Just heard from the Mall Galleries that my pre-selected painting for the Society of Wildlife Artists has not been selected for the main exhibition. However, I am not too disappointed. I shall be happy with pre-selection, and try again next year – provided I can afford it!!
Just out of interest, I wondered how much it actually cost me to enter this “prestigious” exhibition. I list below costs associated with my pre-selected painting. I am sure you will be amazed, as I was, so I shall have to think very seriously whether I actually need to show my work in a “prestigious gallery”, or whether I keep doing what I am doing, and be an artist for the people – hopefully within everyone’s price bracket!
Paintings entered online 2 x £15.00 = £30.00
Handmade Frame for one painting which was pre-selected = £50
Cost to transport by specialist courier 1 x £80 = £80
And upon rejection, another 1 x £80 = £160 total courier costs
So the total costs for one painting before being [selected] for exhibition = £240
Other costs which are involved had the painting actually been selected and subsequently sold:
Commission: 45% plus VAT
The price of my submitted painting was £500.
Had it been selected and subsequently sold at the main exhibition, what would I have been left with as “profit”?
£500 less 45% @ £225 plus £45 VAT = £270 total commission.
So, total commission of £270 + £240 costs = £510. [Gasp] a £10 loss!!!
The upside is that it will come back to me and be available to sell elsewhere; I shall write-off the £240 costs so far and hopefully recoup a bit if it actually sells at the end of the day – but I can now sell it at a reasonable price, probably about £300.
This is the water colour painting which I thought for a tiny moment, might have made it to the big time:
1508 Border Skirmish. Preselected for SWLA 2016 (Dormice)