Here is a small part of what happened on 13th of April in Manchester. 10 artists, 500 people in the audience, 7 million people watching on TV and 30 minutes to create a masterpiece - what a night!
The event took place in the historic Victoria Baths in Manchester on the 13th of April 2019. I was invited to take part in the Art Competition, where 10 artists had 30 min to create something beautiful. It initially sounded like such a tense yet unprecedented experience, meaning I just couldn't miss that opportunity.
With my style being quite literal and detailed I planned to practice beforehand, so I would get some kind of idea about the time and scale of the painting.
As you have probably guessed it by now - I did not practice at all (don't know why, don't ask). I just had an image and a rough idea of what I was going to do.
Talking to 10 other artists/contestants, I gathered that everyone else have done their preparation much better than I did, actually testing their ideas and practicing beforehand. Which for some odd reason I found hilarious, because I never prepare for anything, and even important events like this do not seem to teach me.
Amazing people, amazing experience! Although it was really nerve-racking before those 30 min started. After that starting signal time flew by so quickly: artists painting, music blasting, people cheering; and before I even realized - it was already over. Probably the quickest 30 min in my life.
Another 5 min and we are off to cleaning our brushes and pallets - 5 other artists were already waiting to start their round.
The atmosphere was so lively and dynamic - you would not expect something like this from an art event, right?
Another round goes by like a wind, and now 10 artists and 1 invited guest painter have finished their masterpieces - time to judge! Let me tell you the judges were very tough - all 600 people, who were watching us paint this whole time, now had to choose their favorite painting in 3 rounds - each time eliminating 3 pieces.
Fast forward to the end of voting - I won! I could not believe my ears at first, as I did not expect that whatsoever. And of course a big thanks to everyone who voted for my piece again - it meant a lot to me to win at such an event. As you can see from the picture - I was VEEEERY happy.
With the silent auction at the end of this grand finale we managed to raise some money for the amazing cause of restoring the beautiful venue we painted in!
And it just so happened that BBC 1 was there to capture the whole evening. So now you can find me occasionally appearing and embarrassing myself in the BBC One Show episode about Manchester Art Battle.
Check it out!
UPD 20.08.2020
Just managed to find this newsletter snippet. Yours truly next to the wedding section, what an honour!
