Art Battle

Last weekend was the big Art Battle in Wichita Falls.  Jesse was entered as an artist and I was volunteered to help put it on. The venue was an old warehouse in downtown WF that had been redone for events. It was perfect. There was a stage in the middle of a large open room. The room was two storied and people could set upstairs and view the battle downstairs.  So, the art battle consisted of 12 artists painting in two rounds of 6. Jesse was in the first round. The artist had 20 minutes to produce a 18x23 painting.  People walked around the artist's stage while the artists painted. When the 20 minutes were up, the crowd voted online.  The paintings were placed on easels in another area and could be bought via silent auction.  After the two rounds, the top four artists went to a final round of painting.  This was on a 20x30 canvas. These paintings were also up for silent auction.  Jesse had practiced and worked to prepare for the battle - unlike her mother, the great procrastinator.  And of course, Jesse won.  It was all great fun.  Yes, beer and pizza were a part of the night.

When Jesse signed up for the battle, she asked me to sign up also. I did, but Bob, the guy in charge (and friend of Jesse's) said that I should wait and do a different battle so as to not split our votes. That was probably a wise decision.  Sometimes when voting is the way to win, people who are really bad, but brought lots of people, win. In this case, there seemed to be lots of people without a dog in the fight and voted according to what they liked best.  Jesse's paintings were easily the best. Here is the first round painting 
Here is the final round painting
  Here is the venue