Hostry Festival

Sponsorship & Partnering with Paint Out

Paint Out is put on and sustained by art-loving founders and team members – some paid, some volunteers, with the aim of supporting the growth of plein air art and engaging the public with a live art experience. To achieve and maintain this we are indebted to our partners and sponsors who have provided funds, prizes, or goods and services-in-kind. If you would like to partner or sponsor current and/or future ‘paint outs’ please contact us. You will get coverage on our 120,000+ views website and our 10,000 social media followers. 

You can download our sponsor and partner documents here:

Paint Out Brochure | Headline Sponsor | Prizes Sponsor | Web & Press Metrics

Paint Out 2019

In 2019, Paint Out is keen to renew and extend its sponsor agreements with businesses, arts sector, and other organisations looking to support creative and visual arts, education, and Norfolk and Suffolk heritage sites. Please download the above files and contact us if you are interested.

Paint Out Cambridge welcomes the principal sponsor support and partnership with Cheffins Fine Art at our inaugural event in the county of Cambridgeshire.

Several Paint Out events in 2019 will also see art material sponsorship and prizes donated by Cass Art who have been very generous in the past to Paint Out events and artists.

The Paint Out Garden Series taking place at 6 locations across Norfolk is grateful for repeat sponsor Leathes Prior Solicitors.

Paint Out 2018

Paint Out 2018 was especially grateful for renewed sponsorship support from Leathes Prior Solicitors. Read their announcement here.

Paint Out continues to appreciate the support of The Point with some of our printing needs.

Paint Out Norwich, RNS, and Wells 2017

Paint Out Wells 2017 was sponsored for a third year by Hopkins Homes. Paint Out Norwich 2017 saw repeat sponsorship by Strutt & Parker, and Archant, the extension of Leathes Prior Solicitors support, and materials prizes supplied by Cass Art and Norwich Art Supplies. Paint Out also appreciates its other partners, supporters and suppliers including: The Albatros, Anteros Arts, Arnolds Keys Auctioneers, Arts RoundUp, Dandis Clothing, Hostry Festival, Hussey Knights, Norwich Cathedral, RNAA’s Royal Norfolk Show, Service Point UK, The Point, Wells Congregational Hall, & Zesty Design.

Paint Out at the Royal Norfolk Show 2017

In 2017, Paint Out was invited to bring its live art experience painting event to the Royal Norfolk Show, 28-29 June. We were extremely appreciative of our marquee and hospitality fizz sponsors Leathes Prior Solicitors and for our art auction and leaflet printing by Arnolds Keys Auctioneers and Estate Agents. We were also grateful to the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association (RNAA) for the invite and their support. Archant sponsored a “Best in Show” art prize and Norwich Art Supplies our “Spirit of Plein Air Award”. For keeping our artists lubricated with cordial and water we are thankful to the Queens Road, Brazen Gate, Sainsbury’s Superstore.

Paint Out Norwich and Wells 2016

Paint Out Wells 2016 saw primary sponsorship from Hopkins Homes, Sowerbys, and Archant.

Paint Out Norwich 2016 had as primary sponsor Strutt & Parker, along with La Ronde Wright, Sowerbys, and Archant. Our arts event partners include the Hostry Festival and our hubs – Anteros Arts Foundation and North Cafe Bar.

Supporting & Volunteering Opportunities

Paint Out is thankful for the hard work of its volunteers. Anyone interested in volunteering for our current ‘paint outs’, assisting artists, helping manage the registration desks and paintings, and being part of our arts events can register online or join our volunteers facebook group. It looks great on a CV!

Volunteer at Paint Out

Paint Out History

Paint Out Norwich launched in 2014 and since then well over 100 different artists have taken part in our professional competitions and over 120 in our public paint outs. Our first satellite painting event was Wells-next-the Sea 2015 on the North Norfolk coast. That year also saw first-of-its-kind mass public ‘paint outs’ firstly on Wells Beach at sunrise and then, the following month, of some 100 artists, of all ages,  painting the expansive Norwich skyline, from historic Mousehold Heath. 2015 also saw our first Nocturne – nighttime painting event. 2016 saw artists taking to canoes and 2017 to an open-top double-decker bus, as well as painting live at the Royal Norfolk Show.

Mission statement

Paint Out  © 2014-2018 is a James Colman Project

Paint Out™ is an art event aiming to refresh and redefine 21st century en plein air art practice. Founded in 2014, we are the UK’s premier and only fully juried en plein air art competition, celebrating the talents of national and international artists before a wide and growing audience in the heart of medieval and iconic Norwich, as well as around beautiful Norfolk‘s towns, countryside, broads and coast. We’ve also popped up in Suffolk and in 2019 branched out to Cambridge. Many of our events are about extreme painting challenges, in any weather, up against the clock and the gaze of the art-loving public. Come and Experience Art, Live! 

Our next event is now 26 June as the Paint Out Norfolk Churches on 6-8 May 2022 is postponed, and the big event itself follows – Paint Out Norfolk is 15-23 July with an Exhibition till 25 July.

Enter Paint Out Norfolk Gardens Jun 2022  Enter Paint Out Norfolk July 2022  Paint Out Norfolk 2021 Gallery  

Paint Out 2021/22

Our outdoor painting programme builds upon 8 years of plein air art events and 2 years successful and Covid-safe 8-day tours of Norfolk and Norwich with an open-air exhibition that saw dozens of artwork sales. In 2021, we expanded with double the space for over 70 artists and more facilities on-site and will expand again in 2022. With interest from over 100 artists from UK, USA, France and Russia, do sign up early to join the UK’s most innovative plein air art event – the 15-23 July 2022 event is open for entries with early bird pricing (save up to £120) but is filling up fast with over 80 artists confirmed. 

