In 2021 Mabelle was selected by Southampton University to represent the School of Art in the national 2021 Freelands Foundation Painting Prize (https://freelandsfoundation.co.uk/exhibition/freelands-painting-prize-2021)
This annual competition is open to Schools of Art across the United Kingdom and the prize for the ten selected winners was an exhibition of her winning piece “The Valley of the River Test” in a national exhibition of the winning pieces. The final piece went to a private collector in London.
“Winchester School of Art is delighted to be represented by Mabelle Furlong who has demonstrated an intense commitment to painting and creative courage.
Mabelle paints inventive syntheses of landscape and experience, merging moments, memories and locations. She paints exuberant forests, fields and scenic villages which coexist in an idealised, utopian composition” (Freelands Foundation 2021)
In 2021 her other works were selected to present in the Hampshire Medical Fund Art Show where a series of her earlier pieces were enthusiastically received. Various pieces went to private collectors in the United Kingdom and she also received a further commission through the exhibition.