It's a Winner at the Disney Festival of the Masters!

I was very excited to win the "Best Portraiture/Figurative Award" at the Disney/FCAA Festival of the Masters street painting competition on November 12-14, 2010.  I chose to reproduce a photo titled Natural History by Lithium Picnic that I found on DeviantArt.  It was not only rich and gorgeous, but it also had a fall type theme.  This event is an invitational for FCAA members, and does not allow 3D or cartoon works.  The finished piece was about 6'x7' done directly on concrete with only chalk in about 19 hours (2 days).  I experimented with using Eternity Chalks for the light colors, and really liked the way they covered the surface. 

We started on Friday morning, and I was pretty much finished by 5pm on Saturday.  Judging was moved up to 10am on Sunday, so everyone was doing last minute touchups.  Luckily the weather was great and we didn't have to worry about rain.  I was under an acorn tree that kept pelting us, but I was grateful for the shade.

I also received my Qualificato Certification from the Florida Chalk Artist Association (FCAA).  There was one other who received the Qualificato (second level) and two who received the Semplice Certification (first level).

Chalk Festival brings together artists from Florida to Italy

The First International Chalk Festival in Sarasota brought together artists from across the U.S. and Europe.  The level of artistry was amazing, and encompassed both three large 3D works, and also the traditional madonnari style street paintings.  The 3D paintings started a couple days ahead of the weekend event.  Each work was completed by a team of 3-5 artists.  They began by laying down paint and then going in to add details with chalk, as the crowds waited in line to stand at the apex of the work so they could view it in the correct perspective.  The traditional chalk artists (my daughter and I included), started VERY early Saturday morning - 6:30 am - before dawn's early light!  We used some white tempera on certain areas of our work, because the asphalt was very black.  Some artists blocked in large areas with colored tempera, which I think is kind of cheating.  I prefer to have all the color done in chalk.

This was the first time I had done a "recognizable figure", as I usually do reproductions of master paintings or my own photos and designs.  This picture was from an original painting by Alex Ross for the 70th Anniversary of The Wizard of Oz.  People really connected with this character and I can't tell you how many times I heard "I'll get you my pretty".  It was popular with all ages, too, as both seniors and young children recognized the character.

We worked til dusk on Saturday.  It got really hot (in the 90's) and most of the artists really slowed down in the middle of the day.  I was in total sun from 10am - 6pm.  Sunday we got back to work around 8am.  Both Carmen and I finished about midday (about 2pm for me).  Sunday was also very hot, which was why I was trying to get done earlier in the day.  As you can see from the photo at the left, there were a lot of people in costume both days.  Attendance was great, much better than last year, probably about 30,000 each day??? 

Judging was around 3pm, but the awards presentation wasn't until 6pm, so we had to wait around.  The best thing about the festival was getting to connect with so many other artists who all have the same passion.