Watercolour New Zealand

Splash - Watercolour New Zealands Annual National Watercolour Exhibition

Splash is the national exhibition of Watercolour New Zealand Inc., featured best paintings by professional and amateur watercolour artists all across New Zeland from Whangarei to Invercargill.

TERMS, CONDITIONS & SELECTION CRITERIA

CRITERIA FOR WATERCOLOUR ARTWORKS

Watercolour is primarily a transparent medium painted on paper. However, other water based media such as gouache and acrylic paint are acceptable, provided they are used with watercolour technique on paper. Works using impasto or other oil colour techniques fall outside this definition. Mixed media works if primarily watercolour but also using ink, pencil, pastel, crayon are acceptable.

ELIGIBLE ARTWORK

Entry is open to all members of Watercolour New Zealand.
Open theme.
A limit per artist of 3 large framed paintings (no size limit) and two small framed paintings, maximum frame size fo small painting is 28 x 25 cm. No metal frames accepted.
No diptychs or triptychs will be accepted.
Work must be original and not infringe copyright. Reproductions, art class work will not be accepted.
Work must not have been exhibited previously in Wellington area.
Work will not be eligible for selection if presentation conditions are not met. The decision of selectors will be final and no correspondence will be entered into.
All works must be for sale.

FEES

There is a non-refundable entry fee of $20 per large painting and $15 per small painting.
Juniors (10 to 18 years) do not pay an entry fee .

PRESENTATION

Work is to be framed to a professional standard.
White, off-white or cream mats should be used.
All paintings must have a mat or spacer separating the watercolour from the glass.
Paintings must have D rings and hanging cord.
SWING TAG AND LABEL: state artists name, title of work and price (including GST). Make them tidy.

Tie the swing tag to a cord with 10 cms of hanging length; tape the end of the cord to the back of the frame at top mid-point. This will allow it to hang over to the front for cataloguing and then be tucked behind without showing.
Stick the label to the back of each work.

Please note that eyelets will be added to the frame to comply with the NZAFA hanging system and will be removed.

READ MORE ABOUT FRAMING

EXHIBITING ARTISTS PROFILE

Attach an envelope on the outside of packaging containing your Artists Profile or send as an email attachment to info@watercolournewzealand.nz Subject line: Artist Profile.

Your Artists Profile is an up-to-date statement about yourself as an artist and viewable in a folder during the exhibition. Your profile should be typed on one A4 sheet. Put your name and contact details for prospective buyers. You might include your art experience, training, qualifications, exhibition history, artistic motivation and include a photograph of yourself or your works.

INSURANCE

Insurance of art works while in transit to and from the venue and during the exhibition is the responsibility of the artist.
The exhibition organisers will take all reasonable care but Watercolour New Zealand will not be liable for any damage or loss of artwork during installation, display and de-installation of the exhibition.

COMMISSION

Commission will be 30% of the selling price.
Commission is due on exhibited works if sold after the exhibition and within 14 days of the close.
A voluntary commission of 10% on works commissioned as a result of the exhibition would be appreciated for exhibition marketing expenses.

COURIER TRANSPORT

Please complete Courier Delivery Form and attach it to your entry form if you are using a Courier to transport your work to and from the Academy Galleries.

Early or late entries will not be accepted.

NOTIFICATION OF UNSELECTED WORKS

Artists whose paintings are not selected will be notified by phone or by email before the exhibition opens.

COLLECTION DAY

29 October - Collect unsold work 10 am 12 noon
Paintings not collected by noon will be couriered back to the artist with a packaging and courier fee of $60 payable by the artist.

Splash 2024 Awards

Watercolour New Zealand Supreme Award - $1,000
Watercolour New Zealand Merit Awards - X 5 $200 each
Gordon Harris Award for Innovation in Watercolour - $200 voucher from Gordon Harris
Gordon Harris Award for Best Painting by a Junior Artist (Under 18) - $100 voucher from Gordon Harris.
Patron Small Works section:

Winter days are a good time to be creating your best paintings for our Splash exhibition, so here are details:

Each artist can enter 3 large framed paintings (no size limit) and 2 small framed paintings (maximum frame size 28 x 25 cms.) No metal frames.

Entry fees are $20 per large painting and $15 per small painting. Juniors (10 to 18) do not pay an entry fee.

Splash entries: Helping you to help us

Take care, please, to get your entry form correct and follow the rules. We expect to receive exactly what you write on the entry form. We will NOT be altering prices or titles. What you write is what will appear in the catalogue. We have very limited time to set up the show, so we need to be tough! Help us by getting it right.

Small works

The maximum frame size for the small paintings is 28 x 25 cms. A standard frame of this size or a little smaller is available from several stores. These usually have a hardboard backing which is NOT acceptable for Splash. You MUST replace it with acid free foam board, available from art supply shops. The watercolour must be separated from the glass with a mat or spacer. Small paintings have proved popular with buyers. We must offer works framed with archival quality materials.
An important change: The price of small paintings must not be more than $300.

Frames and mats

A good frame can help sell your painting. An unsuitable frame or mat may prevent a sale. Framing is expensive but its unreasonable to expect a buyer to receive a sub-standard frame.

