These were done by totaling the average score of the 57 votes online. Scores were based on the theme finding happiness, painting technique, paragraph written and originality.
Submission 1
Done by Teretha Johnson
Total score:6.21
Honorable Mention
This time has been very difficult for everyone. Especially for a Face Painter...because our job is to literally help others find happiness. Oh the countless times I’ve heard a Mom or Dad say “Oh My Goodness! You’re the only person they’ve ever let paint them!” or “You were truly the BEST PART of this party!” or “You have made our child SO HAPPY!” The sheer sight and sound of that level of happiness is truly incomparable. And now, to not be able to get to experience that is heartbreaking. But as creatives, we are yet able to help others, as well as ourselves, to continue to find happiness through new avenues of artistic creativity.
Submission 2
Done by Julie Murray
Total score:6.04
Honorable Mention
I used acrylic on canvas for this cute unicorn art piece. I have always had a love for unicorns that stemmed from my childhood. When I was young I used to enjoy hours of playing with My little Pony toys . I enjoy painting on many different types of canvases including wood, canvas, and face painting. As we all know unicorns are quite popular in our face painting business! There is something about kids and mythological creatures like unicorns, mermaids, and princesses. I truly enjoy painting them. It calms my soul and release all the negativity from my life. It is my escape from this abnormal time. I hope that you can enjoy this unicorn as much as I do.
Submission 3
Done by Denise Walton
Total score: 6.69
Honorable Mention
“A Spring to Remember “ was painted on a day where the sky was gloomy and the four walls of my home were closing in tight due to the lockdown. I am in the process of moving so my entire life is in boxes awaiting a moving company but I left out two canvases and my paints. It was time to make the darkness and chaos go away and bring in light and happy feelings. It worked!
Submission 4
Done by Kira A
Total score: 7.69
Honorable Mention
In our times of trouble the world may look dark and grey. However the joy and colors of life are ready to surround you and fill in those areas of worry. You can find happiness, but you have to open the door and allow it into your life. It just takes a simple turn.
Submission 5
Done by Tamina Muhammad
Total score: 8.30
2nd Place
2
Best Paragraph
8.52
When I was young my grandmother told me I use to love running faster than my feet would catch up in wide open fields full of grass, daisies and dandelions. I would laugh so hard as I ran catching the wind, feeling so much joy in my heart. I was surrounded by the stillness and beauty of nature, such peace and quiet. Then I would just fall to the grass, lay there and smile. During times like this you have to go back to the simple pleasures of life like an open field, lake, a calm quiet place in nature. you find such beauty, peace, and tranquility to quiet all the noise around you and inside your mind. Close your eyes and exhale. This is finding happiness for me.
Submission 6
Done by Mandi Cambanes
Total score: 6.94
Honorable Mention
My painting means happiness for many reasons. First, because it makes me happy personally. It means happiness because light is happiness, and this painting severely plays with light, with the metallic hints in it; it shines in a different way no matter where you're standing to gaze at it. It means happiness because a woman who is in love with herself is happiness personified. The hardest thing to do in life is to find the love you need for your own self. It means happiness because water is life, and life should be celebrated. Lastly, it is happiness because it is passion! Passion creates a billowing, burning inferno of happiness, not only in the one with the passion, but spreading it to those around them by pure exuberance!
Submission 7
Done by Theresa Burns
Total score: 7.55
Honorable Mention
We are physically separate - but I think that socially, we have gotten so much closer. everyone is reaching out more than before and helping each other stay creative and connected and happy.
Submission 8
Done by Carla van Priek
Total score: 7.63
Honorable Mention
Best Technical Skill
8.92
It makes me happy to paint birds. There is such a puzzle in getting all the parts right, the movement, the freedom it expresses. Especially this tern, looking for a fish while hovering in the crisp spring sky!
Submission 9
Done by Aislyn CelebiAce
Total score: 7.20
Honorable Mention
In the story (Lore Olympus) that this painting is inspired by, Hades and Persephone, both gods, find love and trust in each other that they have never felt before. While both of them have had bad experiences in the past, they complete each other. This painting follows the theme 'Finding Happiness', because against the crazy odds, and some people's negative opinions of them being together, this painting depicts them basking in each other's presence and enjoying every moment of it.
