Art Competition

Paint Out Norfolk – Our Biggest Plein Air Event in 7 Years, July 2020

by
Emily Faludy and Karen Adams painting How Hill, Paint Out Norfolk 2019

Paint Out 2020’s outdoor painting programme will be our biggest yet. An 8-day tour of Norfolk and Norwich (16-23 July). Some 40 artists have been accepted already from the UK and USA with more joining us from Russia and elsewhere. We are expecting around 50-70 plein air artists. Brush up alongside new and familiar faces of the outdoor art practice community. Challenge your creativity. Develop your skills. Win prizes. Sell your artwork.

Artist Julie Hodgson painting at the Castle during Paint Out Norwich 2018
Artist Julie Hodgson painting at the Castle during Paint Out Norwich 2018

For our 7th year leading the field in UK plein air innovation and inspiration and for the second year in East Anglia, we are making this our flagship event for 2020. As we enter the next decade, our founding event Paint Out Norwich (2014) will become a part of our broader Norfolk event and we are moving it up to high summer from its founding origins in autumnal October where it began as part of the Hostry Festival.

Paint Out is the first and consistently long-running event of its kind in the UK and with over 15 events in 3 counties under our belt, prides itself in its quest to innovate and set new challenges, year on year.

Artist Sarah Allbrook at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach
Artist Sarah Allbrook at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach

Come and capture the height of summer in city, coast and countryside locations including Norwich, Norfolk seaside, seaport and market towns, and historic houses. Days and destinations are still being finalised but are set to include: King’s Lynn Festival, Cromer, Sheringham, North Walsham, and a couple of days and nights in Norwich.

There will be guest artists, painting demos, prestigious art talks, and daily prizes. Long summer days and evenings spent painting and socialising in stunning coastal, rural, market town and city environments.

Individual, weekend and multi-day choices available and transport options to county destinations. Priced from £15-£30/day – the early bird discount at £120 is sold out but the not-so-early bird discount of all 8 days at £135 till 29 February is open, rising to £150 in March.

Artist Emily Faludy painting a nocturne during Paint Out Norwich
Artist Emily Faludy painting a nocturne during Paint Out Norwich

Artists looking to hone their outdoor painting skills will be walking on the shoulders of plein air giants. Norfolk and Norwich can justifiably be called the crucible of plein air painting. The Castle Museum in Norwich has the largest collection of Cotmans and Cromes to name a couple of historic luminaries and has very recently acquired a magnificent JMW Turner (Walton Bridges, 1806) – his first open-air work, an analysis of which we hope will form part of our evening lecture programme. Looking to their masterly neighbours across the North Sea (Dutch Golden Age), the vast skies, watery dykes and unique cool filtered light are replicated in Norfolk and have inspired artists down the ages.

Artist Tom Cringle at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach
Artist Tom Cringle at Paint Out Norfolk, Wells Beach

2020 will see us transport artists around the county to Georgian set-piece market towns, Victorian and art deco crumbling seaside splendour, replete with piers, funfairs, harbours and crab boats. The magnificent medieval architecture of Kings Lynn and Norwich will be supplemented with a return to our 2019 garden theme by taking in a Humphrey Repton red book garden or similar historic country house. A quick draw in front of one of the UK’s oldest and largest markets will provide more than a surge of adrenalin, draw crowds and create bonds with fellow artists.

Paint Out is your chance to make friends, exchange techniques and laugh too, it will be creative inspiration, life-changing and enhancing.

Enter Paint Out Norfolk, 16-23 July 2020 

Artist John Behm painting Anglia Square outside Hollywood Cinema, Paint Out Norwich
Artist John Behm painting Anglia Square outside Hollywood Cinema, Paint Out Norwich with Alan partridge mural

Paint Out Cambridge 13-17 May 2019

by
Artist Sarah Allbrook, February sunshine on King’s Parade

Paint Out comes to Cambridge

The inaugural Paint Out Cambridge takes place 13-17 May in partnership with Cheffins Fine Art. Dozens of experienced plein air artists used to working on the streets will paint Cambridge’s classic colleges, chapels and beautiful bridges, River Cam, Market Square and other views as seen on this map.

Clare Hall and King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, from the Banks of the River Cam, JMW Turner, 1793
Clare Hall and King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, JMW Turner, 1793

Founded in 2014, the immersive outdoor art event has already run a dozen events across Norfolk and Suffolk and has been keen to come to Cambridge for a while. Partnering with Cheffins Fine Art has finally made this possible and the Paint Out team are excited to be running the competition, encouraging artists to capture and immortalise Cambridge’s iconic views.

