Behind the Curtains: What Magic Happens in Juried Art Shows?

 As an artist, promising or a prominent one, you must be curious to take part in juried art shows and steal all the spotlights! That is something you dream in your heart of hearts, as the challenge to win competitions and getting selected for online juried shows indeed is a big deal! You must be nervously awaiting verdicts of the jurors meticulously examining every brushstroke. For most artists, these shows are shrouded in mystery, a secretive world where art is dissected and decisions are made behind closed doors. But what really happens in a juried art show? In this blog, let’s pull back the curtain and explore the intricate process that transforms submissions into celebrated exhibitions.

It Starts with Open Call for Artists

Every juried art show begins with an inevitable call for entries—a call for artists to submit their artworks. This step sets the tone, as organizers define the theme, medium, eligibility, and submission guidelines. Whether it’s a local gallery seeking to spotlight regional talent or a prestigious national event, or an international art gallery like TERAVARNA, seeking entries for international art competitions, the call is designed to attract a specific genre of work.

 

Artists sift through these calls with their portfolios with a tinge of courage! This stage requires careful attention to detail. Overlooking a minor submission rule, like incorrect file formatting or missing artist statements, can lead to disqualification before the work even reaches the jury. So, be wary while submitting your artworks.

The Selection Process in an Online Painting Competition: From Chaos to Curation Online 

Once submissions are in, the selection process begins. This phase is often the most mysterious to artists and audiences alike. A juried art show typically assembles a panel of jurors from the art fraternity—art professionals, curators, critics, and sometimes even established artists—who bring diverse perspectives to the jurying process.

Step 1: Pre-Screening

The first round of any juried art competition online is often a pre-screening stage. Jurors review digital submissions, which include high-quality images of the artwork, dimensions, and accompanying statements. Here, the goal is to identify pieces that align with the show’s theme or vision. Elimination is done in the initial stage, when the review is swift.

Step 2: Deliberation and Scoring

The shortlisted artworks undergo a more detailed evaluation. Jurors examine technical skills, originality, emotional impact, and how well the piece fits the overarching theme. Scoring systems vary, but they often involve a numeric scale or a ranking system. Jurors might debate the merits of specific pieces, amidst brainstorming and debates.

Step 3: Final Selections

After rounds of scoring and deliberation, the jury arrives at the final list of accepted works. The number of selected pieces depends on the quality of submissions. Some juried shows also include a ‘reserve list’ in case an accepted artist withdraws or fails to deliver their work on time.

The Judging Criteria: From the Jurors POV

So, how can you be sure how jurors are going to evaluate your artwork? They do not look for technical prowess alone. They definitely look for pieces that resonate, provoke thought, and push boundaries. Here are some common criteria:

1. Artistic Merit: Does the piece demonstrate mastery of the medium? Is the execution flawless, or does it use imperfections creatively?

2. Originality: Does the work offer a fresh perspective or reinterpret traditional themes in a compelling way?

3. Theme Alignment: How well does the piece reflect the exhibition’s purpose or theme?

4. Emotional Impact: Does the work evoke a strong emotional or intellectual response?

If you have been working closely with a contemporary art gallery online like TERAVARNA, you know that they are brilliant with the curation as the chosen works are carefully arranged to create a cohesive & engaging storyboard. They even let the artworks co-exist and share space in meaningful ways that complement and contrast each other in their virtual gallery.

Results of Online Art Shows: Boosting the Morale of Artists

Recognitions are common at juried shows, with the standout pieces taking up the prestigious virtual gallery space, just in case of TERAVARNA, one of the best online art galleries. Their extensive selection not only recognizes talent but also enhances the visibility for emerging artists.

From the Artist’s Perspective: Rewards Outweigh Risks

For artists, participating in a juried art show is a rollercoaster of emotions. The submission process put their creations up for scrutiny. Rejection is a real possibility, and even seasoned artists grapple with the sting of not making the cut. Yet, rewards are often more!

Acceptance can boost an artist’s reputation, provide networking opportunities, and generate future leads. Even rejection can be a learning experience that makes the artists push their creative boundaries further.

What Makes Juried Art Shows So Special?

Juried art shows stand apart from open exhibitions because of their selective nature. The curated experience offers viewers a sense of quality and cohesion, while artists benefit from the credibility that comes with being chosen by a panel of experts. These shows celebrate artistic excellence, inspiring dialogues between creators and the world at large. 

Pulling Back the Curtain 

Understanding the process behind a juried art show demystifies the experience and highlights the immense effort involved at every stage. For artists, it’s a chance to grow, challenge themselves, and connect with the broader art community. For viewers, it’s an opportunity to witness curated excellence and discover emerging talents.

