The Great American Mural Competition is the brain child of Annie Margarita, a fellow artist and fellow former Marine. In 2011, she had 13 of the best muralists she could locate assemble in an indoor sports arena as part of a home decorating convention. We competed to create large canvases inspired by Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.”

As the judges announced the winners in various categories (Best Use of Color, Best Trompe L’oeil, etc.) while we stood on the stage behind our canvases, I got a bit depressed when I didn’t hear my name. I knew that two of the other artists had painted works clearly superior to mine and figured I’d go home empty handed. So I was genuinely shocked when they announced my name for “Best in Show.”

The large purple ribbon hangs from the shelves over my office desk.