Who could resist a city that drew JMW Turner to its banks to paint Clare Hall and King’s College Chapel, whilst also being home to the Fitzwilliam and Kettle’s Yard and a series of famous art collections at several Cambridge colleges?

“Cambridge has long been on our radar but with new partners Cheffins Fine Art now on board, the realisation of a central exhibition venue as well as other potential sponsors lining up to host various parts of the Paint Out, we see this is an event that will have multiple opportunities for artists to paint both town and gown in one of the most vibrant and fast-growing cities in the UK.” – James Colman, founder of Paint Out

Artist Sarah Allbrook painting plein air, February sunshine on King’s Parade, Cambridge
Artist Sarah Allbrook painting plein air, February sunshine on King’s Parade, Cambridge

Home to the Cambridge School of Art (now part of Anglia Ruskin University) and the Cambridge Drawing Society the team from Paint Out are keen to see local and national artists casting their creative eyes over the city and bringing their art skills to bear in classical and contemporary styles and various media that can be applied to canvas.

Artists can enter and find out more through our website www.paintout.events.

Sarah Flynn, head of paintings at Cheffins, said:

“Following the plein air painting event’s success at Paint Out, Norwich, last year, we are excited to support Paint-Out’s inaugural competition in Cambridge. Cambridge has long been an inspiration for artists such as Gwen Raverat, Edwin La Dell and Elisabeth Vellacott and with its iconic and world-recognised architecture and views such as the Mathematical Bridge, King’s College, Rose Crescent and The Backs, we are sure that it will provide endless inspiration for the artists taking part. Plein air painting is an essential part of learning to paint landscape from life and anything to encourage its proliferation within the artistic community is well supported. As the leading fine art auction house in the region, Cheffins is proud to support art events locally and is pleased to support the growth of Paint Out throughout East Anglia.”

The juried painting competition is open to amateur and professional artists alike and features 3-hour and 2-hour painting sessions around the city in full public view during the days and evenings (‘nocturnes’) of 13-15 May. Three eminent judges from the world of fine art (Sarah Flynn, Alice Hall, James Horton) will select the winning pieces with circa £2,000 worth of prizes awarded at the Private View and Awards evening at Cheffins on Clifton Road, on the 16 May (more information email pv@paintoutcambridge.org). The finished artworks will remain on display until 17 May and typically range in price from £150-£850.

Paint Out Cambridge 2019 Judges

Sarah Flynn is Associate Director of Fine Art and Head of Paintings at Cheffins. As an auctioneer and valuer she also once discovered a Rembrandt lying in a homeless charity’s box and secured them £1000s for their work at auction by spotting it. Sarah was a judge at Paint Out Norwich 2018.

Alice Hall is an en plein air painter focusing on landscapes. When she sets out to paint, she looks more like a vagrant than an artist: Wearing many warming layers of paint-encrusted clothing and carrying a rucksack full with paints, pallets, brushes and much more essential clobber besides. She sets up her impromptu studio and starts to work, first sketching the composition and then building up areas of colour. The aim being to capture character and mood, while being truthful to the subject. “Hall sets out to distill that moment when even the mundane can be magical. As you look at her paintings, you can travel to another land too.” – Rachel Campbell Johnston, Art Critic, The Times

James Horton works continually from life whether at Portraits, landscapes or interiors. Since leaving the Royal College of Art in 1974, the Cambridge based artist has travelled, worked and exhibited on location all over the world. Since 2000, he has concentrated on trips to India, Tuscany, North Africa and Jordan. His plein air work is rarely adjusted back in the studio, preserving the essence of time and place. He has written numerous books including the well known ‘Pastel techniques’ (Chrysalis) and ‘An Introduction to Drawing’ (DK in association with The Royal Academy).

 

Artist Sarah Allbrook, Boathouses on the Cam, Midsummer Common
Artist Sarah Allbrook, Boathouses on the Cam, Midsummer Common

Paint Out Great Yarmouth – 1-9 Sept 2018

by
Yarmouth Jetty John Crome 1768-1821 Bequeathed by Miss Harriet Higginson 1917, Tate

Seaside to Quayside

Paint Out Great Yarmouth takes place on 1 September 2018, on the East Norfolk coast, during ‘Drawn to the Coast: Turner, Constable, Cotman‘ which explores the identity of Great Yarmouth and its surrounding landscape through the art work it has inspired. J.M.W Turner and John Constable, Norwich School of painters such as Joseph Stannard, John Sell Cotman and John Crome were all drawn to paint here. Now you can too!

