rather than leaving medal chances to a single matchup, the competition rewarded the kind of finished piece painters spend weeks refining. Judges scored entries on composition, creativity, impact, and execution, so a clean paint job alone was not enough. A model had to read well at a glance, show an idea clearly, and hold up under close inspection. Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals were on offer, along with Best in Show and a People’s Choice award voted on by attendees.

The event leaned hard into the hobby side of the scene, not just the trophy side. The workshop lineup pointed straight at practical growth, with sessions in greenstuff sculpting, kitbashing, terrain graffiti, and comic-style painting. That mix gave the day a clear range, from shaping putty and rebuilding kits to pushing color and edge control into more stylized work. Side activities such as Mystery Mini Madness, The Great Brush-Off: Tonal War, Monster Mash Community Project, and Super Kitbash World added more ways to stay engaged between judging and demos.

Registration was handled online, with one form required for each category entered, and judging began at noon after registration closed. The venue also listed free parking beside the building, with ticket validation required before departure, a small but useful detail for an all-day outing built around carrying cases, brushes, and wet palettes through a long schedule.

For London and the broader Ontario hobby crowd, Maple Palette looked designed as more than a competition slot on the calendar. It created a concentrated painting day with room for feedback, medals, workshop time, and community energy in one place, which is exactly the kind of setup that can pull a rookie display entry and a seasoned showcase piece into the same room.