RWS Contemporary Watercolour Competition 2019 - Call for Entries
The deadline for the call for entries for the RWS Contemporary Watercolour Competition 2019 is Monday 14 January.
- I've been ambivalent about this competition in recent years (2012-2017).
- However the change of president seems to have resulted in something of a change in the type of artwork selected for this exhibition.
That said I think it's now very much time for a change in the type of artwork submitted. All those who stayed away during the 'heavily contemporary / non figurative' part of the RWS life cycle can now re-emerge and engage with this watercolour competition again.
This post is about the Call for Entries for the RWS Contemporary Watercolour Competition 2019. It covers
- my preamble and commentary about what I'd like to see this competition achieve
- what the RWS want to see
- the prizes
- the judges
- who can enter
- how to enter
- the exhibition
For a commentary on some of the very significant issues associated with this competition in the recent past my post about last year's Call for Entries
What I want to see
What I want to see coming forward in OPEN watercolour competitions like these - in the future - are:
- Firstly - some potential candidates to follow in the footsteps of the great watercolour painters that we have lost in recent years - such as Leslie Worth (1923-2009) (Google Images) and David Prentice (1936-2014) (Google Images) who produced emphatically contemporary figurative works while at the same time being complete masters of their medium and hugely impressive.
- Second - some "WOW!" paintings in watercolour. I've seen "Wow!" paintings in watercolour in this competition in the dim and distant past and I've seen "Wow!" watercolour paintings in other open competitions and juried exhibitions. I don't mean "kapow" paintings of the "in your face" variety. I mean the ones that just stop you in your tracks and just make you stare because you didn't realise you could do that with watercolour. Leslie Worth did it for me on a number of occasions - as did David Prentice - which is why I miss their skills and competence and vision so very much.
- Third I want to see an exhibition of paintings by artists who know how apply, move and remove pigments suspended in water - BEFORE and AFTER application - NOT a refuge for painters using polymers!!!
You can see the artworks selected for the 2018 exhibition on the RWS website. Some of it is extremely unexciting and I'm guessing did not walk off the walls....
Which is WHY you need to do your bit and enter your work! Preferably by people who know how to make watercolour sing....
RWS Contemporary Watercolour Competition 2019
