I felt it was time to stop talking about the possibility of entering exhibitions and just get on with it. Having reviewed a number of exhibitions I decided to test the water with the Bath Open. Close to home, not too expensive and I knew a couple of artists who had exhibited before there, they were contemporary artists so hopefully my work may fit. This exhibition did however have a 'feel' of traditional, having to physically take your artwork to Bath for the 1st round, as opposed to the commonplace approach of sending a PDF and the bureaucracy of applying was to me old fashioned. Blimey what a hassle, it took me half a day to work out and prepare the 1001 bits of card labelled with exacting instructions, sting and labels that had to hang exactly 15cm down from the top of your painting. No perspex, no metal frames, had to attach mirror plates.. and on it went... This is all part of the learning I kept reminding myself! I submitted 'Floating Horizon' because it has had a lot of positive feedback from friends and I felt it was probably the least controversial of my paintings, not wanting to upset the traditionalists. Submitted on the Saturday and notified of success, or not, 3 days later - very impressed by the turnaround. I had steeled myself for a rejection as after all it was my first open exhibition entry. I wasn't wrong.. a big cross and please come and pick up your artwork - oh well first rejection of many Im sure!
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| Floating Horizon 2015 150cm x 50cm Acrylic on canvas |
I collected my work and had a look around the exhibition. On reflection I can understand why Floating Horizon was unsuccessful, the works were typically quite figurative and traditional - Floating Horizon I felt would have stood out because of its strong blocks of colour, it would also have been one of the largest paintings there - too large. As a curator I would have struggled to find a suitable collection of work to place it with as the colours dominated the eye. The learning for me is to understand and research the exhibitions more thoroughly before entering, research who the judges are and look at what they typically hang - in hindsight this was not an exhibition suitable for this style of painting but a good learning and I have now officially started the world of open exhibitions ! watch this space....
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