Earlier this year my husband Mike and I attended an event called Art Battle, in downtown Victoria. It is a live competitive painting event, and it was one of the most unique forms of entertainment I have ever been to. It starts with a group of painters, which is split into two groups of about 6 people. The first group chooses their paint, and stands at their easel and the countdown begins. They have only 20 minutes to complete a work, that will measure up to the other artists. The audience then walks slowly in a circle around the artists, drinking beers, and chatting. At the end of the round, each audience member votes online for the artist/painting they like the most. The top two artists will proceed to the final round. This whole process is then repeated in round 2.
When Mike and I attended we found the atmosphere pretty captivating. Everyone was truly excited to see what these artists were going to come up with on the fly, and it was so interesting to see completely different works coming from each artist. We did not know anyone else attending the event, and did not know any of the participants. We had zero expectations for the night, and we were pleasantly surprised.
We did find one thing though, the artist we expected to walk away with the win, did not. It turned out to be another artist, who also had an interesting painting, but more importantly had more friends in the crowd. So although this is a art contest, it is also sort of a popularity contest…
I choose to enter in spite of this fact, and on May 7th, I participated in Art Battle #273.
It was a terrifying experience. I had only 4 hours sleep the night before, something I can’t really survive on anymore. I did a practice painting before work, and was worried. I wanted to do my best, but I did not give myself enough time to practice 20 minute paintings. But it was too late, the event was hours away.
Luckily I was in the second round, so I had time to quickly eat my dinner that we picked up on the way after work. By the time I was painting my heart was pounding and adrenaline pumping. When I was ready to paint the fine details I found my hand was shaking, enough to impede my ability to paint. I was forced to finish the painting with far less detail than I had originally planned. But in the end, it was enough. I progressed to round 2.
In the end the final round was a tie, and both myself and Sarah Choi were announced as the winners, meaning both of us will move to regionals next month. Every single one of my friends that came out that night made a huge impact on the outcome for me, and one who arrived just a smidge too to vote late made a huge impact on the outcome for Sarah. I am glad that it resulted in a tie, as this way both Sarah and I get to participate next month.
