Entering Shows

It was a beautiful morning in Ponte Vedra Beach earlier this month as Cindy Pierson called the meeting to order, and thanked Kevin Arthur for arranging the March plein air at Fantasy Farms. Kevin's painting of the golden pheasant was donated to their fundraising auction.

We has 20 in attendance at the meeting. With our own annual juried show upcoming members were interested in hearing our panel speak about entering shows.

Our panel consisted of Lyn Asselta, Rick Petersen, and Richard Lundgren. Some of the highlights of what they told us about preparing for a show:

- No sawtooth hangers on the frames. You need wiring and D-rings.
- Read the prospectus *carefully* and make sure you understand all the requirements - such as neutral mats.
- Note that shipping to remote shows can be very expensive, and you need to pay for shipping both ways. Uline and Air Float both make shipping containers. You need several inches of foam around your painting.
- For shipped paintings static-free acrylic is best.
- You need a good quality photo of your work. Don't try to color-correct as every monitor is different. Shoot outdoors in the shade, around 10 AM, or 2-3 PM.
- Choose several of your own favorite pieces and then ask someone else for an honest opinion,
- Sometimes it's good to take a photo and look at your work in black and white.
- Don't submit pieces based on the judge and what you think the judge will like.
- If you need a "body of work" such as applying to the PSA, make sure you send paintings that look like they were done by the same artist. They don't care how versatile you are. Don't send (for example) a pet portrait, a landscape, an abstract.
- Be careful with frames - not too cheap, not too ornate. Frames should be elegant but simple. Use a wide frame if framing without a mat. webpictureframes.com lets you upload your image and see how it looks with a specific frame.
- Don't oversell or undersell your work. Pricing should be consistent.
- Challenge yourself. Enter shows you might not have thought about entering.