A Sunday warm-up event also runs 26 June 2022.

It’s an opportunity to brush up alongside new and familiar faces of the plein air art community. Challenge your creativity. Develop your skills. Come and capture the height of summer in city, coast, and countryside locations including Norwich, Norfolk seaside, inland Broads, seaport and market towns, historic houses and gardens. There will be guest artists, painting demos, talks, socials, and art world judges. Last year’s included Maggi Hambling, Rob Adams, and Giorgia Bottinelli.

Enter Paint Out Norfolk 2022   Interactive Map of Painting Locations   Paint Out Norfolk PV & Exhibition   Paint Out Norfolk 2021 Gallery  

Paint Out 2020

2020’s outdoor painting programme included an 8-day tour of Norfolk with over 50 of the 60+ accepted artists still able to attend, despite Covid. It meant a more measured event with socially distancing artists and a masked-up exhibition. Check out the painting locations Google map here. View the gallery of some of the finished artworks. Well over 400 paintings were created and the three judges: Sarah Flynn (Sworders), Amanda Geitner (EAAF) and artist Bruer Tidman, had a tough choice to narrow them down to 3 main prizes and a personal commendation each. James and Katy also awarded two artists with the Paint Out Spirit of Plein Air prizes for their body of work produced during the event, consistency and quality. The prizes, as in 2019, went to a trio of female artists: First Prize – Susan Isaac, Second Prize – Mary Blue Brady, Third Prize – Amanda Barrett, and commendations to Alfie Carpenter, Jack Godfrey, Naomi Clements-Wright, Spirit of Plein Air awards to Paul Alcock, Sam Robbins.

Paint Out Norfolk Exhibition   Paint Out Norfolk 2020 Gallery    Lockdown plein air Painting Survey  

Paint Out 2019

Following 2018’s midwinter free event we returned to Norwich Market, Jarrolds, Haymarket and the surrounding area in mid-December 2019 to paint the seasonal scenes. Some 20 artists participated, painting early for the light as well as late for the Christmas lights.

2019’s outdoor painting programme brought us to Cambridge with Cheffins Fine Art for the first time (13-15 May), The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (1-7 July), a collaboration with the Holt Festival (19 July), and with the Norwich Hostry Festival (14-16 Oct). Our premier Norfolk plein air event offered variety of visual stimuli from beach and pine at Wells next the Sea, inland Broads at How Hill, park, house and Henry Moore sculptures at Houghton Hall, modern and more sculptures at UEA & the Sainsbury Centre culminating in judging, awards, a private view and an exhibition – now online.

Through a series of one-day paint puts we will also have explored Norfolk’s historic and hidden gardens including: Stody Lodge gardens (26 May), Elsing Hall gardens (16 Jun & 15 Sep), Houghton Hall walled garden (14 Sep), Hunworth Hall garden (5 Oct), Norwich Bishop’s Garden (14 Oct), Norwich Plantation garden (15 Oct). Art Exhibition (17-27 Oct).

Read more about our 2019 events launch. Visit galleries of past events.

Paint Out Cambridge Gallery   Paint Out Norfolk Gallery   Paint Out Holt Gallery   Paint Out Gardens Gallery  

Plein Air – Art works carried out in the open air – chiefly painting. 

The Paint Out competitions and invitationals accept any 2-dimensional media or mixed-media applied to a canvas/board/paper embracing drawing, pastels, oils, watercolour, gouache, acrylic, pen and ink, screen-printing, and even digital in certain categories. Innovation and originality are encouraged alongside traditional art forms. We are increasingly moving towards displaying mostly unframed ‘art in the raw’, showing off plein air art in a fresh way, hot – or rather wet off the easel. 

We seek to capture the urban city and country environments in contemporary ways for a new and modern audience as well as established art collectors. We bring art and artists to the people, rather than vice versa, with our artists on the streets and pop-up galleries on the greens. If you want to commission or collaborate with us to bring an event to your location, please get in touch.

We have a number of events in East Anglia before the annual premier event Paint Out Norwich to whet your appetite including several one-day PaintOuts in Norfolk historic and hidden gardens from May-early October including opportunities to paint historical changing rural and urban landscapes in Cambridge, Holt and Norfolk as we seek to use Paint Out events to document our changing environment.

Join Our Mailing List  Paint Out Register interest  Art Talks  Art & Painting Workshops  Gallery  Public Open Paint Outs  Volunteer with us

Past Events

2017 saw Paint Out go to the Royal Norfolk Show, and in 2018 we had events in Sudbury, Suffolk and Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. We aim to grow Paint Out year-on-year in terms of the variety, challenge, location, and quality of events.

Paint Out Norwich 2018

Register Interest  PON2018 Map  Public Open Paint Out   Private View & Awards  Art & Painting Workshops  Art Talks

Paint Out Great Yarmouth, 1 Sep 2018

A new one-day event – Paint Out Great Yarmouth on 1 September, from Seaside to Quayside, in collaboration with Norfolk Museums Service and particularly the Time and Tide Museum’s event ‘Drawn to the Coast: Turner, Constable, Cotman‘ which explores the identity of Great Yarmouth and its surrounding landscape through the artwork it has inspired.

Register Interest  Gallery 

Paint Out Wells-next-the-Sea, 8 Sep 2018

The Paint Out Wells 2018 competition on the North Norfolk coast offers either a weekend-only pop-up event (2015-2017) or a one-day intensive paint day on the coast (2018) making it more accessible for those with jobs and other commitments. The event runs early September and in 2018 it was 8 September.