Our one day, two sessions, open-air art event celebrates the practice of en plein air painting and ends with a PV of the artworks created on the day, and week-long exhibition.

Jetty, Great Yarmouth, G.S.Stevenson
Jetty, Great Yarmouth, G.S. Stevenson

Paint Out is thrilled to be working with the Norfolk Museums Service and particularly the Time and Tide Museum to bring artists the opportunity to paint some scenes from Great Yarmouth for this one day event and display of them in a museum setting for a week, at the same time as such renowned painters Turner, Constable and Cotman are being exhibited to the general public.

Paint Out Great Yarmouth gives artists the chance to retrace the steps of Turner, Constable and Cotman, taking inspiration from the artworks on display in the exhibition, allowing them to create their own contemporary scenes of Great Yarmouth life which will be displayed in the museum during the final week of the ‘Drawn to the Coast’ exhibition run.

Drawn to the Coast: Turner, Constable, Cotman. Exhibition open at the Time and Tide Museum until Sunday 9th September including works from the Paint Out Great Yarmouth event.

Throughout the 19th century Great Yarmouth attracted artists to its shores. Its prosperity as a port meant that wealthy merchants collected and commissioned artworks. Some became patrons to artists and helped them to establish national reputations. This was also a time when the town’s popularity as a leisure resort was growing and the wealthier tourists provided additional sources of income for artists. These circumstances helped to support the development of a thriving artistic scene in Great Yarmouth.

Firing Rockets at Great Yarmouth, Possibly Related to 'Life-Boat and Manby Apparatus Going Off' c.1831 Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/D35977
Firing Rockets at Great Yarmouth, Possibly Related to ‘Life-Boat and Manby Apparatus Going Off’ c.1831 Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/D35977

Artists ‘drawn to this coast’ include three of the UK’s most important landscape artists. JMW Turner (1775-1851), John Constable (1776-1837) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842). This exhibition, co-curated by members of the Great Yarmouth community, explores some of the most dramatic local works created by these artists. It includes significant loans of their work from major national lenders including two loaned works by J.M.W Turner from Tate – a watercolour of Great Yarmouth, and, on display in the county for the first time since he sketched in it, his Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex sketchbook.

Join our mailing list to register interest in future Paint Out events and a return to Great Yarmouth and other East Anglian locations if you can’t make this one.

Paint Out Great Yarmouth   Join Our Mailing List   Paint Out Register interest

Paint Out Great Yarmouth entry form

Paint Out Great Yarmouth 2018 Submissions
Your first name
Your family/surname
Transport options - make sure to include your hometown if offering/requesting a car share
Required if under 35, Optional if not!
Your website or a site where your work is displayed, include the http://
Your @Twitter profile name (if you have one)
Artist's or personal facebook page where you share your art, include the http://
Your Instagram profile name (if you have one)
Image size: Horizontal images should have a width of 1000-1600 pixels, and vertical images should have a height of 800-1200 pixels or so. Resolution no greater than 300 dpi, max image size suggested 1-2MB as 10MB is the total max for all images via form submission. You can use https://bulkresizephotos.com/ to edit your photo sizes (use pro settings to adjust to exact dimensions) Format: Images can be in a .jpg, or png format. File size limitation: Save your images with as little compression as possible (i.e. choose the best quality) while maintaining a file size less than 2 MB for each image. File name: Please use the surname, title of the work, and year completed. Example: 'Artist, The Blue Boat, 2015, Media, Size etc'
Please supply as PDF or Word doc a minimum 250 word description of your artistic style, experience, any notable awards or achievements, and reason for wanting to take part.
Please tick here to acknowledge that you understand PaintOut's Rules & Regulations and agree to abide by them. (In brief: 50% event/25% online commission structure, keeping to competition maximum painting times, strictly plein air painting, non-framing preferred, max 16"/40cm canvas, appearance in photos etc)

Paint Out’s open air art event comes to Sudbury, Gainsborough’s hometown

by
Artists Robert Nelmes & James Colman painting from old railway in Sudbury, Suffolk. Photo © Katy Jon Went

Paint Out, which began life in Norwich five years ago, takes to the road and will bring a dozen or more plein air artists to Sudbury, Suffolk, on 30 June 2018. This will be followed by a same-day pop-up art exhibition at St Peter’s of fresh artworks, straight off the easel.

