Winners of 39th annual Roy Wood Art Show announced

Published 2:20 pm Thursday, June 23, 2022

By Carey Reeder

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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer

Charlotte Blencowe and Nikita Dees are the first-place winners of the 39th annual Roy Wood Peach Festival Art Show.

Blencowe took home first place in the junior division for younger artists, while Dees won the senior division for adults. The winners were announced on June 23 at River Bank and Trust in downtown Clanton. Sherri Sessions, who was impartial to Chilton County, was the judge for the contest.

Blencowe’s artwork featured a Yellow Hammer bird drawing in colored pencil. Dees chose to draw a perfume bottle in dark tones beside a party mask surrounded by linens.

Blencowe said her theme was “Sweet Home Alabama.”

“What better than a Yellow Hammer as the state bird,” Blencowe said.

The piece took her over a month to complete. Blencowe is no stranger to the Roy Wood Art Show having earned ribbons in previous years. She was awarded a prize of $100 for first place.

“Ever since I was little I have been playing with paint, but I started taking lessons when I was in fourth grade.” Blencowe said.

Around 35 pieces of art were submitted for the contest this year. Each artist could submit two pieces of art of any subject. The artwork had to be framed or matted and have a way for the artwork to hang. The art gallery will be on display until June 29.

The contest was open to all ages, but was split up into the two divisions.

Sariah Dailey was awarded second and third place in the junior division. Dailey’s second-place artwork featured a detailed sketch of an apple. Her third-place piece of art was a sketch of flowers in a Mason Jar with petals falling off the flowers to the ground. Dailey earned a combined $125 for second and third place.

Tripp Tinker earned the honorable mention ribbon with his abstract painting of an outline of a body. Tinker was awarded a $25 prize.

In the senior division, Nikita Dees earned a $100 prize for her drawing that won first place.

Tommy Compton was awarded second place and the honorable mention spot. Compton’s second-place painting was a barn set in a pasture with a sunset in the background. It was entitled “Soon Gone For Today.” Compton’s honorable mention artwork was another landscape painting of some small wooden huts set around bare trees below a mountainous background. Compton earned a combined $100 for second place and the honorable mention.

Gloria Ronayne, who has earned a ribbon in each of the seven years she has entered the contest, added a third-place ribbon to her winnings this year. Ronayne produced a watercolor painting of Trinity Episcopal Church on Second Avenue that earned her the $50 prize for third place.

“I was just driving down Second Street this year, and I saw a church and thought it was a really pretty church,” Ronayne said. “I stopped and took a picture, and the printing store blew it up so I could see all of the details. You get a good outline, without that you cannot do anything. Then you add your watercolors.”

Ronayne said her art interest started as a child, and she worked with many different mediums growing up. However, the last 15 years, she has used mainly watercolors because of the challenge they present.

Ronayne has painted other churches in Chilton County and enjoys painting pictures of buidings, fruits and flowers.

“I don’t do any abstract,” Ronayne said. “When I paint something, I want people to be able to say ‘That’s an apple.’”

Ronayne was awarded second and third place in the senior division last year, but said next year she is going for the first-place ribbon.

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