Well, that was short-lived.

I got past Round One of the MM Poetry 2014 Tournament and went head-to-head in Round Two with the very talented Buffy Silverman. Her word was 'Fortitude'; my word was 'Quintessential'. Here are the poems we came up with:

http://www.thinkkidthink.com/6-fortitude-vs-14-quintessential/

As you can see her poem was pretty darned good and in the end triumphed over mine. She got the majority of the public vote and the poet vote. As a consolation, I had the majority of the school-children vote so something for me to feel good about.

Only one person goes to the next level, and that wont be me. On the positive side, I've already written about 6 new poems for this tournament. 94 more and I will have my next book. Time to start thinking seriously about Book 2...

I managed to squeak through Round One of the 2014 March Madness Poetry Tournament. See the entry and voting results here: http://www.thinkkidthink.com/3-avid-vs-14-concurrent/

There are three pools of votes: (1) General public (which was a close 115 to 104 in my favor); (2) Classrooms across the US (which was a close 9 to 8 in my favor); and (3) other competitors (which was almost 2:1 in my favor). An entry needs to win 2 out of 3 categories to progress which makes for some exciting tally counts.

Below is how my entry looked like as published compared to how I really wanted to have it look like but couldn't do short of using an image.

Now onto Round 2 where my assigned word is 'Quintessential'....

On the left is the oil painting I did for the "Winter is Coming" show, which is inspired by George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" book series, better known to TV lovers as "Game of Thrones". If you have read the book or watched the series, then the character in this painting needs no introduction - (and if you haven't, her name is Daenerys Targaryen). The title of this piece "The Music Of Dragons" is based on the last 4 words of book 1.

The show itself had a massive opening with a line stretching around the block just to get in, possibly the only time I have seen that kind of enthusiasm at an art gallery. Kudos to LTD's James and Melissa Monosmith for orchestrating a successful show.

Here is what George R. R. Martin himself has to say about the show:  "Winter in Seattle" http://grrm.livejournal.com/360258.html

The show also got written up in Wired Magazine: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2014/03/game-thrones-gallery-exhibit/

The full show can currently be seen online at: http://www.ltdartgallery.com/category/current-exhibition  - this link will only work till the show rotates so sorry if you come across this late and it doesn't work.

And now as a bonus, here is the earlier version of this painting that did not make it to the show. This on is Oil on Canvas, has different dimensions, and more stuff going on in the background that was a little distracting ...

I will be part of an exciting new art show opening March 1st at the LTD. Art Gallery in Seattle, titled 'George R. R. Martin presents WINTER IS COMING - Art Inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire' - Yes, this is very much the same series that inspired HBO's Game of Thrones.

The image on the left is a preview of my oil painting in the show. Anyone who has read the book (or seen the series) will be able to identify the character in the image.

The painting, titled 'The Music of Dragons', is inspired on the last 4 words of Book 1...

If you are in Seattle, come see the show which runs till March 23rd. The show will also be presented inside the Emerald City Comicon at the end of March.