Road Trip!

This past weekend I participated in a juried competition in Columbus, Ohio known as Art at the Arnold. It takes place during the Annual Arnold Fitness Expo. Here is a link to their page, with more information. There were around 40 artists accepted and the premise seemed to be that art could  be a competition and a spectator sport as well as just a pastime. Friday morning we had three models and we drew or painted from life in a central location while crowds looked on. In the afternoon we took pictures and used our references to work on another project all day Saturday. It was packed and I handed out all the business cards I had. Hopefully something will come of it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up around 3:00 PM to meet the artists and take a look at our artwork. Meeting that guy was the highlight of the day and of course I posted a picture of the  momentous event on Facebook immediately!

 

Here is the painting I entered in the contest. It's a painting of Kyle Coombs, the bodybuilder who posed for us Friday morning.

There were some awfully good pieces in the show, and my painting of Kyle didn't win anything, but the judge was nice enough to come around and talk to us about what she did and didn't like regarding our pieces. That is unusual, but very appreciated. She told me they liked the expression on his face and the general composition but thought it was a bit dark overall.

So, I took it home and decided to do some 'fixing'. I eliminated his girlfriend, who had posed with him and lightened the background just a little. I'm a bit happier with it now and I think if I stick him on eBay someone will find him quite fetching and snap him up. :) Hopefully, anyway.