Entry Types Used at PaintOuts.com

Entry types and deadlines are one of the most important parts of an event listing at PaintOuts.com.  One of our goals is to keep artists apprised of paint outs looking for new artists and event application and registration deadlines.

Each event works a bit differently in terms of artist selection, but we’ve tried to put them all into one of the following categories:

1. Invitational – Artists are sent invitations by a selection committee. Some invitational events solicit input from various third parties about new artists to consider, but generally speaking, the selection committee does not accept input or requests for inclusion directly from interested artists. We’ve extended this category to also include events where you must be a members of a given artist group to participate. Invitationals are the most difficult paint outs to join, even for established artists.

2. Juried Entry – Artists must submit resumes, images or other information to a jury committee. All entries are evaluated after the due date to determine the slate of artists who will participate in the next event. We classify events as Juried Entry even if the event sends invitations to a limited number of artists. Often invitations are extended to past artists who sold well and Juried Entry is used to bring in new artists to keep things fresh.

3. Open to All Artists – There is no selection process for these events.  There’s also no registration requirement or entry fee – you just show up. Open to any artist of any skill level, these events are for fun and fund raising.

4. Open with Registration – Another event open to all artists, but usually with a limited number of spaces filled on a first come, first serve basis. As such, it’s important to get your registration in as early as possible.

5. Open with Registration and Fee – Similar to 4 above but artists are asked to pay a fee to join.  The money is used to defray event expenses and raise money for a worthy cause.  Fees can vary widely by type and amount so be sure to check out the event website for details.

At PaintOuts.com, we’ve tried to classify each event using these five categories as best we can. But please check each event’s web site to determine the specifics of their selection or registration process. To paint out organizers, if we’ve classified your event incorrectly, let us know and we’ll update your listing as soon as possible. Thank you.

Details

Created: 03 July 2018

Moving Toward Mobile

I added Google Analytics to Paintouts.com two weeks ago.  I don't have a huge number of users yet, but some of the results have been very interesting. For example, the amount of traffic that comes to the site from social media referrals is much greater than that from organic searches (e.g., google or bing). But what really amazed me was the number of users connecting from a mobile device - up to 60%!

Both of these require some action on my part. For the first, I plan to work next week on search engine optimization (SEO) and metadata for the site.  That should help users find Paintouts.com when doing a search.  To address mobile users, I've tweaked the module positions in my Joomla template (CloudBase3) to put more of the fun stuff at the top of the site.  This blog post for example will now appear below the list of upcoming paint outs.  Hopefully these changes will make the site more useful and interesting to visitors on mobile devices. Well, I guess that's all for now.  Thanks much and have a very mobile week. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Details

Created: 25 March 2018

Working on My Social Skills

I just cleared out the Paintouts.com Twitter and Facebook accounts. I want to start fresh posting to these social media outlets again as I build new event listings. When I tried this several years ago it was quite tedious. This time I'm trying a social media scheduling service called Buffer. So far it's simple enough for even me to use!  The free account lets you store up to 10 posts in a queue.  The posts are then sent out based on a repeating weekly schedule. I like that I only have to add posts to my queue - not pick a unique time and date for each post. It's very convenient.  And I can send to Twitter and Facebook at the same time from the same service. So if you want to keep up with new events on Paintouts.com, please Like us on Facebook or Follow us on Twitter today. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details

Created: 17 March 2018

Making Progress...

It took a bit of time this past week, but I've finally got the general structure of the site back up on a new host.  I'm sticking with Joomla for the CMS. This time I'm using JEM (Joomla Event Manager) as the event management component.  The hosting company is now CloudAccess.net.  Over time I'll update the layout to include footers, headers, nice images and other piece parts.  But this will do for now.  I want to focus next week on getting some more events posted - a few each day if I can.  If you have a paint out or plein air event you'd like added, just email me some info and a link to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  Thanks much.

Details

Created: 11 March 2018