The Mall Galleries in London was the venue for the recent Annual Exhibition of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers.
I’ve been producing very detailed small pictures for a while so I decided to try my hand and submit a miniature pen & ink picture of the owl design that I originally created in a lino cut. The Society allows works in any medium and upon any material but it has a totally different attitude on framing. The absolute maximum overall sizes for miniatures, which have to include picture, frame and mount, are 4.5” x 6” for rectangular and oval frames, and only 4.5” for square frames and 4.5” diameter for rounds, and they can’t be wider than 1”.
I found an oval frame that met the strict measurements, downloaded the necessary paperwork and then took my picture to their offices, in London, on Submission Day. Selection of artwork took place the next day with notification published on-line two days later. Unfortunately, my number did not appear on the selection list but that didn’t deter me from visiting the exhibition.
There were over six hundred works of art including about three dozen stunning pieces of sculpture in porcelain, bronze and solid sterling silver. Paintings were in acrylic, watercolour, oil and gouache and there pencil drawings, pen & ink, wax and gold leaf on glass. I chose to visit the exhibition when Pauline Denyer Baker was demonstrating as I knew she was an authority on miniature painting and I’d read part of her book on the subject. I had a great conversation with her. I was thrilled to meet her and it has inspired me to do more miniature artwork and have another go next year at submitting a picture.
Val Racher: Rachers on Canvas: October Blog
IMAGE CREDIT: Pauline Denyer Baker’s “Brian in a Straw Hat”, RMS