Last night I had an epiphany. I have been mulling over what paintings to enter into a couple of upcoming award shows. This can be a valuable way of gaining credibility and recognition if you become a finalist and have your work exhibited in the show, and also if you should be lucky enough to win an award.

I say lucky, because honestly, there is an element of luck involved in being successful. Your application is received by the judge along with hundreds of other entries. I’m not entirely sure of the process of selection a judge uses, but you can’t get past the fact that they will be sitting at their computer looking at digital images one after the other. Your brief description which in some cases can be no longer than 50 words, has to be succinct and to the point. I guess the judge reads it, but how much information can you give in 50 words? I don’t mind this, as I think the work should really speak for itself and be passed or not on its visual merits alone.

I have this mental image of the judge sitting at his/her computer and opening each file, looking for 30 seconds and deciding Yes or No. I don’t believe this is the final decision, I’m sure they make a short list and then refine from there, but at this stage you are just hoping for a Yes, to be looked at again later.

As an entrant you hope that when your file opens on the screen before the judge for this critical 30 second look, that their phone doesn’t suddenly beep and notify them of some 30% discount at their favourite shop. Or that a knock at the door doesn’t’ pull them away from the computer as a neighbour arrives with misdirected mail. Or more likely their dog doesn’t suddenly sense an intruder on the property and bark loudly against a window which bounces the sound around the room assaulting our poor judges ears at this critical moment. He/she would most likely have a surge of irritation and with an impulsive click of the mouse your hard work is abandoned to the NO File, and your Sorry letter automatically bouncing into your inbox.

If you’re lucky enough to get an uninterrupted 30sec look, you are still at the mercy of the state of mind the previous file has left the judge in. Optimum condition would be the previous file is a definite No, a real doozy, a hopeful starter who has yet to earn their stripes by being refused the mandatory multiples of times before they are a real contender for the second look. What you hope doesn’t happen is that by some unfortunate alignment of serendipitous stars the judge hasn’t just given an excited nod to this year’s ultimate winner. Your image, appearing on the screen by comparison is going to look inferior and while the judge is still relishing in the warm fuzzies of the previous file, your offering is heading straight for the No file once again.

So you see luck is very much a contributing factor at this stage of selection. It’s imperative you’re work gets through this chancy stage, so that it’s given a luxurious minute, or even more, of attention later. If you can get the minute, you’re in with a good chance.

Knowing that the deadlines for entries are coming up in the next couple of months I’ve been looking at my paintings with a judge’s eye. But what is a judge’s eye? When I do my work I am constantly looking and assessing my work along its journey to completion. When it is done, varnished and framed its been under critical refinement from woe to go. My judge’s eye has given it the nod and said Yes You Pass.

But now I’m trying to look at my work with THE judge’s eye. Impossible, I don’t even know the judge or have any idea what their eye looks like or likes!! And this is where I had the Epiphany last night. It suddenly dawned on me TO BE THE JUDGE. Instead of trying to guess what the judge is looking for, I should be the judge and decide from looking at my work which is the strongest and send those paintings to the competition. EUREKA!! I can hear you, dear reader saying “of course, that’s obvious, I could have told you that. It’s hardly earthshattering…not really an epiphany….” But to me, this whole decision has become suddenly simpler. I couldn’t move forward because I was fixated on getting into the judge’s head. Isn’t it amazing how contorted we can get in trying to achieve something out of our control, when really the solution is simple? I just need to focus on my head, make my decision and let the judges make theirs.

This also, is the same problem people find themselves in when they try and produce work that people will like and buy. They spend too much time trying to predict other people’s preferences. What have they liked before, what seems to be popular, what’s selling at the moment? The fact is that even if you could crystalize that down to a formula you probably couldn’t produce it because it’s not YOUR work. It’s other people’s work. People are attracted to authenticity and when we are truly painting our preferences, and not trying to play to a crowd, then we put ourselves in a position of being able to achieve authentic, individual artwork that no-one else can produce because it’s OURS. It’s unique, unlike anything else …. And If you’re lucky, the judges will love it too.

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