Art in the Gardens 2009

Jennifer has an audience of enthralled onlookers.

Weather was pretty good all weekend at Midtown on PGA Blvd. in Palm Beach Gardens. The event was from 10 am - 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday. I got started around 9 am, but had some trouble getting my tempera base to dry. Recent rains and no direct sun made the asphalt "moist". A hairdryer was brought in to complete the drying process, so the template could be implemented. It was nice to be in the shade all day, though, for a change. I was positioned in front of the Marble Slab Ice Cream Store, so there was plenty of foot traffic. I finished the piece around 3pm on Sunday.

"Temptation" by W. Bouguereau, 7' x 5'

Disney Festival of the Masters 2009

Great weather made for great chalking at Downtown Disney this past weekend. I chalked all day Friday and Saturday and did some touch up on Sunday before the judging. Carmen and I received our Semplice Professional Designation Certificate from the Florida Chalk Artists Association. Unfortunately, Carmen couldn't attend this year, since she was sick recently and missed too much school.

Even though it was much cooler in Orlando than it has been here in North Palm Beach lately, it was still hot in the middle of the day, reaching the low 80's, and I was in the full sun the whole time. I was over near a fountain, rather than in the main area, so it was a little quieter, but the muzak that Disney pipes in drove me crazy! They looped the same hour long tape over and over and over again. Even my MP3 player couldn't drown it out.

The piece I did solo this year was "Work Interupted (Penelope)" by William Bouguereau . It was 7' x 9' on concrete, which was very rough in spots. It was done directly on the concrete, no tempera base, which had a lot of shell in it, making coverage difficult. We weren't allowed to bring any "shade" with us, either. There was a lot of great art, and the high school teams really did a great job.

Best Event Theme Award!

I participated in the Arthaus 10th Annual Street Painting Festival in Port Orange, Florida on October 3 & 4th, and won my first street painting award in the "Best Theme" category.

By the end of the day on Saturday, I got all the faces done in black & white, then spent Sunday morning blocking in the color.

The theme this year was "We Are Family", so I thought this photo really says it all. I converted the color picture to black and white and added color to the open background spaces to make the faces really "pop". The size was 5' x 10', and we worked on concrete, under the shade of some oak trees.

The speckled shade made it a bit challenging during the middle of the day, but once I was totally in the shade, I was able to see it more clearly. It was very hot - 90 degrees on Saturday, with a nice breeze. Just enough to cool it down a bit, but not enough to blow the chalk away.

There were about 40 - 50 artists participating. The event is a annual fundraiser for the Arthaus, which offers art classes to the community. There were also lots of carnival rides and booths set up around the small lake, and it attracted a large crowd of all ages.

I worked from 9 am on Saturday til about 4:30 pm. I got all the faces done, and since there was no rain in the forecast, left the piece uncovered. I started back in around 8:30 am on Sunday, and added the color, then went about filling in the rest of the black and white areas around the faces. I finished about 12:30 pm. Judging was at 1 pm and awards were given out at 2 pm.

All In A Day's Work

Check out this cool video. Click the link to a YouTube video showing the whole first day of the event (Avenida de Colores in Sarasota, Florida, 2009), taken from a second story window overlooking the street. I'm in the upper left hand corner of the video.

It gives an interesting view of how long it takes to produce one of these works. And this is just Saturday, from about 9am to 9pm. We then worked most of the day, til 3pm on Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EbooRDIxWk

Carmen wins First Place!

Carmen's winning artwork. She won first place in the Student Division at the Avenida de Colores Street Painting Festival in Sarasota, Florida. She even beat a team of 4 girls from Dreyfoos High School of the Arts. Pretty impressive for a 14 year old in eighth grade!

Carmen got started about 7:30 am on Saturday. She used a paper template for the 4 foot x 6 foot area on the sidewalk. Luckily, she was in the shade most of the afternoon.

We aren't sure who the original artist of the piece was, but we think it was by Sophie Anderson. Here Carmen, finally finished around 1pm on Sunday, sits back and talks with another artist. Carmen was definitely one of the crowd favorites, and gathered one of the largest amounts of cash in her People's Choice donation box.

Jennifer Recreates "The Flapper" at Avenida de Colores 2009

We travelled to Sarasota, Florida this past weekend to participate in the Second Annual Avenida de Colores Street Painting Festival. Lori Escalara, the featured artist from San Diego, is on the right, and my picture is on the left.

I decided to do a Life magazine cover from the 1920's titled "The Flapper" by Leyendecker. We started early, about 7:30am.

The weather was great (no rain!) but extremely hot. Thank goodness we were allowed to bring umbrellas. But it was a constant battle to keep the umbrellas upright, because of the wind. And the asphalt was unbelievably hot in the middle of the day.

My sponsor was Melissa Clark Designs, who has a web design business in Boston, but was down visiting for the festival.

This was the largest piece I've attemped on my own. It was 10 feet across by 12 feet high. I finished most of it after 12 hours of work on Saturday. Sunday I finished the word Life at the top and filled in the white background. I also did a bit of touch up on the hands and feet. I finished about noon on Sunday. To see a good overview of the event, check out this You Tube video done by Sarasota Alive!: http://www.sarasotahistoryalive.com/index.php?cid=147585&src=directory&view=video&srctype=detail&refno=748&category=This%2520Week&curlid=305

Bloom N Garden N Chalk Fest

Jennifer & Carmen participated in the first Bloom N Garden N Chalk Fest in Safety Harbor, Florida over the weekend of March 28th and 29th. We got started around 8am, and put down a layer of white tempera paint on the sidewalk. It was the first time we officially had to work on the sidewalk. We had two spots next to each other in front of the local art gallery shop.


Saturday was pretty warm and very windy. We each had a 4.5' x 8' space. Carmen did a reproduction of a Bougereau and I did a piece by Jim Warren titled "Awkward Age".

Sunday morning we got heavy showers. We all covered our pieces with plastic and duct tape fairly well. We decided to uncover them to let them start drying out around 8am, but then another bunch of showers came and washed some of us out.

We just had time to lay a new piece of plastic over Carmen's piece, but mine was sacrificed. Around 11am, we saw blue skies and decided to see how quickly we could recover. They moved the judging back an hour to 3pm, so we all hunkered down and got to work.

2009 Lake Worth Street Painting Festival

Jennifer & Carmen get started. This year, our template was too small, so we used a grid method to map out the painting. We did "The Nut Gatherers" by Bouguereau. We started actually "painting" around 10am on Saturday. We usually start with the faces first and then work outward.

Carmen works on the folds of the dress, while lots & lots of people strolled by. The weather was the best we've had in a long time - cool, a little breeze, and NO RAIN!

Done! We finished around 3pm on Sunday.

2008 Lake Worth Street Painting Festival

Jennifer & Carmen participated in the 2008 Lake Worth Street Painting Festival in February.

Here, Jennifer gets started by using a template to transfer the pattern to the street.
Carmen works on the blue sky and puffy white clouds. The art is titled "On the Heights" and covered a 10' x 10' area.

Finished, right before the rain started.