Pitches made for painting

I have had one of the scariest experiences of my life. I have been reading through all the entries that you have sent to me pitching for one of my paintings. I have been in awe of the long ones, and short ones, laughed at the funny ones, adored the multiple rhyming sequential poems and gawped at one perfectly weird pitch in perfect prose... and of course, I have loved them all.

However, I had to choose, and for a while I was terrified. How was I going to choose? How could I be fair? How could I have promised only one prize? I resisted the temptation to have someone else choose... because that really wouldn't be fair. I promised to chose not great writing, not a great story, but based on my heartfelt response. And, I have had heartfelt responses to some of the entries. I have tried to explain and I can't explain. Two or three entries really touched me. They weren't particularly clever, or well-written....(sorry, folks, but I was innundated with beautifully written prose, poetry and lovey short stories, and for me, the top three entries were not in any of these categories).
Read a selection of them below

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Dark Lilies... The Winning Pitch

On June 21st our daylight peaks and for awhile it declines quite imperceptibly. People are holidaying preoccupied with seeking out the sun. The months pass quickly, soon preparation for the return to work or study concentrates the mind. The bell rings, the term starts; the catch up with old acquaintances and new work slides to the forefront. Before we realise it the year has lurched forward and it’s Hallow Een. The clock changes, we gain an hour but loose our light. For the first time since the summer solstice we focus on the declining days, the long evenings. We bemoan the dark. ...more

From Gemma.. The whole scene radiates light and heat and I long to sit again under the shade of a big plane tree.

I love the painting 'La fin de l'apres-midi'. When our three children were small we went to France every year we could. ...more

From Mary O'S

Our eyes met across a classroom. She starting out, me too. The cocky sit of her with paintbrush in toe bringing the feminist theory of “gaze” together in one. I was blessed with the opportunity to study in the U.C.D. Women’s’ Studies Outreach in Bray. The module on Irish Women Artists excited me and brought me back to place I left many years ago. I abandoned the world of creativity behind too long ago, not by choice, but by allowing myself to believe what I was told. “Art wont provide bread and butter” my father drove. And so I reluctantly joined the security of a job in the Bank.
That was in the seventies and the cusp on the Women’s” Movement, which was telling me, “things don’t have to remain like this”. The notion of choice appealed to me. ...more

From Magda

Ooohh....I try my best to express myself here in writing...but I can’t get over my feelings and thoughts about the painting which strikes me the most- in a warmest and most positive way.

‘Wild blue ’. I have seen the painting picture on your website many times and always was impressed by ITS originality and some kind of power... ...more

From Anne in Australia...

I can not resist 'The Last Summer', which is totally eye catching with its entire colour. I smell the salt sea air, feel the breeze that snaps open the sails, my toes are wet. The boldness, decisiveness and courage of brush stroke is startling, especially the two naked boats that beg to be occupied, I want to grab one, hop on board and sail into the distant haze. ...more

From Frances (1st entry)

The painting I would most like to own is ‘Lillies in Spring’. When I looked at the painting again just now, having long loved it, I gasped! This painting takes my breath away and I have an almost irresistible urge to dive into it, to immerse in it, become one with it and die! ...more