My adventures with Art Battles began back in 2011 as a way of pushing myself to work performatively and increase my profile as an artist in different circles. The live painting events also became an excellent opportunity to meet other artists and refine my painting skills.  Luckily, my first experience doing battles with the brush happened at the Varley Art Gallery in Markham, Ontario as part of a gallery fundraiser.  Thirty-two artists were selected to paint and I managed to make it past round 1 to paint off in the finals against three other artists.  The crowd generously voted me into second place where I won $250 dollars, received proceeds from the sale of both works, and definitely caught the bug to paint live and under stressful conditions.  Click on the videos see how the night unravelled.