Double Winner at Disney!!

I was very excited to win two awards at the Florida Chalk Artists Association event (Disney Festival of the Masters held every fall at Downtown Disney)!  I was surprised to win "Artist's Choice" from all my peers in the FCAA.  Plus I won the "Best Reproduction of an American Master".  My art was by Rick Timmons.  I found his website on the internet, and really wanted to do an animal picture, and he does a lot of horses.  Of all his works, I like this one best, and it worked well for the 7' x 7' square size we had to work with.  Because it was a 2 1/2 day event, I wanted to make sure I picked something with a lot of detail, and this one had it!

I also received my Maestre Certification from the FCAA. This took about 3 years for me to accomplish.  It requires that you participate as a solo artist in at least 15 events, win an award at Disney, win an award with 50+ artists, plus leading a workshop and also writing about street painting.

Many of my friends in the group won awards, also (Betty Dominguez, Jamie Schwerstein, Carolyn Shultz, among others).  Go to the FCAA website to see pictures of most of the winners.  The high school teams impress me every year, too!  Lots of talent!

Thanks, Minnie!

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).

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.