Al Archie -- Entering the fair

I've been carving for about 10 years now and it took me some time to be willing to show at our annual club shows. The first time I competed was at a Pheasants forever convention because they were looking for participants. The only reason I went was becasue it was 100 miles from where I live and noone would know me -- no embarrasment, right?

Anyway, last year I entered the county fair and got firsts and reseve champion ribbons and this year I enterd two county fairs and got firsts and reserve champion (grand champion eludes me). I knew in my heart of hearts that the competition wasn't there at the county level and if I really wanted to know how I was doing, I needed to go to the state level. So here I am at the state fair. My thought was that if I did well at the state level I would give consideration to taking something to the International Woodcarvers Congress in Iowa next summer.

I entered 4 pieces in the fair, one placed third and one placed fourth. The other two didn't place. Am I disappointed? No, not really, I wasn't sure I would place with one let alone two. I am going on Wednesday to check out my competition, and I am sure it will be a learning process.

Would I recommend competition? YES. It is really nerve wracking for me -- I have always been highly competitive in everything I do and if I were to be truthful, I want to win. But the learning curve gets higher when you compete, I have new goals to reach for now, I have an opportunity to see what/how others are doing and see the possibilities of how far my talent might take me. So Al, take a deep breath and put a carving or two in....

Pam