I’m sorry I’ve not blogged about this earlier, but it’s been difficult to get back to the computer this week, partly because I’m not allowed to read anything this week, as mentioned earlier. I don’t want to let this news sit and get cold, though, so I’m getting it out there this evening, even if I can’t re-read what I wrote!

Masterpiece in a Day was an excellent experience, though not for the reasons you, or I, might have expected. The day was set to be a challenge right from the start, as I’d been up playing with the band late the night before, and while the event rules on the web site stipulated work hours between 9am and 3:30pm, I was not able to arrive until about 10:30 that morning. I felt fortunate to have my brother attending the event, as he was a veteran. He had some been-there-done-that advice for me, plus the fact that I had a bunch of crap to unload from my van, and his location made for a convenient dumping ground. Thanks, Ben!

When I arrived at my brother and his friend’s site, I was met with this:

Ben had laughingly told me before that they were going for the largest work, if not the best. To that end, they’d spent over 200 bucks on several sets of canvas totalling a 6-foot by 20-foot area. That’s right: twenty feet long! I told folks later that they had “about thirty cans of paint laying around,” figuring I was overestimating. I was not. They had a lot of space to cover!

Here Ryan applies some blue to the lettering for the graffiti words. He was nice enough to help me move some of my crap over near a wall outlet. I’d hoped to set up near them, but I needed power, so I ended up around the corner.

Here I gamely try to whip some wire into a reasonable facsimile of artistic expression. I had people stopping by pretty often to ask, “What are you making?” I told them it was a little rolling marble sculpture, or a kinetic sculpture, or a number of other variations. The guy who took this picture for me, Todd, was particularly interested in my work, him being a sculptor of found metal objects. His full name is Todd Bracik, and you can find his work here.

This photo could have been taken either hours or minutes later. I think my workspace looked like this for 80% of the time I sat there. One young boy of about twelve kept walking by and offering me encouraging words. Around this point he passed again, and I said, “It doesn’t look like I’ve done much, does it?” and he said very matter-of-factly, “Oh well – good art takes time!” and walked off. Thanks for the boost, kid!

I seriously spent forever making that spiral you see me holding. For. Ev. Er. I had no idea so much time had passed, when some guy came by and asked what I was doing. He said, “You better hurry! You only have forty minutes!” I looked at my watch after he left. What was he talking about? It wasn’t even 2:30 yet. I had over an hour!

After a while a string of folks began going by me to the registration/turn-in table set up nearby. “I guess people are getting their stuff done a little early,” I thought nervously. I kept working. I wasn’t anywhere near done, but I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t expect to win, but I really had wanted to finish the piece in the allotted time.

My brother walked by carrying one of the panels for his canvas. “You better hurry!” he smiled.

What the hell? Maybe I had really better get a move on. Better to finish with some time to spare. It suddenly hit me how I could tie up the whole thing in about twenty minutes. It wouldn’t be what I’d wanted, but I would be able to finish!

Now, about this entry form…I picked it up and read: All artwork is to be turned in by 3pm. I looked at my watch. 3:05pm.

I sat there and stared at the paper. I didn’t know what to do. I had read the web site the night before, and it definitely said 3:30pm, yet I’d not read the registration form the whole time I’d had it. I was crushed. I felt defeated. I was suddenly very angry with myself for even showing up. Why had I bothered? I mean, sure I didn’t think I’d win, but I could have finished at least! I hadn’t even bothered to read the rules! How stupid was I?!

A woman came by with her little girl. She asked if I’d done a sculpture inside. I shook my head. She asked if I was going to turn in what I had. I said quietly, “I didn’t finish.” She left with her daughter.

I wanted to throw everything in my box and leave. Now. I didn’t want to be there anymore. I felt like I’d wasted my time, expected too much from myself. All these other people had finished and I had not. The one thing I’d wanted to do, finish, and I couldn’t even do that. What an idiot!

I sat there and thought about what I could do. I could leave. I could go get my car and just leave, but my brother was there. He had artwork that he’d completed, and I wanted to see the finished product. As bad as I felt, I was more certain that I wanted to see what he’d done. For that matter, I was certain I wanted to see what other people had done. My purpose was bigger than simply completing my sculpture. Even as angry as I was that thought got through. I came to have a good time, and leaving angry was not going to accomplish that. It was going to make it worse.

I got hold of Ben on cell and he watched my stuff while I got my van. I threw all of my crap in there, still rather angry, but maybe not quite so much. I asked him about his piece. He said, “It takes up one whole wall in there!” Better.

I parked again, and went back to look at the artwork. I wish I had some photos for you, but they chased me out while they were doing judging. It’s too bad, because I saw the most detailed Etch-A-Sketch I’ve ever seen in my life. There were sculptures, at least one video piece, paintings, pencil sketches, mixed media wall art. All these people had shown up that morning and just created these things on the spot. Before we all arrived that morning none of it had existed, and now it lined the walls and covered the floors of two different rooms.

I split for pizza afterward while Ben and Ryan cleaned up. We got separated for a while, and I didn’t see him the rest of the time I was there. As I was leaving after the award ceremony (Ben and Ryan, unfortunately, did not take home an award, but were odds-on favorites for the “Most Obnoxious,” apparently!), I phoned Ben. I still had all those thoughts in my head about not finishing. I hadn’t forgotten any of that, not that quickly, anyway. Still, when he answered the phone I said, “Hey, man, I just wanted to say thanks for letting me know about all this. It was awesome, and I had an excellent time.”

I’m still surprised I said that. When I was younger, and even up until just a few years ago, I would have gone with my first inclination. I would have left and written the whole thing off as a miserable failure, and maybe never tried it ever again. Apparently, I can have a pretty excellent time even if I don’t meet every expectation I have for myself.  Achieving that sort of peace with my own abilities and expectations is worth more than anything I can imagine, and I’ll be calling on this experience when similar challenges will surely present themselves, likely at next year’s Masterpiece in a Day. See you there.