The wool (and now silk) town was home to Thomas Gainsborough, founding member of the Royal Academy, who inspired fellow notable artist, John Constable. Modern outdoor artists follow in their tradition, painting in situ, and in Paint Out’s case with curious public onlookers as we invite passers-by to ‘experience art, live’.

Sudbury Stour Valley Trail, Suffolk. Photo © Katy Jon Went
Sudbury Valley Trail, Suffolk. Photo © Katy Jon Went

The picturesque scenery including the Water Meadows trail and River Stour, the bridges and old railway line, Mill, the market town itself, St Peter’s Church, Gainsborough’s house and period-planted garden, will all serve as landscape inspiration for our experienced outdoor painters and illustrators.

Artists Robert Nelmes & James Colman painting from old railway in Sudbury, Suffolk. Photo © Katy Jon Went
Artists Robert Nelmes & James Colman painting from old railway in Sudbury, Suffolk. Photo © Katy Jon Went

The artists will spend one day, across two intense open air painting sessions, 10-1pm and 2-5pm, recording local views on canvas, and then displaying and selling them in a pop-up one-hour art exhibition in St Peter’s Church, 6-7pm, which also hosts the Sudbury Summer Art Fair, 2-8 July.

The artworks will all have been painted in under three-hours and many will still be wet, even with the sunny forecast! Just like the weather, they will be hot off the easel, and sold unframed, ‘painting-to-go’ so to speak, in carry away boxes, not unlike pizza boxes!

This is a process Paint Out first tried at the Royal Norfolk Show, last year, and has since continued, enabling art lovers to take away a fresh artwork, moments after it is painted, and then to frame it at their leisure and according to their preferred style.

Paint Out began in Norwich in 2014 and has since run a dozen events in Wells-next-the-Sea, other North Norfolk towns, and five large scale multi-day events in Norwich itself, during the annual Hostry Festival (October 2018). Sudbury, is the first of many planned wider East Anglian events.

Paint Out Sudbury, 30 June 2018

by
Artist Robert Nelmes painting from old railway in Sudbury, Suffolk. Photo © Katy Jon Went

Stop Press: We are back in Suffolk in 2024! Paint Out Suffolk will be in Southwold, 5-7 July Apply here.

Paint Out Sudbury took place on 30 June 2018, on the Essex/Suffolk border, home to Thomas Gainsborough who inspired John Constable, with picturesque scenery including the Water Meadows and River Stour, an old railway line, the market town itself, St Peter’s Church and Gainsborough’s house. One day, two sessions, en plein air! 

A baker’s dozen of plein air artists took to the historic wool town of Sudbury, birthplace of Gainsborough with its snaking River Stour, Suffolk countryside and some 247 Heritage Listed buildings in the town itself. It was a veritable treasure trove of idyllic painting locations on one of the hottest days of the year.

Participating artists included: Eleanor Alison, John Behm, Sarah Berbank Green, Mary Blue Brady, James Colman (non-competing), Tom Cringle, Robin Drury, Jack Godfrey, Julie Hodgson, Andrew Horrod, Robert Nelmes, Eloise O’Hare, Sue Willmer.

Join our mailing list to register interest in future Paint Out events and a return to Sudbury and other towns in Suffolk.

Join Our Mailing List   Paint Out Register interest   Paint Out Sudbury Art Gallery

Register interest in Paint Out Events

by

Paint Out plein air art competition event dates go live early each year but additional events may still be announced throughout. You can lodge a registration of interest in our various events – this is not an entry to an event, it just gets you on the Call to Artists announcement mailing list. The buttons below will also take you to live entry forms within the event entry-date windows.

You can register your interest below to be kept up to date when submission forms for each event are live and to be a part of future Paint Out events as well as other locations, and even suggest your own.

Paint Out Norfolk 13-20 July 2023   Paint Out Norwich 2023  

Paint Out plein air art competition UK events

Suggest a location for a plein air art event
reCAPTCHA is required.

