Hello and good Tuesday to you fine people!

Today I wanted to share some exciting news and let you in on a really cool way to be able to get your artwork shown!

First, the really exciting news;

Two of my watercolor portraits got accepted through the first judging round of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours 206th Exhibition shown at the Mall Galleries in London!

Iiiiik!

Even tough they still have to go through the second round of judging which will take place in London in the middle of February I am super excited to have my paintings through the first round and now soon heading to London!

My two watercolor paintings going to the Mall Gallerier for the second round of judging this February. On the left ''Selfportrait'' and on the right ''Vasco''. Both paintings are 15 x 20 cm.

Last year was the first year that I started applying to online open calls and so far I sent one painting to Barcelone (didn't make it through the second round) and a couple of drawings to New York.
I knew about the opportunities out there but never applied because I felt like I was still trying to figure myself out as an artist...

Well, In the end I said, fuck this! I'm probably always going to try to figure myself out as an artist and the worst thing that can happen is that I get a simple ''no''. Experience is gold so I took a chance and now I might have the possibility to do what I've dreamt of since I was a teenager, exchibithing my work at a proper gallery in London!

This brings me to the second part of this post which is also really exciting;

How you too can get your artwork exhibited around the world!

One of the awesome things about today is that more and more galleries and art organizations are organizing something that they call Open Call to Artists.

What this means is that they will have an online competition where anyone can apply with their work. Of course the rules of these competitions will vary a bit, like what kind of medium the artwork has to be and if there are one, two or three rounds of judging, but usually these competitions are open to all no matter if you have two years of experience or twenty.

So if you've been wanting to try showing your art to the world but you don't have enough work to put together a whole exhibition by your self, you don't have any galleries representing you or you just want to see what happens if you do put yourself out there then I would recommend this!

Its also great stuff to put on your CV if you feel a bit green and want to juice up your resume! ;)

So where can I find these open calls, you might ask?

Well, I am here to point you in the direction of a few!

The Mall Galleries:

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Screenshot of the Mall Galleries website. Visit them at; https://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/

The Mall Galleries have a big range of open call exhibitions through out the year. Weather you paint, draw or sculpt these open exhibitions offer artist from all over the world the chance to show their work in the heart of London.
Often their exhibits also have cash prizes and they have grown quite popular over the years. To enter is 15 pounds per artwork, but if you are under 30 it's 10 pounds. If you make it through the first round there is of course also the cost of shipping.

MEAM Barcelona:

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Screenshot of MEAM's - European Museum of Modern Art website. Visit them at;
https://www.meam.es/en/

If you, like me, are loving and painting figurative art then these guys have the open call exhibition for you! Every year The MEAM organizes a show called ''Figurativas''. This is a competition that will be judged in two parts. First you enter your work online and if it is accepted you have to ship your work to Barcelona for the second judging round where there will be a panel of well known painters selecting the finalists. To enter is free but if you make it through the first round, you do have to pay for shipping.

The ARC. - The Art Renewal Center.

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Screenshot of The ARC website. Visit them at;
https://www.artrenewal.org/

The ARC has a slightly different approach to the open call situation. First of all they don't require you to send the work for a second judging round so all the applying will happen online. They do have a higher entering fee than ( 70 dollars) most but this is because they also offer more cash prizes. When you enter you can chose if your work should be for sale or not, where as most open calls will only accept works for sale.
In addition to cash prizes they also will also have Purchase Awards , Publication adwards and Gallery Awards. They did start organizing an exhibit for some of the selected works which last year was held at the MEAM in Barcelona.

This is an open call to figurative artist.

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There are so, so many of these types of online open calls that is held all over the world! These are just a few that I chose to share because they are up my street and I see so much amazing artwork here on steemit!

Have you ever entered an open call?

Let's share what we know to encourage the production and sharing of art!

<3

I hope you are all having a fantastic start to the new week!