Two artists on their Royal Academy experience

The Royal Academy has been holding a summer exhibition since 1769, when portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds hung beside a landscape by Thomas Gainsborough.

Not surprisingly the exhibition has grown from those early days when 136 works were shown, and today 1,262 exhibits are on display, chosen from a total of 12,000 entries.

Royal Academicians select and hang the exhibition and are also able to submit their own work.

Professor Chris Orr, who works from a studio within the Royal Academy, has spent the past five weeks supervising the hanging of works in the print room, and has several etchings and a painting on display in the summer exhibition.

Iranian-born Rouhi Peck meanwhile, has converted a front room in her South London home into a work space. This is the first time, despite other attempts, that she has been selected to display one of her pieces in the summer exhibition.

Video Journalist: Alex Stanger