Eating an elephant and the 5 important choices we have to make to win the Archibald

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Okay, so I'm going to paint an entry for the Archibald Prize in just 52 days time. Seems simple? You’d be surprised. And that's just the start. But as they say, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Here are 5 important choices we need to make to begin eating our elephant:

  • What materials to use?
  • Who to paint?
  • What size and shape (think square, portrait, landscape...or something else)
  • What colours to use?
  • What style to paint in?

What do most winners do?

Here’s a little background.

Medium: Oil on canvas is the dominant choice of Archibald winners with it being used more than ¾ of the time, acrylic is a poor cousin (last year’s winner used them and 5 before that) while watercolour has won a single time. Yes, history is written by the oil painters.

Subject: Since 1921 artists have been the subject ⅓ of the time, a bunch have been authors, actors and politicians. On the other hand there has been a single sportsman, rabbi or banker.

Size: Size is kind of a big deal for winners over the past twenty years with an average of 3.5 square metres. The 2010 winner however was 60 x 38 cm. Maybe it was noticed because of its petiteness?

Colour:  It captures the eye and attention. Moody brown and dark tones were the zeitgeist of the early decades but now bold, vibrant colours dominate.

Style: Ah, what’s in a style? Your answer to the question ‘Was Picasso any good?’ will determine your style preference. Realism has been a dominant style because it replicates what we see with the naked eye. Expressionist works, expressing emotion or meaning rather rather physical reality but impressionist pieces have been quite prominent with their emphasis on mood and light. Poor old surrealism and post-modernism with just 7 wins between them. Pop art, art deco, cubism or stuckism, superflat, super stroke, alter modernism are all zero.

So there they are. The 5 choices we need to make first.

Let me know your thoughts. Next we have a twist.

The complete series 'How to win the Archibald Prize'
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Frequently Asked Questions
What Others Are Asking...

These are the most common questions asked of Oscar.

Products

Why are your products so special?

Many products (including wall art and t-shirts) are made by combining stock art (you know, images you can buy on used on bad advertisements) to make pretty patterns that don't mean a lot.

Oscar’s works are original and interesting - all designed and crafted using his own hands onto real paper with his imagination, real pencils and ink. That’s what makes each piece like nothing else in the world.

What are the prints made of? Why are they such quality?

Each piece is printed onto the finest museum grade paper. Oscar chooses the Hahnemuhle brand because it feels and looks superb (if you’re interested it’s acid free and calcium carbonate buffered) plus it can last longer than 100 years!

The inking process is called giclée printing and is a high-quality way of getting ink onto the best paper.

id="size" Which size is right for me? A few helpful things to consider:

A4 is small and good for a small desk, kitchen or small wall like a corner.

A3 is medium and good for a larger desk, larger kitchen or moderate sized wall.

A2 a larger and really nice on a wall, behind a bed or desk, adorning a hallway or thoroughfare.

A1 a very large and a wonderful way to make an impact in a room, office, reception, thoroughfare or atrium. Pow.

Dimensions

A4 210 x 297 mm | 8.3 x 11.7 in
A3 297 x 420 mm | 11.7 x 16.5 in
A2 420 x 594 mm | 16.5 x 23.4 in
A1 594 x 841 mm | 23.4 x 33.1 in

Buying

Do you offer free worldwide shipping?

Oscar offers free shipping to anywhere in the world. The farthest flung so far is the Netherlands, United States and England but he’d love to go even further! (perhaps you’re from Nepal or Antarctica maybe?)

How can Oscar offer free shipping?

Well, Oscar loves free shipping and it’s worth what it costs him for radically happy customers!

Can I return and get a refund if I’m not 100% happy?

Yes! Of course. Oscar wants you to be radically happy and satisfied (that’s good business isn’t it? But also good humanness...). We’re convinced you will be! But if for whatever reason you’re not super happy please contact us and we’ll arrange a full refund as soon as humanly possible.

Oscar

Oscar is Award-Winning?

Yes. He’s entered and won art prizes including for a piece about a magical bus and its passengers and a 22 page piece Moleskin about a boy who woke up with a strange knowing one day. He was also featured in prominent publications for his work and journey to one of the world’s largest portrait prizes, The Archibald Prize.

But now he prefers to imagine and make to change the world.

What is Oscar’s life Mission?

Oscar mission is to change the world with a pencil, pens and beautiful paper so that his imaginative tales and creations can be found in rooms, offices, buses and wall facades in town and cities large and small - so people awe at the ordinary.

A billion people on earth would be nice :) A beloved collection of children’s books too (that Roald Dahl would be proud of). Oh, and a film trilogy...

But I’d love to start (if you don’t mind) with you today!

● Have another questions? Contact Oscar here and he'd love to answer it!

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