Monday, 13 August 2012

Win win win! (nb: there may be three wins, but there's only one prize)

So, the final curtain has dropped on the Olympics. Let's hope it managed to avoid the dying embers of the flame because, with London 2012's closing ceremony budget clearly spent on Russell Brand's hairspray and gallons of Ovaltine for One Direction, I'm pretty sure it would have been made of very cheap fabric which would ignite in a flash.

I shall miss the games - they have dominated my life for the past couple of weeks. If the aim of the games was to "inspire a generation", let's hope Lord Coe meant that for children of the 1970's, this involved them being motivated to sit on their arses, glued to the tv whilst snacking. Without wishing to blow my own trumpet, these past 16 days have been a personal best for me on that front.

Although it has been the most amazing spectacle, it's actually a bit of a relief to get back to real life again. It's like having eaten a massive, delicious, yet very rich meal. I've thoroughly enjoyed it, but now it's time to sit quietly and digest everything.

For me, this will take the form of drawing a portrait of someone from the games that encapsulated the thrill and wonder of it all. I've not painted a picture for myself for ages, so it's really nice to feel this inspired to do so. I appreciate that in terms of exercise, this involves me moving from my sofa to my computer for the next few weeks, but at least I won't be snacking - baby steps (as in incremental progress, not as in tiny children performing a cover of 'Tragedy').

In order to help share the nice warm feeling of inspired celebration that's within me right now, I thought it would be nice to run a little competition. I'll be giving away a signed print of the portrait to one lucky person who correctly guesses who I intend to draw. Leave your answer in the comments box below - you don't need to be signed in to leave a comment, but please ensure you give a name so that I can uniquely identify you.

Terms and conditions apply - in summary these allow me to do what the hell I like with this competition, so don't get stroppy and stuff. Feel free to offer bribes to help increase your chances, although blackmail is strictly forbidden. And in the spirit of unity and equality, so is whitemail.

It'll take me a few weeks to complete this piece, so entries are open until either it's a) finished or b) I accidentally reveal who I'm drawing in another blog post or tweet and ruin the whole thing.

The only real rule is that it's one entry per person, although if you can be bothered to set up fake email addresses to get round this, good on you.

If there is more than one correct guess, I'll draw a winner at random (as in picking a name from a hat, not as in going into a state of trance and drawing the ethereal face I see hazily floating in front of me).

The only clue I'll give at this stage is that the person I'm drawing was a star of the games and is definitely either male or female - i.e. not one of those big shot putting or weightlifting people from China who look like they have both sets of tackle (and probably also a healthy dose of swine in their family tree).

So, best of luck if you want to take part. Feel free to ask me any questions, just so long as they don't turn this into a game of Olympic 'Guess Who?' with ones like, "does she wear a hat?", or "does he have a greasy comb-over that makes him look like he's overly fond of school children?". Cheers.



6 comments:

  1. Ooh, ooh. How exciting!
    I'm gonna say the main man; Mo Farah.
    Keep up the good work.
    Kev Bedford (@bedseo off of Twitter)

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  2. Great idea, would love to own it. As a PE teacher it would hang pride of place in my office
    From Mark (@thegolfbandit on twitter)

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  3. So I'm going to guess that you're drawing Usain Bolt (@thegolfbandit on twitter)

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  4. I'm going to say Vicky Pendleton as you clearly have a keen eye for the pretty laydees and you've already 'done' Jess Ennis :D (@finchypoos)

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  5. So many 'stars of the games' to choose from. I'm going to guess Chris Hoy, though.

    :)

    @Surefiredaisy

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  6. Charlotte Dujardin say I. She has a nice name, a lovely smile and she's exceedingly good at dressage.Might be a challenge to draw the horse,(I understand they aren't easy to draw)but .... insert flattery....I'm sure you'll be able to do it!
    Virtual cake en route :)
    @vivdora

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