PRIZES: Thanks to the continuing generosity of Jan and Dan Laytham of Long and Foster Realtors, Great Falls, VA, we again have $2000 in prize money to be distributed as follows: 1st Prize, $1000; 2nd Prize $750; 3rd Prize $250. Two non-monetary prizes will also be awarded: Honorable Mention for Color and Honorable Mention for Composition. All prize winners will receive an official certificate.

ELIGIBILITY: Past participants are automatically eligible BUT MUST PRE-REGISTER by sending a check for $25 (entry fee) made out to Friends of Riverbend Park to:
Artist in Residence, Riverbend Park,
8700 Potomac Hills St.
Great Falls, VA 22066

New applicants should send a check for the same amount to the same address along with four digital printouts of their landscape work in order to be juried into the paint out. No email submissions will be accepted.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: May 7, 2008. Applicants accepted will be notified by May 10, 2008. Include contact information. If circumstances preclude your participation please notify Jack Warden, Artist in Residence and organizer of the paint out at 703-437-9681 so that your place may be given to another. Entry fees are nonrefundable. The paint out is limited to 30 participants. Applicants not juried in may be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations.

IF WEATHER IS THREATENING on the morning of the paint out phone 703-437-9681 for the go/no-go announcement.

SIZE LIMITATION: Canvas size is limited to 20”x24” and we welcome smaller works.

MEDIUMS: The paint out is open to artists working with oils, acrylic, watercolor or pastel.

ORDER OF THE DAY: Artists may enter the park as early as 5:00 am. Park at the NATURE CENTER (follow signs) one half mile beyond Park entrance. Phone the Park at 703-759-9112 (or just wait) for shuttle to registration desk at Visitor Center where your canvas will be stamped. PLEASE DO NOT PARK AT THE VISITOR CENTER!—we want to reserve its limited parking for your potential collectors.

Bring with you to the Visitor Center:
1. All your painting equipment.
2. A frame to fit your canvas and everything needed to fix the canvas in the frame.
3. Your lunch and a snack, if desired.

Be sure to register at the registration desk in the Visitor Centerwhere coffee, juice and rolls will also be provided. While you are painting the organizer and staff will hang your frame on the exhibition wall and attach your ID tag (fill it out at the registration desk) in such a way that the work remains anonymous during the judging phase. Please do not sign your work until after the paintings have been judged.

Artists may choose their motif anywhere in the park, but they must travel from the Visitor Center only on foot, and they must return to the Visitor Center with their finished painting no later than 12:30 pm.

JUDGING: At 1:00 pm the judging will begin. This year the Judge is the very well-known international landscape and marine painter, Bill Schmidt. Visit his website at www.billschmidt.net. Mr. Schmidt’s decisions will be regarded as final. He will announce the winners and specify the reasons for his choices by 1:30 pm. Jan and Dan Laytham will be present to address the group and present checks and certificates to the winners.

SALE OF PAINTINGS: A show of the finished paintings will continue for two weeks and the paintings will be available for sale at a price of the artist’s choosing unless marked “Not for Sale.” Buyers will write checks directly to the artist, and the artist agrees to donate 20% of the sale to Friends of Riverbend Park. Unsold paintings must be picked up by the artist by May 22, 2008. Riverbend Park cannot ship artwork.

Artists are encouraged to visit the park to practice and to search for a desirable motif prior to the paint out. However, paintings produced for the paint out must be begun and completed in their entirety on the day of the paint out and must be on a stamped and certified canvas. Stamping and certification will be done at the registration desk on the morning of the paint out.

Questions? Clarifications? Suggestions? Complaints? See mistakes, logical errors or muddled thinking? Phone Jack Warden at 703-437-9681 or drop him an email at Jackwarden@Hotmail.com.