So, the next time you attend a juried art show organized by the best online art galleries like TERAVARNA, remember the journey that each piece—and each artist—has taken to earn its place on the walls. Behind the curtain lies a world of passion, deliberation, and artistry, all coming together to create something truly amazing!

Why Pick Warm Colors for the Upcoming Landscape Art Contest

“A landscape painting is essentially emotional in origin. It exists as a record of an effect in nature whose splendour has moved a human heart…”

-         Walter J. Phillips 

Landscape art has always been there to enamour the artists and the viewers alike when it comes to express beauty at its best. Through landscape art an artist not only paints but weaves a fairytale around us, from the sun-kissed dawn to the snow-caped mountain cliffs.  Amidst the myriad hues and colors, we get to experience masterpieces like Van Gogh, Matisse, large landscape painting by Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, and more contemporary landscape artists like Eric Hanson to capture the true essence of nature - our mother earth.

If you are an artist primarily focused on landscape painting, and if you are eyeing at the most promising landscape painting competition organized by an esteemed art gallery TERAVARNA, then you need to have some super-cool ideas as to how to go about the contest. Streamline strategies for the coming landscape art contest revamping your palette a bit. This time, choose the warm colors over the pastel ones and see the vibrancy dance on the canvas like a shaft of ray.  Read this blog through to the end and know the intrigues of the vibrant hues. Your art is just a few steps ahead to win the gallery wall space! Just stick around!

5 Reasons to Use Warm Colors: Make Your Landscape Study Stand from the Clutter

Art platforms like TERAVARNA organize online art contests to encourage painters, artists, sculptors, visual artists, etc. to immortalize the beauty of landscapes through their artistic interpretations. Whether you are more adaptable to abstract landscape art or modern landscape painting or happier to go with en plein air study, these platforms help increase your visibility as a landscape artist to get responses from a worldwide viewership. Isn’t that just great! 

Why Warm Colors are Preferred for Landscape Watercolor Painting and Acrylics?

Let your imagination run wild and observation merge seamlessly while creating beautiful landscape art, no matter if it's watercolor, acrylic, or oil-based paints.

1.        Warm Colors are the Power Houses of Vibrancy and Brightness

Go beyond the stereotypes and rule the contest with your warm and bright canvases just too intriguing to ignore. Paint your horizons of imagination with the uses of orange, chrome yellow and red, rust and vermilion in adequate proportion to enhance the appeal of the sceneries.

2.  Warm Colors can Make the Canvas Look Real and Credible

Warm colors jolt our senses very fast, unlike any neutral color palette. They are perfect to make the lifeless canvas look animated! Heat, fire, sun and blood have always been the greatest inspirations for the bright hues in art and design. The hearty combination of red, yellow, orange, and pink, has fuelled artists’ imagination ever. These colors are filled with warmth and intimacy, best captured in colorful paprika, pumpkins, warm-colored flowers like sizzling sunflowers, or the color palette of orangish and yellowish-brown shaded leaves of maple, oak, etc. casting an intimate shadow during the fall. You can use them to make the objects in the landscape look almost real-life.

3.  Warm Colors Evoke Mood in Your Art Canvases

Are you someone obsessed with red? Do you know that a bit of red-purple or burgundy used in your landscape painting can make it look more passionate and animated? Ignite your love for hues and embrace all of the bright tints to make it look like a celebration just like a vibrant forest painting by Eric Hanson. She follows the impasto technique of Vincent Van Gogh, the master of landscape art. In one of her paintings of a thick forest in Aspen, she uses the thick strokes of oil color on canvas that showcases the beauty of the forest, and the enchanting pine trees there. She suggests the autumnal beauty of the season, with the bright-hued leaves of the trees in Aspen.

4.  Make Your Palette Dynamic for Abstract Landscape Art with Warm Hues

No matter if it’s a landscape to paint or create, you can as well integrate abstract elements into the flow of your storytelling. Vibrant shades can do wonders in abstract landscape art, as we have seen in Wassily Kandinsky or Jackson Pollock’s abstract canvases. Create more inspiring non-representational art to transform moods and spaces using great contrasts of black and white landscape painting with the luminous colors.

5.  Create Some Iconic Landscapes with Bright Shades

You can draw inspiration from some of the world’s iconic landscapes that have inspired landscape artists time and time over.

• Get inspired from the breathtaking geographical wonders like the Grand Canyon in the USA, with contrasting hues and textures.

• If you wish to draw a serene landscape with misty skies, waterbodies, and welcoming hills in the backdrop, you can take cues from the Lake District in the UK.  

• For the ideal warmth and vibrancy, you can paint the Italian Amalfi Coast. It is ideal for capturing the coastal beauty with dreamy cliffs.

