Bruce’s Greatest Art

by Bruce Grimes

Bruce had artwork at the Rice County Fair. It won a blue ribbon!

Bruce had painted a flag with stars and stripes. He invited all his friends to go see it at the Fair. It’s on exhibit in the Arts Building. Bruce got to see it right on the first day when the Fair opened. 

It felt pretty awesome to see his artwork at the Fair! This is the third time Bruce has had art on exhibit at the Rice County Fair. It feels very special. Last year Bruce got a green ribbon for his picture.

The blue ribbon he got this year is the first-place ribbon. He also got another ribbon, a colorful one with many different shades. It’s a mystery in itself about what that ribbon stands for.

There are different ways to use colorful ribbons in competitions. In some competitions, the blue ribbon marks the first-place winner. Red ribbon marks the second-place winner. 

In some competitions, the winners also get an additional prize, such as money or a coupon or gift card for a special treat.

Bruce plans to show off his blue ribbon to his friends near and far. He’ll take his picture with his ribbon, and post it on Facebook. He can also share the photo with friends via email, and show people the ribbon itself on Zoom.

The ribbon stays on display with Bruce’s picture during the whole county fair, which is five days long. When the fair closes, Bruce will get the ribbon – and the painting – to take home. But first, the painting and the ribbon will be on display at Epic for a few days. Some of Bruce’s friends also had paintings on display at the fair. Their paintings will be part of the display at Epic, too. Some of the paintings earned Grand Champion ribbons, big beautiful pink ribbons. 

Bruce used puff paint to make the stars on his painting. He used regular tempera paint for the stripes. It’s a lucky thing that he didn’t use tempura for the stripes! That would have been a soggy mess. 

Bruce painted it on canvas. An assistant held the canvas up to Bruce’s arm. Bruce held a paintbrush in his hand and swished it back and forth across the canvas to make the wide, wind-swept stripes. 
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Then it was time to paint the stars! The staff at Epic painted the stars onto Bruce’s painting for him. Bruce was very happy for their help. It felt great to see those stars go onto his painting!