The Miracle of the Portrait

I miraculously entered my first ever portrait competition, well... first ever painting competition EVER, and I made it as a finalist in the Portrait Society of Canada's "The Miracle of the Portrait" competition!!  I was so excited when the finalists were announced!!  Actually, I'm not sure what I was feeling the exact moment, but I can tell you that my spirits were lifted like crazy when I saw my picture flash on the PSC's home page, after what seemed like an eternity of other paintings flashing by.

I had seen the announcement for the competition at the beginning of November, and thought, heck, what have you got to lose, Lisa?  So I decided on an image, burnt it to a cd, walked to the post office, and posted the damn thing.  There... it was done.  No turning back.  For Christ sake Lisa, get a grip... worst case scenario, you just don't get selected, right?  Where's the harm in trying.  So very glad I did, and if this is as far as I get, I'll be just as happy.  I did it.  I was brave enough... finally.  And you know what the beauty of it is, if you go and look at the selected portraits.... mine is posted right beside an artist's work whom I really greatly admire... Marina Dieul.  That's privilege and honour enough for me. 

I chose to send in the image of "Mellow Yellow"... a painting of my daughter that I did earlier this year (at one of my craft weekend's - well... I had started it at a craft weekend, at least)... It's 24" x 30", acrylic and a limited palette of only yellow ocher, black and white.  It was probably one of the most tedious paintings I've ever worked on, all that knit, but it was such a joy to paint!

Anyways, now I just sit and wait until the 20th when the jurors will make their selection.  There is another award too, the people's choice award, where the viewer gets to select their favourite.  If you are interested in taking a peak at the competition, follow this link:  http://www.portraitsociety.ca/c2011.php

That's it for now!!