Whew!….

Hooray! I won the Halifax Art Battle 56. I was thoroughly unsuspecting it, and really just participated in order to challenge myself, but then..

It was simply a blast, and I didn’t realize that the clamour of bystanders and adrenaline-infused madness would produce such joy in the 20 minutes that the artists had in each round to produce the best art their sweaty palms and heart-racing selves could produce, (and improv, nevertheless).

While I’m not accustomed to being in the spot light, I rather enjoyed the total submersion of having to paint under such pressure, and to step out of my comfort zone by being in front of so many people, as well as not having the safety and security of a reference to work from. Painting merely from my head was, in fact, rather refreshing, and a nice break from the tedious, architectural images I’ve been painting for my upcoming show.

The first image is what I painted from the first round.  It was painted in 20 minutes in acrylic (no model). Some said that it looked like me, and asked if it was a self-portrait. I said no, but afterwards, realized that subliminally my mind perhaps was projecting my own self image. I suppose you paint from what you know best. Interesting concept to explore in the future perhaps …

The outcome of winning is that I’ll be painting in the Halifax finalist’s on June 22. The painter who wins this one will represent Nova Scotia on a national level, with expenses paid to Toronto. We’ll see how far down the rabbit trail this goes…