Last Thursday night, out of over 800 entries and 300 finalists, I was announced as the winner of the Best of Show in the prestigious Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular.
This came as a wonderful surprise. I have been entering art competitions for the past two to three years now and have done reasonably well, regularly being selected as a finalist and even winning runner-up prizes. Competitions have been a great way for me to get my (albeit hard to pronounce) name out there and recognised, which has also helped with the sale of my paintings. However, the best of show, the overall winner, the elusive white whale of the art competition world, has always escaped me. This has been something that over the years I have managed to come to terms with (besides the requisite few days of moping). In fact, I’ve gotten quite used to not winning. Its when I see the other finalists being exhibited that I can be at ease when I don’t win. There is always an abundance of outstanding paintings and artwork on display, for which the judge has to select only one as a winner. Definitely not an easy task. And so I’m okay with not winning.
That being said, like everyone else, I’m even more okay with winning! It was a great confidence booster and validation of what I do. The prize money will come in handy too 😉 I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, though I have gone out and bought two big canvii (canvii being the plural for canvas – I should know, I only made up the word a few minutes ago).
I would like to whole-heartedly thank the Brisbane Rotary Clubs involved, the sponsors, the organisers and the curator, Brett Lethbridge. And a special thank you to judge, Jan Jorgensen, for selecting my work as the Best of Show, but most of all for her kind and encouraging words on the night.
And in parting from you once again dear reader in the ether, I would like to leave you with this thought; If you think that there should be more winners in art competitions, perhaps you could put buying an original artwork at a local art competition on your bucket list (I know of an art spectacular on for the next week at Waterfront Place, Brisbane that still has a lot of amazing paintings available for sale).