This past month I had the honor to participate in a competition for painting. We were told to bring a canvas larger than 8x10" and our painting tools, but nothing else. Upon our arrival to the starting point, we signed in and drew a location out of a hat. From there we had 3 hours to arrive, paint, and complete our painting in that location. We had two artists per location. Luckily I drew the beach! The hosts were very thoughtful to set up tents for us in case it rained and were going to come around every hour with some bottled water to keep us hydrated. When I first arrived at my location on the beach, it was quite windy and it made setting up my canvas and easel very difficult. While painting I had to hold onto my canvas to ensure that it didn't blow away... a few times here and there I made the sad discouvery that my painting actually ran faster than I did!! (it also almost got hit by a few passing cars from time to time). This was a new experiance for me painting outside in a location that I had not really thought out previous to my arrival. I didn't know until the competition was over, but the wind storm that had hit our coast, which I was lucky enough to be at the fore-front of, was over 45km/h winds. Our tent decided to un-peg itself from the ground and myself and the other artist were now getting a once-in-a-lifetime experience of hang-gliding! In the end, I was priviledged enough to win the People's Choice Award and sell my painting for full asking price. Overall, the experiance will be unforgettable, and has set a fire for my love of paint and the outdoors, and the combination of the two!