Submission 10
Done by Aislyn L White
Total score: 7.98
3rd Place
3
This is a painting based on the enclosed picture, of me as a child, and my grandfather (who died shortly after this picture was taken). To me this painting fits the theme 'Finding Happiness' because while I don't have many memories of my grandfather because I was so young when he passed, I still remember him as a kind and caring man. I was happy when I painted this because it gave me time to recall all that I could, and think about the wonderful person that he was. This painting also brought joy to my families faces, as I didn't tell them I was painting this until I could show them the finished product.
Submission 11
Done by Devils Scowcroft
Total score: 7.09
Honorable Mention
Happiness to me was hard to find, it wasn't easy but I finally found it. It was the warm sun, the soft breeze and the sounds of the animals in nature that was around me. When I stood in nature, that is my true happiness.
Submission 12
Done by Trish Daniels
Total score: 5.88
Honorable Mention
woow how happy manatees make many humans!! They are the sweetest, kindest, most gentle, entertaining mammals one has ever encountered. They make me laugh, smile from ear to ear, they love to hear me sing to them, (lol humans do NOT want to hear me sing.) They just make your day!
Submission 13
Done by Lorelei Hopersberger
Total score: 7.36
Honorable Mention
I painted my version of the Jade Jukebox from a radio play that I listened to as a child called Jack Flanders and the 4th Tower of Inverness. The image represents both peace and the feeling of being content as well as the happiness from the nostalgia I feel listening to the stories that captured my imagination as a kid. In the story, Jack hears a juke box play a 50s song, and he ventures into the another dimension through a magical tower to look for the source. Although he never finds the juke box that lured him into the tower, he finds a jade jukebox that plays different vibrations and out of it emerges 1000 arms each with an eye on the palm. At the sight, he is moved to tears and ends his search. To me, it always represented finding happiness and feeling content with where you are even if you haven't found what you were initially looking for. These stories were also the first time I was introduced to Eastern religions, and I learned about the the deity Guan Yin with 1000 eyes to see the suffering in the world and 1000 arms to reach out to help. Now feels like a harder time to find happiness than usual, but it has also been a reminder to be thankful and content with where I am and what I have, and to look for ways to reach out to and assist those that I see that may need help during this time.
Submission 14
Done by Shannon Bird
Total score: 7.68
Honorable Mention
This is a watercolor I did of a swan while visiting family in San Diego. It makes me happy when I look at it because it makes me think of my time there and how beautiful and refreshing nature is and how uplifting it can be.
Submission 15
Done by Blessing Huesmann
Total score: 7.30
Honorable Mention
Lately with everything that's been going on in the world it's been hard some days to feel happy. I have been trying instead to savor every moment of the things I do enjoy, like listening to my favorite music while sipping my morning coffee, curled up in a blanket. I've been finding a little happiness in all the little things that make my day better.
Submission 16
Done by Sandy Alkeslassi
Total score: 5.86
Honorable Mention
"Love" is where I go when I need happiness. Love of my 3 amazing children, love of my pup Dillon, love of my boyfriend, love of my incredible supportive friends and my love of painting.
Submission 17
Done by Bianca Hannah
Total score: 8.35
1st Place
1
Best at following theme
8.59
.Finding Happiness! To me it means walking together with my family, strong, no matter what. There can be clouds, there can be rocks, there can be water flooding your life, with love and faith we will be able to see the beauty and light!
Submission 18
Done by Shann Ferreira Holder
Total score: 7.95
Honorable Mention
Finding happiness during this time is sharing your gifts. I have started painting everyday to mail out small paintings to people who need a little sunshine. I posted and asked if anyone would like a surprise in their mailbox. I have painted 48 so far. The painting process relieves stress from me and bringing joy to people of all ages.Each one is personalized. I have named them “artyfacts”. I think of them as long term keepsakes for the recipients. I look forward to painting these every morning. It brings me healing joy. The painting above shows the process by color, I call it the “Rainbow Chain”. It starts with a funk represented by black, then I look at my list(red). The orange represents the different mediums. Yellow is the sealing of the bright colored envelope. Green is the Postal service. Blue is the receiving of the surprise mail. Purple is the thanks and appreciation. The white is the cleansed mental state by sharing my gifts.
