Welcome to Women in Watercolor’s blog newsletter, Women in Watercolor Working Together!

6th Annual WIW International Juried Competition 2025

Entry opens April 1, 2025

Knowing the Rules to a Show Before You Enter

It is so important to read the full prospectus for any show before you enter. Every show has very specific rules and they are not the same for each one. Even within the same organization, if they have multiple shows per year, chances are the rules are different if they are different kinds of shows.

A Few Things You Need to Know BEFORE Entering Any Show:

• Opening and closing dates/times.
• How many and what type of images you can enter. If there is a theme or different categories.
• If there is a fee to enter the show, if you have to be a member of the organization to enter or if it’s open to everyone.
• Rules on the materials used, type of paper or board it’s on, type of paint, things that are not allowed.
• If you are allowed to paint from someone else’s photograph or does everything have to be your own from the beginning.
• How your image has to be formatted to enter; can it have a watermark, be a certain size, formatted and cropped correctly, oriented right side up.
• How to actually enter; through a website, emailing to organization, posting somewhere. The size, price, year painted or other information they need.
• If your painting has been in any other shows in the past, certain organizations will not allow it to be entered.
• The date you painted it; some shows have a cutoff of time it has to have been created by to make sure new work only gets entered.
• If the show is online only or will accepted work have to be shipped somewhere.
• For shipped work there are often framing requirements. Certain types or sizes of frames, glass or acrylic, wire hanger or sawtooth, how it has to be packaged and shipped.
• If there are prizes awarded, if it’s a juried show or does everyone get in.

These are just some of the things that have to be considered before entering work into any competition or exhibition, online or in person. You need to make sure that the painting you are entering fits ALL of the requirements for a show. If you enter something that has to be cut or excluded, there are often repercussions for the artist besides just being embarrassing. You usually will not get your money back if you paid for entry, you might not be able to enter the next show or sometimes ever again depending on the rules you broke. But all this can be avoided by simply reading the rules before you enter.

For the Women in Watercolor International Juried Competition, these are some of the rules in the prospectus. (But make sure you read the full prospectus on the website! These are just some of them.)

• The exhibition is open to all female artists working in watercolor on paper, synthetic paper, watercolor board, Yupo or other two-dimensional surfaces. Transparent and opaque watercolors, casein, watercolor gouache (not acrylic gouache) or water-soluble inks are allowed. Medium must remain water soluble after drying.
• NO acrylic, egg tempera, permanent inks, pastels, colored pencil, collage or any form of print or reproductions.
• Watercolors sealed with spray or wax after completion are allowed as long as it does not alter the original image.
• Artist’s original work only. No class work. No work done under supervision. No copies or likenesses of another artist’s work including published source or reference work.
• Photo reference material must have been personally photographed by the artist. You may not use any part of others reference materials for paintings entered into this show.
• NO AI (Artificial Intelligence) of any kind used in reference photo or painting image. Any use of AI will ban you from ALL future competitions.
• One entry per artist per category. (5 total) Multiple entries per category will be exempt from judging.
• No work previously entered or accepted in past Women in Watercolor exhibitions or competitions may be submitted.
• Paintings of nudes are acceptable with Women in Watercolor reserving the right to refuse entries depicting undue violence or obscenity as determined by Women in Watercolor.

Hopefully this handy guide helps you get ready before entering any show or competition. Don’t be afraid to enter something. You will only get better if you challenge yourself and reach out of your comfort zone. You never know what will happen so it’s worth trying! Keep in mind that almost all juried shows have a cutoff to the number of entries they accept, so sometimes even a great painting just does not make the cut. It’s important not to take it personally and just try again. A painting that did not get into one show, might very well get into the next one you enter! Good luck!

https://womeninwatercolor.com/2025-international-juried-competition/

The FULL PROSPECTUS for the 2025 contest is up on the website NOW.
Over $17,000 in cash prizes, plus thousands more in merchandise prizes and awards!

https://womeninwatercolor.com/women-in-watercolor-prospectus/

Meet the 2025 Awards Judges

You can see more about them on the website: https://womeninwatercolor.com/2025-awards-judges/

2nd Annual Women in Watercolor Members Only
Online International Exhibition 2025

The full show including the Viewer’s Choice Award Winners are posted on the website.

THE EXHIBITION IS LIVE

https://womeninwatercolor.com/2025-members-only-exhibition/

Keeping Track of Paintings Entered into Galleries and Competitions

By Lynn D. Pratt

It is very important to keep track of where all of your paintings are and where they have been entered. Many galleries and shows do not want you to enter a painting that has been shown or entered there before. The organizers of shows cannot be expected to look back through years’ worth of records for each person that enters, so you need to make sure you are keeping track of it yourself. Contacting an organizer of a show or gallery and asking what you have entered over multiple years and shows is not acceptable.

You want to keep track of:

• Where a painting has been entered, online or in person, what show and where.
• What the entry dates are and drop-off and pickup dates for in person shows.
• The type of paint used if you use different mediums, if it’s on paper or board, framed or unframed, the title, the size of the painting and the overall size of the frame, the price.
• Was your painting accepted or declined in the show you entered.
• If it won any awards in the show.

It is also helpful to have a master list of the paintings you have in stock. You can keep this updated as you create new ones and sell others.

You want to know:

• If a painting is currently in storage or at a gallery
• The title and description
• Size of painting itself and the overall frame
• Year created
• Price
• Materials used, type of paint and paper
• Framing materials, is it varnished or framed under glass or acrylic
• If it has won any awards
• Date sold and buyer info

Having these two lists and keeping them updated will greatly help you organize your paintings whether you are a professional artist or just a hobby painter. If they are up to date, when a show comes up you can easily see what you have in stock and if it follows all the rules of a show without having to sort through piles of artwork or stacks of framed paintings.

Here are two basic Excel spreadsheets that you can use to keep track of this information. You can easily change any of the categories, or add or delete anything you need or don’t to suit to your needs. If you don’t use a computer just keep track of your lists by hand in a notebook or binder.

FREE Spreadsheets to Download

Members Gallery

Don’t forget to check out our Members Gallery to see work from ALL of our amazing members. If you are not a member yet, and would like to join us, CLICK HERE for more info!

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Edited by Lynn D. Pratt

Women in Watercolor was created to help encourage, support, and promote the outstanding women that are working in this medium on an international level.

Through online competitions, and in-person events we will work together to build each other up, learn from each other and increase our individual and overall success.

Thank you for supporting the Women in Watercolor!