• Even for the jungle safari-seekers, Serengeti Forest in Africa can be a rare landscape model. Capture the interplay of light and shadow of the vast plains with bright hues to energize the canvas.

Boost Your Chances of Winning Online Landscape Painting Competition with Better Color Sense:

Organizers like TERAVARNA art gallery makes an artist aware of preserving the sanctity of the natural universe through participating in landscape themed contests. Smart indeed! Warmer tones help to enhance your creation adding vitality and warmth to everything they touch upon. So, pick up your brush and stylus to let the colors blend well with the sceneries.

 

How to Grab Attention at the Next Animal Art Contest?

 Are you someone who finds the wild beasts, or the domesticated furry friends, or the itsy-bitsy insects tempting enough to portray? If you are confident enough to draw them in every minuscule detail, as a plein-air subject, or an abstract expression you can share with the world, you can as well be the next great God of animal-themed canvases.  

There are several esteemed galleries and contemporary online art platforms like TERAVARNA who give ample opportunity to the installation artists, painters, mixed media artists, fibre arts, etc. to feature in their prestigious animal drawing competition, organized to boost artist visibility. Read this blog as there are a handful of tricks to set you on the winning spree. Just stick around! Did you know painting animals can bust stress and anxiety? Check out now!

Tips to Make Intriguing Paintings of Animals for the Grand Art Events

No matter how enthusiastically you handle a pet portrait session of a dog portrait painting or an elephant artwork, make sure they stand out from clutter! Show them to a cream of viewers to generate leads. If you have already enrolled for any animal themed exhibitions or animal art contest organized by some reputed art galleries like TERAVARNA, then you must know that animal art is full of nuances. You need to balance a whole lot of things when creating an appealing animal painting, just like co-ordinating your technical skills, emotional connection with the animal you paint, and creativity to blend with the rest.

It's a bit of a task as your work can be compared to the precision of a photographic representation, if you are a realist painter. Make these tips work wonders for you for the upcoming animal portrait competition. Just follow them closely and see the magic happens.  Make the bark, woof, arf, boof, howl or snarl come alive with a bit of instinct and realism in your art.

Study the Furs, Feathers, Scales and Emotions for the Animal Portrait

·   Train your eyes to see minute spots and shifts, study the animal closely if it’s a cuddly pet, and be fond of your touch, as animals too have emotions like us humans.

·   You can also make breathtaking abstract representations of animals through your abstract paintings of animals. They can add a whole new dimension to your animal portrayal.  

·   For a wild creature, or a bird, you must observe their expressions, textures, anatomy, behaviour, etc. while visiting the zoo, a wildlife sanctuary, where you can catch their glimpse from close quarters. Try to make them look more real-life and breathing.

·   Use high-resolution photographs with minute details, videos, and anatomy guides to draw every fur and feather;

·   Have a knowledge of animal symbolism to add more depth to your artwork.

·   You cannot leave the emotions behind, as a unique personality makes a standout animal portrait more than a mere representation.

·   Study them closely to know their playful pattern, serene looks, and regal postures.

Choose the Proper Artwork Medium and Lighting Condition

Knowing how you can handle mediums can help a lot. Also take care of the lighting aspect for the animal portraits. They mean a lot!

·    Try a pencil or charcoal sketch, for a keen watch of furs, feathers, scales with precision. Have them in monochromatic hues too!

·       Use watercolor and ink to add more spontaneity and softness, like an abstract animal art or a quick wash of a bird or a beast.

·       Use acrylic and oil paint for more depth and accuracy, with a life-like finish and sublime touch. Use brisk and impressionist strokes to mimic the animals.

      For the colorful animal painting, experiment with a diverse color palette, like surreal color palettes to get a unique feel.

·         Having a good knowhow of color contrast will help balance lightness and vibrancy of the portrait.

       Make the central subject pop with proper use of contrast, highlighting the key areas.

·       Nature photography can also be a versatile choice as you experiment with textures, styles, and light exposures on the animal figures.

·       Make use of natural lighting to get the ‘wow’ effect! Or, have directional lighting to focus on a part of the painting. They will hook the viewers more!

·       Use warm and cool colors to express a cozy tone or a more dramatic mood.

Choose the best medium & lighting condition aligning to your own style of story-telling. Always go with a jog-up session to ensure you get better results.

Be a Great Story-teller with Your Animal Paintings

Add a dose of humor to your animal art and you’re on your way! Your compelling story can be the showstopper in any animal art contest, with a well-crafted subject of focus, dynamism, and context for the picture.

·       Place the animal in a visually appealing pose, making it the focal point of attention; with an authentic and befitting background.

·       Add dynamism to your portraits like a dog leaping and basking in the sunshine, or a lonesome giraffe bathing in moonlight.

