2nd Place in yet another Art Contest

Well, upon arriving (for the second time) to retrieve my daughter's painting from the Wildlife & Fisheries Exhibit, we searched for Gabrielle's painting, but could not find it. The only logical explanation was that her Talented Art Instructor had come by and taken it. That was confirmed when I called him. He wasn't too thrilled that I wanted to 'matte and frame" it, for he had already entered it into another contest.

St. Tammany Parish hosts an Annual 'Three Rivers Art Festival' on N. Columbia Street in downtown Covington (Louisiana). Our parish's local branch of the JUNIOR LEAGUE sponsored an Art Contest for the youth. Of course my mother and I are 'not' artsy-fartsy people by any means, so we just didn't 'get' some of the art, you know? Oh, I can 'appreciate' it, but I wouldn't BUY it!

Once we found the 2nd grade group, we were happy to see that she placed, 2nd place, at that. But, in reviewing the others (including the 1st place winner), we also wondered who did the judging!? I will leave it to you, as well, to decide for yourself which shows the most potential for true artistic ability here. And honestly, I am NOT just being a biased Mom. Others in there with us made some of the exact comments that we did (amongst ourselves, of course).
Well, as a parent, I decided to just be happy she placed at all; and make a big deal of it. I proceeded to walk around and view the older grades' entries, only to find that some of them were a bit 'out there'; others obviously from the same 'mold' and just 'finished' differently.
So that gave me the 'bullet' in my gun, to constantly shoot out that 'Gabrielle had nothing to look at while sketching this', and 'Gabrielle had only used watercolors at home before painting this', and 'Gabrielle's hummingbird came from inside' and 'Gabrielle's colors didn't bleed'....all when describing 'her' artwork to others. And when I recognized someone while walking down N. Columbia, I made certain I told them~ha! BRAGGED~that she won 2nd Place; and to please go see her work at the JUNIOR LEAGUE!
At times, she was really oblivious, being only 7 years old when she did this; but somehow it felt like my 'duty' to boast and brag and show off what 'my baby' could do! Of course, I had to hear all of the comments from other artists in order to better understand JUST how great this painting IS, for a 7 year old! But armed with that information, I can do my duty as a bragging MOM, and make certain that she gets recognition!
And knowing that some friends of ours had only recently opened their new restaurant~ ON N. Columbia~3 weeks earlier to be exact; and that my nephew was working a double at the back bar; we decided to try it out. WELL, they were a bit overwhelmed! It turned out that two of the waitresses had just walked out and QUIT, not being able to handle the crowds!
Poor Sandra (the owner) was a bit frazzled, but when she saw us there, she was thrilled! She made certain that we were taken care of, but we were just happy to be sitting down! The stuffed portabello mushroom was delicious, as was the REAL muffaletto and the garlic stuffed roast beef panini! I really enjoyed the Merlot that I felt I needed (and was SO glad I'd had when I got home).

She'd hired a one man band, per se, who was playing his cello as we dined. Rebekah really seemed to enjoy the entire experience, whereas Gabrielle was asking for Subway! Rebekah even mimicked the man~using straws~and seemed to really get into it. Hmmm, could this mean music lessons are in her future? Maybe it does!