One Perfect Spring Day: The Winners

A dream of spring sustains life through the long winter. ‘Dreaming of Spring’ by Ryftgranny@Icewatch

This time around, we have sufficient entrants in both class 1 and class 2 sections of the competition, so winners will be announced for both classes.   The quality of work submitted for this competition was superb.   Contestants are expected to build a dimension around a theme, with the dimension best representing that theme the winner.  The theme for this month’s challenge was “One Perfect Spring Day, from early spring with snow still on the ground, the first signs of life struggling to emerge, to the warm, sunny days of late spring”.

A few notes on the judging process.  I judge the dimensions on how well the builders have used space and items, colour and creativity, ability to express the contest theme and consistency with their own theme.   The process of judging is a process of elimination, identifying flaws and deciding which affects the quality of the dimension less.  Those interested in what makes a good dimension, according to Radish, can find my opinions here.

Class 1

Contestants:  Mordrahan, Kelari Spirit by Asri@Brisesol; Nym, Garden Wedding by Judzia@Faeblight; Kahlann,  Serenity by Trigo@Icewatch; Dragondancer, Dreaming of Spring by Ryftgranny@Icewatch.

What a challenge it is to decorate a 200 item dimension.  It requires a simple concept and a deft hand to bring a dimension to life.  All four contestants bought their A game to this competition.

From Nym’s ‘Garden Wedding to Dragondancer’s ‘Dreaming of Spring’ each of the contestants built their vision of what a perfect spring day may be.  Kahlann and Dragondancer gave us some stunning morphs, while Nym and Mordrahan created perfectly framed scenes. It took me some hard thinking to figure out what made one dimension worthy of claiming the prize over the others. Here is the result of my cogitation.

Winner Class 1 – Mordrahan, Kelari Spirit by Asri@Brisesol

Mischieveous spirits invite themselves to breakfast.

What happens when a naughty spirit decides to take part in your breakfast on a nice spring day?  Chaos is what!  Mordrahan’s vision of mischievous spirits inviting themselves to breakfast is a , humourous, colourful dimension. The strength of this dimension is composition.  No matter which angle the dimension is viewed from, the sense of being in a real space does not diminish a challenge with only 200 items.  Little touches of whimsy show in the blue bells and daisies covering the Jaklorin statues and in the disarrayed table top.  All I can say is perhaps Mordrahan was ill advised to build a residence near a spirit shrine.
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Class 2

Contestants: Lils, Flora Awakened by Ahra@Greybriar; Kumberlin,  Springtime in Paris by Aurellie@Deepwood; Embri, Little House on Moonshade Pools by Springday@Deepwood;  Sinjin, Spelljammer Hideaway by Havikstorm@Faeblight; Kitasia, ~Sweetart~ by Kitt@Deepwood; Akhor,  Serenity Garden Villa by Akihawa@Shatterbone; Dragondancer, Eostre Goddess of Spring by Creativity@Icewatch.

The best part of running a challenge like this is seeing how the contestants interpret the theme.  They’ve surprised me with their interpretations of a perfect spring day.  There’s no denying the wonder of wandering around Paris in spring, or the tranquility of boating on the lake.  The interpretations are as varied as the artists themselves.

This class has inspired some of the best dimension builders to display their work.  As with class one, the best dimensions don’t sacrifice composition for morphing but rather balance every element of good design in the build.  The winner of this class has managed to do just that.  Congratulations to…

Winner Class 2 – Lils, Flora Awakened by Ahra@Greybriar

Flora, goddess of flowers and spring, arises to herald the retreat of winter.  Colour fills the world as flowers bloom, the buzz of insects and rustling of small animals can be heard in the undergrowth.  Lils has created a perfect world to frame her goddess as she awakens from her winters sleep.  Lils’ strengths lie in her bold use of colour, morphing and stage setting.  None overwhelm the contents but are used to build and connect together the different scenes within the dimension.  From the point of entry, Lils leads the visitor to all the important points of interest but still leaves much to be discovered by the careful observer.

Follow the path to spring.

Insects buzz and blossoms fill the air with scent.

The goddess, Flora, brings spring to the world.

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All in all, I’ve been delighted to explore what a perfect spring day means to our entrants.  Thank you all for entering and sharing with us.  I’ll be contacting the winners about their prize shortly.