·       Focus on the eyes, as eyes are the windows to the souls, so catch the reflections and the deep emotions weaved within. Also look for accuracy and coherence with the whole composition.

·       Placing in context like a tiger in a dense wood, or a playful puppy with a wool yarn will add authenticity and likeness with the real-life paws and furs; this emotional connection will have more winning glances.

 

Trust Your Creative Intuition to Win the Next Animal Drawing Competition

It’s all about enjoying the journey while you create animal art for the contests. Never stop experimenting with unique styles and mediums. Be authentic, passionate, and creative with your compelling animal portrait, giving your 100% best as an artist. Prior planning and choosing the right medium with a personal story-telling skill will make you the CHOSEN ONE. Take part in animal-themed competitions organized by art platforms like TERAVARNA and grab the golden chance to let your passion for animals do the talking.

5 Tips To Use Colors to Evoke Mood in Landscape Art and Create Mesmerizing Landscape Paintings

 So, you’re wondering why your depiction of a cherry blossom evening doesn’t paint your feelings of Spring? 

Well, those are just the missing elements in your landscape paintings. Let’s face it: landscape art is not about dabbing a splash of blue on the skies and green on the trees. Perfecting it involves diving into the whimsical world of emotions, understanding the color schemes, and setting the mood. Eliciting emotions in landscape watercolor paintings takes more than just replicating a scene, it involves imbuing work with the color palettes, atmospheres, texture, lighting, and composition. It’s all good, in this blog some tips will help you to evoke the mood in your large landscape paintings.

1. Set the mood for your landscape painting.

There is no denying the fact that modern landscape painting requires one to determine the feeling and scenic vibe. Working on the mood and atmosphere in your landscape art will make it more engaging and immersive. For instance, Van Gogh’s paintings mirrored his struggle with mental illness, similarly, Picasso’s paintings were often associated with anguish and melancholy. Hence, the mood will determine the emotional response of the viewers. For instance, a serene sunshine or meadow conveys positivity, tranquility, and peace. On the other hand, a misty forest at the crack of dawn will invite mystery. What you capture in your large landscape painting is the driving force that impacts the viewer’s emotion or thought.  

2. Understand the psychology of colors in landscape art.

Landscape art is not about throwing a mountain or tossing a sky on the top, neither is it a quaint landscape watercolor painting. The use of different colors can evoke various moods and emotions, similarly influencing different ways to perceive it. In modern landscape painting, determining the color scheme is like a giant mood ring that involves dismantling emotions. Hence, color theory is important here. 

3. Implement the color theory. 

Colors are important for creating a dynamic and vibrant composition. The color theory determines the intermingling of colors to result in feelings and emotions. Grasping and balancing primary and secondary colors induce mood in landscape art. For example, shades such as blue, red, and yellow are the primary colors. Similarly, colors such as orange and purple can be formed by mixing the primary colors. To add life to your large landscape paintings, you can also experiment by mixing primary and secondary colors. Furthermore, warm and cool tones, black and white serve the harmonious palette of a landscape painting.

4. Play with cool and warm tones.

You can paint a sunny day in your landscape painting, with the sun as a subject, which requires the implementation of reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and tans to evoke the mood. These shades are associated with warmth, focus, and vibrancy. On the other hand, cool tones such as blues, greens, and purples can invoke feelings of calmness and refreshment. For example, Monet’s “Water Lilies” uses blues and green to capture the essence of the tranquility of water. Sometimes, cool tones can depict sadness and depression in abstract landscape art. Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is a classic example of depicting melancholy through landscape art. Therefore, your next modern landscape painting can either have a feisty sunny day with waterfalls and flowers, or a mysterious night in the forest with the wilderness of greens.

5. Balance light and shadows.

Contrast warm and cool tones in your landscape art to create the perfect blend of highlights and shadow. Use warm tones for the highlights and cool tones for the shadows, and develop gradients from cooler to warmer tones to add more depth. The former can create depth, while the latter can recede in the backdrop. Furthermore, play with the blacks and whites in the landscape painting. Use blacks to deepen the contrasts such as the portrayal of a stormy night with darkened edges, and whites to highlight, and define the shadows. Whites can also be used in certain atmospheres such as fogs and mists. Light and shadows help convey depth and form in your landscape watercolor paintings. 

These few tips can elevate your landscape painting, adding a heartbeat and a sense of living in it. From setting the mood to experimenting with the color theory, implementing the right shades, and balancing light and shadow, you can now win all the landscape painting competitions. Your brushstrokes can transform simple landscape art into a masterpiece. Let those large landscape paintings transform into a vessel for storytelling and emotional resonance. 

“Paint is just another way of keeping a diary.”~Pablo Picasso