A bold decision to use bright purple instead of natural skin tones was the right decision for Liberty High freshman Natalie Chambers who received the Best of Show Ribbon at the annual Kern County Fair Children’s Art awards ceremony held on Sept. 24 in the fairgrounds’ Harvest Hall in Bakersfield. Chambers’ painting titled “Indian Maiden” was judged the best among 613 entries from 47 schools throughout the county. Chambers was an eighth-grader at Rosedale Middle School when she painted her winner which was entered in the fair competition in May. “Actually, I had been planning on using natural skin tones for the face, but the more I thought about it, I decided to just go for the purple.” Chambers said. “I think it is the focal point of the painting because it really makes all the other colors, such as the facial war paint, stand out.” Chambers’ judgment was not questioned by her Rosedale Middle School art teacher Sandra Nelson. After all, Chambers had been the school’s female artist of the year in both seventh and eighth grades. The bright colors and the purple face were a bit of a departure for her. Chambers’ favorite subject has always been people, but in the past she had confined her artwork to pencil drawings. “When Ms. Nelson told me in May she was going to enter it at the Fair, I got really excited,” Chambers said. Nelson has a pretty good eye for talent. Four other students of hers in past years have earned the Fair’s Best of Show Award and school Sweepstakes Trophy, which remains in the school’s trophy case for an entire year. More