I'm new to the art world. I've been painting like a mad woman (I do everything like that) for the past 2.5 years, and suddenly this year, my paintings have been hanging around outside--like in public, where people can see.

At first this seriously freaked me out. Last March, you'd think I'da been happy about getting accepted to my first art show--and I was! It was the typical impostor syndrome (I should be used to it by now), thinking, "Oh no! Now they will discover that I don't belong here!"

But that didn't happen. On the contrary. I got a painting into Festival 2009 a couple months later, and a group of lovely people got together to choose my painting for a memorial award. So . . . maybe not an impostor. I'm not sure I can communicate what this show and award did for my confidence as an artist. In a way, it was like graduating from my own little attic art school.

I continue to paint and learn, though.

I love the idea of ArtPrize. Practically speaking, ArtPrize doesn't feel any different from Festival or the Spiritual Art show from last March. Everything has its politics, right? Sure, ArtPrize might be a flawed creation with ulterior motives--but that does not mean I can't follow my own agenda and hopefully use ArtPrize's own rules to get what I want.

Which is why I entered a collaborative piece into the contest. I know that I would never be able to get much attention with one of my quiet little lady paintings. So I did a big roller derby painting and stuck my lot in with roller derby and the photographer. I figure, the painting would never exist without the photograph, and neither would exist without the roller derby team, right?

So any money we might win or earn from a painting sale will get split 3 ways. It's the only way that seems fair to me. Split between me, Colin Johnson (the photographer) and the Grand Raggidy Roller Girls.

The women of GRRG are fantastic. On June 17th, I went down to roller derby practice to meet them and tell them about my painting, maybe get their help promoting it. It's a win-win, yes? But when I got there with my best pal, Zoe, we signed up to skate instead. I hardly mentioned the painting. (the important task then was to find a pair of rental skates that fit!)

I've been practicing with them ever since, so I'm even more geeked about the painting and ArtPrize and working with the GRRG to get the word out to vote for this painting!

Keep this art money local and benefitting local people--including pink-slipped high school media clerks like myself who lost full time job status along with health benefits in the spring. Also benefitted: an excellent photographer, and the hardest-working nicest bunch of crazy women you could ever hope to meet.

So. Collaborative art. ArtPrize. GRRG. Win-win-win. It's all good. There's no selling out. Life, love, art, roller skating = all. good.

If you can, get out and participate in ArtPrize during the last week of September. Vote for your favorite piece. And please vote for our painting!

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"The Wall" will be hanging at Schuler Books & Music downtown on Monroe Mall. September 23 - Oct 10. Vote!