Gold or champagne coloured frames or pale wood frames are a good choice for most paintings, together with an off-white mat.

White frames are popular but need to be chosen and handled with care.

Mat width: As a Watercolour New Zealand guide:

For a quarter sheet painting mat width is about 60 mm.
For a half sheet painting mat width is about 75 mm.
The bottom of the mat is 10 to 15 mm wider than the sides, leading the eye into the painting.

Spacing of paper from glass

The main purpose of the mat board is to provide a spacer. The watercolour paper should not touch the glass. If you are not using a mat board, the work should be separated from the glass using some other type of spacer. If there is no separation the paper can contact the glass and mould can result.

Cockling of watercolour paper

The painting paper should be flat. Cockles or buckles caused by watery washes or framing the painting before it is completely dry, will often show when the painting is hung because the lighting from above will cast a curvy shadow on the painting. Cockles can be avoided by stretching the paper before painting, or using heavier paper.

Backing board

The backing board must be acid free foam board. Use of brown cardboard will lead to acid attack and foxing of the painting. The tape must be archival quality framers tape.

The swing tag

Poor swing tags cause us much unnecessary work. The swing label must be made of sturdy card, not paper. Business card size, neatly written, is good. It must be tied to a cord long enough to hang over the top of the frame to the front, so that, once the painting is hung, the tag can be easily read by the cataloguing crew. It should also be short enough so that it does not hang below the frame when cataloguing is complete and the swing tag is tucked behind. The best way to attach the swing label is to tape it to the centre top of the back of the frame.

Courier boxes

Please dont courier works in a disintegrating box. Buy a strong box or make your own box (see article on page 9 in newsletter 167, available on our website).

Copyright

The entry form states: Work must be original. No reproduction or art class work is accepted. You cannot submit a painting that you have done which follows a tutors demonstration, whether you paint it in class or at home. You cannot submit a painting that is a copy of another artists work. Paintings that are reproductions of professional photographs or artworks published in books and magazines will be disallowed by the selectors. You can, and of course should, take the techniques and style that you have learnt in class, use your own sketches, photographs and composition to create an original painting.

Sign and submit!

How to photograph your painting

Artists are encouraged to email one or more images for advertising on social media, publicity or displayed on the WNZ Website, Instagram or Facebook page.

Photograph before framing.
Choose a bright cloudy day.
Place the painting in an area that has no direct sun rays or shadows.
Do not include the frame or mat in the photo.
Hold the camera/phone so that the sides of the painting line up with the sides of the sides of the lcd screen. -Hold steady as you click. If you have software, please reduce to only the painting not mat showing.
If you can, adjust the white balance to the correct setting.
It helps to open the 'f' stop by 1 or 2 to help improve the whites. (A digital camera tends to turn whites to grey.)
Use the rename function to rename your file and send as a JPG at a medium sized file, publishable quality (at least 1080px wide).
Send photos as an email attachment to: info@watercolournewzealand.nz
Subject line: Splash exhibition
Each photo file name must be in this format: Kim-SmithLake-scene (artist name title with dashes between words)

See further articles on preparing your painting for SPLASH:

COPYRIGHT

By Sue Wild

We live in an age where artworks are easily available to everyone around the world. To make a living artists need to have some control over how copies of their works are used. Without this the art world would be unfair and creativity would not prosper. In order to address this most countries have a law of copyright.

Under the New Zealand Copyright Act, you as artist are the first owner of the copyright. Copyright in your newly completed painting is automatic. (If the work is commissioned, the person commissioning is the owner of the copyright. If you agree to sell the copyright, the buyer becomes the legal owner.) The copyright in an artistic work expires at the end of 50 years. You could register the copyright, but only great artists do that. However, you will notice that artists show the copyright symbol, with name and year on their
website: Alex Jones 2017.

Watercolour New Zealand must avoid exhibiting a work that infringes copyright. For this reason, the terms and conditions on the Splash entry form state: Work must be original. No reproduction or art class work is accepted. You, the artist, sign the Splash entry form declaring that you have read these terms and agree to them. You are making a legal statement that your work does not infringe copyright.

We, the committee, rely on your honesty in this. Can you learn to paint by copying the work of other artists? Yes. As Steve Jobs said, Expose yourself to the best things humans have done and bring those things into your work. Austin Kleon in his lively book Steal Like an Artist (reviewed in newsletter 158) wrote Copying one = plagiarism; copying many = research, but, he says, Try to be like Sargent and youll end up being yourself. So foster your own points of difference. Take a nugget of something that resonates with you, combine it with your own ideas, transform it into something new and share it, so that others can steal from you! But do not submit a copy of another artists painting for exhibition.

Paintings created in workshops or classes cannot be submitted for Splash. A painting that you have done which follows a tutors demonstration, whether you paint it in class or at home, is not acceptable. This includes paintings that are modified versions of the tutors original. That work is copyright to the tutor. You can, and of course should, take the techniques and style that you have learnt, use your own sketches, photographs and composition to create an original painting.

Sign and submit!