Art vs. Art

Saturday morning, I went downtown to participate in 

"Art vs. Art", a competition in which paintings are pitted

in a winner-take-all format. The winning artist will receive

$4 thousand, and the losing paintings will be ground

to dust if buyers can't be found who are willing 

to pay a minimum $50 for each painting.

The vast majority of the competitors looked young 

enough to be my children. A few even brought children

of their own. The young woman next to me brought 
her young daughter, who sat patiently 

playing video games on her mom's cell phone.

The painting "arena," was the mezzanine 

of the City Market. The entrants were dispersed 

all over the area,which had been draped 
in plastic for the occasion.  

Artists were only allowed to use materials supplied 
by the organizer:an 18" x 24" canvas panel; 

four paintbrushes of varying sizes; five colors of 

acrylic paint - red, yellow, blue, black, and white.

Once each canvas was numbered and signed in, artists had

four hours in which to create their masterpieces.

 I worked quietly, trying to be good because

all the plastic made me feel as though I was working on

a class project. When I turned in the results of my efforts,

I had a bit of separation anxiety, not knowing whether

"Too Many Suns: SPF 50" will find a new home, 

or be ground into dust.