 

Paint Out Plein Air Painting Competition, Exhibition & Live Art Experience

by
Oxana Klip and James Colman painting Houghton Hall at Paint Out Norfolk 2019

Paint Out™ is an art event aiming to refresh and redefine 21st century en plein air art practice. Founded in 2014, we are the UK’s premier and only fully juried en plein air art competition, celebrating the talents of national and international artists before a wide audience in the heart of medieval and iconic Norwich, around beautiful Norfolk‘s towns, countryside, broads and coast. We also hope to visit Suffolk again soon and have also painted Cambridge. Many of our events are about extreme painting challenges, in any weather, up against the clock and the gaze of the art-loving public. Come and Experience Art, Live! 

Our last event in our 10th anniversary year – Paint Out Norfolk, 13-22 July 2023 attracted over 140 artist entries and 80 participants, and included art workshops and demos, a multi-day selling Exhibition, PV & Awards of the best art of the week.

Paint Out Suffolk 2024 POSTPONED Volunteer/Intern/Work with us  Paint Out History   

Paint Out 2024

Stop Press:
Paint Out Suffolk has been postponed due to the founder-director’s surgery and recovery. We look forward to running this event around the idyllic seaside town of Southwold on the Suffolk heritage coast, on another occasion.
Paint Out Suffolk 2024 POSTPONED    View Paint Out Norfolk 2023 Gallery Paint Out Norfolk 2023 Art Catalogue  Participating Artist Info  Paint Out Workshops & Demos  Paint Out Exhibition  Volunteer/Intern/Work with us  Paint Out History   

Paint Out 2023

Artist Kate Gabriel painting Winterton allotments, Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Artist Kate Gabriel painting Winterton allotments, Paint Out Norfolk 2020

Our outdoor painting programme builds upon over 9 years of plein air art events and 3 years of 8-day tours of Norfolk and Norwich with open-air exhibitions seeing dozens of artwork sales and thousands also raised for charity. Each event sees interest from over 100 artists from UK, USA, France, Ireland, Malta, Scandinavia and elsewhere; do enter the UK’s most innovative plein air art event running each July with applications exceeding 140+ artist entries.

Artist Karen Adams painting on Winterton Beach dunes during Paint Out Norfolk 2020
Artist Karen Adams painting on Winterton Beach dunes during Paint Out Norfolk 2020

It’s an opportunity to brush up alongside new and familiar faces of the plein air art community. Challenge your creativity. Develop your skills – we have optional extra workshops and demos from guest artists Haidee Jo Summers, Roger Dellar, and Rob Nelmes. Come and capture the height of summer in county, city, coast, and countryside locations including Norwich, Norfolk seaside, inland Broads, seaport and market towns, several historic houses and gardens, and over-the-border forays to Constable country in Suffolk. There will be guest artists, painting demos, talks, socials, and art world judges.

Paint Out Norfolk 2023 Exhibition and Private ViewRecent judges have included Dr Sally Anne Huxtable, Michael Richardson, Maggi Hambling, Rob Adams, Hugh Pilkington and the Castle Museum’s Giorgia Bottinelli.

This year the judges include art historian and award-winning author Frances Spalding; art history at UEA alumni, Aylsham Picture House chair, art and antiques expert on Dickinson’s Real Deal, James Layte; and Andrew Bowyer, formerly head of Phillips’ Picture Department, and Sotheby’s Old Masters and now a Fine Art Consultant for Sworders. 

Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers will also be on-site during the PV on 20th July and through to 22nd July offering a free art appraisal service for one piece of your art/antique collection (Antiques Roadshow style!). They are the main sponsors of the event this year along with Rosemary & Co Brushes, Michael Harding Paints, and Norwich Art Supplies.

Enter Paint Out Norfolk 2023  Interactive Map of Painting Locations  Paint Out PV & Exhibition  Paint Out Norwich 2022 Gallery   View Paint Out Norfolk 2022 Gallery  Paint Out History  Paint Out Workshops & Demos    

Plein Air Painting DemoArt Workshops

Available to Paint Out Norfolk participating artists and non-entrants of any level alike

Experience Art – Live!

Get inspired by experiencing art “live”, watching its creation and creators and then come to an exhibition to see the finished paintings and artworks. 

Artist Will Topley at Paint Out Wells 2016 by Giacomo Gex on Vimeo.

Stay in Touch

Join our mailing list or register interest in our events to stay informed.

Art & Painting Workshops  Art Talks  Public Open Paint Outs  Join Our Mailing List  Paint Out Register interest