More than 350 people had their attention fixed on the ring of easels, the loud mood music pulsed, and the colours splattered.
Three heats of B.C.'s best speed-painters went head to head last weekend at the trendy Red Room Ultra Bar in Vancouver. They were competing in 20-minute throwdowns for audience votes and ultimately the 2016 crown as B.C.'s Art Battle provincial winner.
The Prince George competitor, Christina Watts, took home second place when all the paint had dried at B.C. Art Battle. The only artist among the 16 competitors to score more fan ballots was Shannon Thiesen of Abbotsford, who is now off to Ottawa to represent B.C. at Art Battle Canada.
Watts was elated about the experience even before she discovered she'd won the silver medal.
"It was unbelievable. The whole weekend," she said, upon her arrival back in Prince George.
She gave a blow-by-blow description of the rare event, so future competitors from the local region could get a slightly better sense about what to expect.
"You know how golfers have caddies? We had people clean our gear and set us up. All we had to do was paint," she said.
"There was some nervousness about three hours before the battle, then nothing but calm. It was a competition, but being that art is so subjective, I feel like each artist won something that can only be felt, that came from their own merits," Watts said.
The artists arrived at the venue at 6:30, on the night of the competition. They were greeted by the DJ/master of ceremonies who took down some introduction information. They were issued their competition identification tag.
They were shown to a place to store their personal effects and pick up their painting gear (every competitor had the same tools to work with).
"Most of the artists knew each other and had painted before together or were in other battles. They have monthly battles in Vancouver," she said.
Watts was assigned to paint in Heat 2 during the first round of painting. That gave her a chance to observe the first set of competitors in action.
"Then they called for second round artists. Me. I loaded my palette with paint, grabbed the palette knives, couple brushes, and a new tool...a paint roller. The emcee kept saying, 'look at Christina, she's using a paint roller!' Paint roller, triple loaded, was the fastest way to cover the canvas so I could do the knife work I needed to do on the details. It also made the paint slide nice."
Reports from family and friends in attendance indicated Watts was a favourite of the live audience. People would stand close to get a better view of her technique. She reported being largely unaware of this, so focused on the canvas was she, but she wasn't entirely oblivious to her surroundings.
"The painter beside me really went hard on her canvas, she was splattering paint everywhere, even on my canvas," she said. "You have to expect that: the unexpected. I just worked her paint into my scene. Hahaha. I should thank her for helping me."
The image she powered through was a true northern scene. It was of a water bomber dropping its payload onto a forest fire.
"When I was done, I was so happy it all worked. And I had a beer," she said.
The audience raised a glass towards the Watts plane. Her painting and one other were selected to move on to the finals. Six of the original 16 had to paint a second image, now, but Watts had been practicing for this eventuality.
The event caddies scooped up all the gear from the preliminary heats, Watts reloaded her palette and selected some new tools, and got ready for the start gun.
"By this time it was 10:30 p.m. and everyone had had a few drinks, and the atmosphere was electric - everyone so pumped," she said.
This time she slapped down a striking image of a lighthouse on a stormy coast. Again, the votes got stuffed in her ballot box (it was a bag, actually) - enough to surpass all other paintings in the playoff except for Thiesen's. Watts walked out of the bar's painting arena with a full heart and a revved mental engine. She also sparked her own fuse during the event's off hours, by touring some of Vancouver's galleries and art shops. It even led to a chance encounter with famous Coast Salish artist Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, just to cap off the entire trip.
"So now I'm back, and the question is what will be my next adventure? Well charged and armed with some great ideas to expand on from Vancouver, I'll be hitting the canvas, firing up the web, and igniting my fellow artists' spirits and you can find us downtown in the Ridge Side Art tent at Summerfest," she said.