Submission 19
Done by Camila
CamiCosmos
Total score: 7.94
Honorable Mention
My artwork is entitled Blossoming Euphoria.I believe that happiness is to be found within nature. The world is full of stunning beauty, if only one searches for it. To find your happiness is to connect with the wonders around you. Whether it’s just a petals distance away, or a butterfly’s uninhibited journey.
Submission 20
Done by Shannon Bird
Total score: 7.73
Honorable Mention
Most Original
8.54
Had a blast painting this. It makes me happy because it's weird little things that make me laugh and what's not to love about a mermaid riding a sharkicorn flying in the air under a rainbow.:)"
Submission 21
Done by Elmie Butterssister
Total score: 5.77
Honorable Mention
When life goes down an unexpected path, in the life of a Christ Follower of any denomination, there is one constant. The Bible tells us exactly what we should do during difficult times to find happiness. In these verses, God is telling us that we should trust in him and follow the instruction of our leaders. He’s also saying that Earthly things are not what bring happiness but, the joy of giving spiritual riches to others. So, while the rest of the world is in chaos, let us follow the advice of our one true constant.
Submission 22
Done by Shelly D
Total score: 7.50
Honorable Mention
In this day and age it can be difficult to find happiness. There is so much chaos and uncertainty. They say happiness is in love, they say it's in money. Is it? Perhaps travel, food, or possessions? These things are nice, but they only enhance happiness. However, if you search within yourself, you'll find happiness. You may have to dig, you may have to polish and mend, but it's always there. Finding happiness is a state of mind. No matter what's going on around you in life, no matter how tough things get, find yourself, and then you can always find happiness from within!
Submission 23
Done by Frank Orthel
Total score: 3.98
Honorable Mention
No Paragraph
Here are some submissions that didn't make it quite in time for voting, however we still loved them and still thought that they deserved to be admired and appreciated! <3
Lately, due to social distancing and general uncertainty caused by the Pandemic that we are all experiencing, it seems like we are all having difficulty finding happiness. This little love is part of a series that I started painting to help myself and others find happiness. Some of the paintings, including this little guy, are inspired by cute little dolls that make me happy! The dolls are called Momiji, they are small, adorable dolls, only a few inches tall that are meant to be gifted. There is even a slot at the base of the doll for inserting a tiny, fortune cookie sized note for the person that you are gifting the dolls to. When I first saw photos of the dolls on Instagram, my eyes lit up and I KNEW that I HAD to paint them and send them to friends and (anyone that requested one on Instagram) as a way of creating and spreading a little happiness through Happy Mail! With this, I began a Happy Mail Campaign. I sketch and paint each doll that inspires me, as well as other things that I imagine or that inspire me. This little love is my Unicorn Onesie Boy. Unicorn Onesie Boy is a young boy. Un-shy and unafraid of being laughed at, he is wearing his favorite unicorn suit, with a heart embroidered on his tummy and star tassels dangling merrily from his hoodie drawstrings, he is skipping around spreading happiness and giggles everywhere he goes! He is inspired by the Momiji Little Starlight Girl. I have found hours of happiness sketching and painting this series. I hope they will be days, weeks and years of happiness to those that I send them out to!
Done by Sharon Tomlinson
Done by Wyndy Olson
The human heart and soul needs hope . We can strive and fight and believe as long as we hope . We hope to see the future to fight for the good in our struggles. Hope is the fuel to continue to love and be our potentially very best selves and find true happiness!
Done by Wyndy Olson
Girl holding heart!
The only real way to keep happiness is to seek and hold on to love and find happiness where we can. The small corners. A smile. A kind deed. A bird’s call or nature or a heavenly breeze to temper our souls. A word of encouragement from a true friend. The unexpected things of beauty we would and could see if we are paying attention. Love is the heart and root of happiness