A Painters Journey

I’ve just finished jurying a competition that for me has been more difficult than most. I have a special feeling for Plein Air Easton because I was one of the founders, I have participated as an artist for 14 of it’s 19 years, I know so many of the applicants, and I know how important this event is to so many people. Not only is it a showcase for established artists, it is also a gateway for up and coming artists and I’ve always been proud of that fact. Because it is juried by a new juror each year, and only five award-winning artists from the previous year receive an invite back, that means there are over 50 spots open to all comers.

Because of my familiarity with so many of the applicants, I had to set very strict rules for myself. That meant putting on the blinders and only judging the work that was in front of me. To not do so would be giving an unfair advantage or disadvantage to the person I did know versus the many whose work I did not know. My mind runs a constant dialogue in the background (“but their work is better than these slides!” or “how can I leave them out, we’ve been friends for years?” or “they will never speak to me again!” or “they’ll think I don’t like them or their work”, “maybe I should make an exception for them because they’ve had a tough year, or we are in the same gallery, or they are one of my students” or even “they sell well at high prices, if the numbers go down this year, I’ll be responsible for not picking them!” And the list goes on....

Truthfully, after several very hard looks I still had 100 candidates for 53 slots! And I was pretty ruthless even at this stage. So I went back to the basics and the rules that were in the prospectus. It stated : Upload three (3) digital high-resolution jpeg images (not to exceed 50mb in size) of plein air work painted within the past two years.

And here are many reasons that might have been the reason that you were or were not chosen this year.

So, you were not chosen if:

• -  Your jpegs were not properly prepared. They should be of the images only with no frames, no backgrounds, and the image should be straight and not blurry. Some images were very dark so make sure you shoot them in the proper light. Maybe even view them on several devices before submitting. I’m not in favor of photoshopping images but if they need to be brightened, go ahead and use that tool until it looks on your screen similar to how it looks in bright light. If you are going to enter shows, these are the basics and ignoring them may get you tossed out even when your work is strong.

• -  Your work was obviously not all done in plein air. The rules specify three plein air works completed in the past 2 years. I have no way of knowing when the work was painted (although in several cases I’m pretty sure that rule was ignored) , but I can tell a plein air piece from a studio painting. Why the two year rule? Well, if your work is in the process of evolving, choosing very old work that is going to be different from your current work is not an honest presentation of what you will be doing at PAE 2023. The judge has no way of enforcing this rule, nor should we, but as a plein air artist honoring the parameters of the competition, it should be easy to find three recent pieces. And if not, then you haven’t been doing enough plein air work and may need to take a year off anyway!

• -  You showed me different media. It’s great to see your versatility, but I’d like to know which medium you will be using during the competition. I like to include all mediums if possible so if you are really great at a medium that is not seen so often, it may be a good idea to stick to that medium. Nothing wrong with playing the odds!

Having met all the rules, here are the other reasons you may not have been chosen:

•   Your subject matter was too similar. Three crashing surf paintings, or three cliffs looking down at crashing surf, or three paths going off into the distance makes me think that if you don’t find your favorite motifs here, you will not do your best work. It may have caused me to reject you even if you have beautiful brushwork, design and color, which many of you did.

•   Your painting met all the quality rules, but so did several others that have some style similarities to yours and it is important to me that I chose a show with some variety. You may have been one of the last ones eliminated, so don’t let this show discourage you. You are a good painter and your omission this year doesn’t reflect on you.

•   So if your work was good, met all the rules, why didn’t you get in? It could have been the WOW factor. Three perfectly great images up against another three perfectly great images can be reduced down to which one I remember most, i.e. which do I find the most  interesting or exciting. And that’s where we can disagree and what makes art so personal.

   

  So congrats to those who were accepted and to those who weren’t, next year will be another year and another jurist. Best of luck!