We just love what y’all did for the art contest this month!

We can see you really put your hearts into it 💖💖💖 A heartfelt thank you to all who took part!

Here’s what our judge Lee White had to say about the entries:

“Hey everyone, sorry for the delay. I've been neck deep in a really tricky new book project and am just now coming up for some air! Whew!

And what a breath of fresh air it is! Your work for the contest is lovely and I spent a lot of time pouring over the images. This topic is a tricky one. It's hard not to be too cliche with the subject matter because we have been saturated with overly sentimental images for years and years. I think you guys did a good job of putting a new spin on a very well traveled topic.

I noticed a lot of new entries and I want to really encourage all of the new faces here. You are doing great! We had over 80 entries this month so I really had to sit with the images for a bit to see how they held up over to multiple viewings. I think I've managed to narrow it down to our winners and honorable mentions.

in terms of what didn't make it, here's how it broke down:

• Concept being overly sentimental images or cliche: Even though many of them were sweet, just painting two people/characters interacting didn't have enough originality to win.. (still nice images though!). Need to have some kind of new twist on that to do well here.

• Technique: I saw a lot of good ideas where the execution wasn't quite there yet. Keep at it, this part is the easiest to fix.”

Without further ado, first place goes to Pete Olczyk, who hit all the right notes with his sweet illustration.

“Gorgeous painting here in our top spot. Great concept and absolute control in color and light. The beauty here is there is actually a LOT of detail in this, but it's all controlled so well it looks simple and sweet. Great job Pete.”

Second place goes to Erin Cortese, who cracked us up with her funny take on seagull courtship rituals.

“I love Erin's concept here. It's so funny and spot on. This is a nice way to take a cliche idea (like giving flowers to a valentine) and to spin it and make it new. The cool blue palette is a nice choice here. Keep it up Erin!”

Eva Eller took 3rd place with her beautiful and dreamy piece.

“Eva's piece this month is SO COOL and very unexpected. I love the editorial take on the subject and we can read so many stories into what’s taking place here. Nice use of silhouette and scale. This is how it's done folks!”

Lee also picked 8 more illustrations as honorable mentions, check 'em out with his comments and suggestions below! You can see ALL the entries in the handy dandy slideshow, compiled by the excellent Chip Valecek 😎

Lee also wanted to say a few words about Rich Cartwright, who was a member of our community.

“Before we go, I wanted to offer a moment of silence for a loss we had in our SVS family. Rich Cartwright passed away last month and it hit us all really hard. Rich was a constant presence on the forum and a great guy. He will be missed. I really loved this image Rich did for one of our contests:”

“Okay everyone, that's gonna do it for now. Keep up all your hard work. It's paying off and the work keeps getting better and better. If you are struggling, just try to get a little better each day and it's amazing what you can accomplish. I can't wait to see your book covers next month!”

Well done everyone! Thanks again to everyone who played, you guys are the best! Bye until next time 👋😄