Artists are busy finishing their paintings/sculptures/drawings to submit to this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition as I write. It is a lengthy process with as good a chance of winning the lottery than getting your work accepted. First of all you need to register and pay £25. Then you fill in a form and send it back before the deadline of 17/03/2009, after which you make your way down to London and hand your precious piece of work. Then most likely you return a few weeks later to pick the art up again.

I like to enter competitions as they give me deadlines to work to. I don’t actually care if the work is accepted or not as I usually (unless it goes horribly wrong) enjoy creating the work. The Royal Academy attracts thousands of entrants and the impression I got last year is that the work they accept is on the quirky side to say the least with the odd print of a cat thrown in. Let’s see how my offering get’s on. Watch this space.

I’ve decided to enter the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition this year, just for the hell of it. I’ve already started a new painting that I want to enter and hope that I like it enough to pay the £25 and make the trip to London to deliver it. It would be a shame not to and really what do I have to lose?

If you are thinking of entering the competition, their theme this year is “Man Made”, which you don’t necessarily have to follow but may spark a few ideas. The Royal Academy have posted the details on their website (see Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.)

You need to register with them by 18th March (and pay!) before you can enter a piece of work and you are only allowed to enter two pieces. Please note, the submission rules have changed this year for sculpture, which will be selected from photographs in the first instance.