So I just discovered this half finished post in my drafts folder. I ended up completely forgetting to finish this this post, which I started months ago. It’s now the end of the year and I think it’s high time I finish it!
I started this post mainly to share what the judges had to say about each of my entries for the fair a few months ago. When contestants enter artwork and photographs in the fair the judges write down what they think of the pieces on index cards and staple them to the ribbons. Aside from sharing what they had to say, the other point of the post was to show how terrible some of the judges spelling was. Most of it was ok, but some was just downright awful. (They let these people pick the winners?!) I am leaving all the comments as they were written.
Let’s start by getting the worst comment out of the way. And by worst, I am referring to how it was written, not what was written. This was actually one of the most complementary comments I received, but it was enough to give an English teacher night terrors for the rest of their life.
First Place
“wew I made this kinda thing when I was in high school 40 years agoin
well balanced Design
love how colurs Blend”
It was very hard for me to transcribe that without editing… (Even now, as I proofread this post, I am having to restrain my fingers from correcting those horrible, horrible errors…)
The next one is my drawing.
No Award
“All very grey. Should be placed in “modern art” for its good abstraction. More texture on “berries”. Could repeat more shapes.”
The next two are my paintings.
No Award
“Very flat – Need more darks/lights for contrast… shadows would help! Cool that creature comes out of fire! – also dolphins coming out. – Maybe have a way to have the viewers eye to follow around – could use color/shape/pattern.”
Third Place
“Monochromatic – good to be all one color! Could use more definition of waves”
The last ten are my photographs.
The handwriting on all the photographs was almost unreadable. The writer used cursive, but wrote so fast that most of the letters looked exactly the same, and it took me a long time to figure out what they were trying to write, and then once I figured that out, I had to try to figure out if they had spelled the word right. For the most part I think they were a pretty good speller, they just wrote WAY too fast. There were a few words that I was completely stumped by, so for those I marked them with an asterisk. * If you see one it means I could not figure out the word because the handwriting was just way too bad.
Third Place
“Very Creative”
No Award
“Excellent capture of colors and action Ideally however should watch eyeess* in back ground (peoples backs) Focus is good.”
No Award
“Good color choice for mat. Interest center good, but would be better if pic was vertical and worms eye view of pole not so much over Wey* altui* spole* that distracts from pic.”
Third Place
“Good Color and composition bee careful to not center horizon line.”
No Award
“Good color butterfly is just not quite as focused as it could bee.”
No Award
“Interesting composition just not quite as clear as should be.”
Third Place
“Unique structural design Excellent clarity”
Second Place
“Unique subject, very clear – unfortunately the pink mat distracts from your subject”
I mounted this on a pink mat to complement the picture. A friend who helped me mat this (Who does this professionally) recommended it. This was a very picky judge…
Third Place
“Striking color, very clear focus, just wish you had more of the bird especially the body. – feather detail is very clear”
The entire point of this photo was the tail feathers. NOT the bird. Obviously the judge couldn’t figure that out…
First Place
“Excellant action and colors very clear”
So, there you have them. A few months late, but better late than never, right? :)
The moral of the story is, take what you will from the judge’s criticism, but in the end they really have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to your personal artistic interpretation. If I want to take a picture of a bird’s tail, I’m not going to include the whole bird, no matter how much better the judge thinks it will make the picture.
Oh, and the other moral is, LEARN TO SPELL!!!
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