Rain Almost Washes Out Street Painting Festival in Daytona



We assess the damage early Sunday morning.



The 11th Annual Arthaus Street Painting Festival (part of the Port Orange Family Days) was a success, despite two downpours on Saturday. The first was around noon, and wasn't too bad. Most everyone was able to cover up, and get back to work about an hour later. But the second one came at 5 pm after a full day of chalking and literally washed away most of our work. It was very discouraging, but this is Florida, and we all know that it "occasionally" rains in Florida. I waited for the majority of water to run off, then we tented it loosely with plastic.

Sunday at 7:30 am we uncovered it to let it continue drying so I could get to work as soon as possible. I just barely finished at 12:30, in time for the judging at 1 pm.  (I didn't know I could paint a tree in 15 minutes!)  When you have to rush, it isn't as good as you want it to be, but it still looked pretty good, and I was happy to have it finished.

This "Artist's Choice" winner was a photo I liked, but I changed the background to make it more colorful. It was the perfect proportion for the odd 5' x 10' sized area and was a real crowd pleaser, especially with the kids. After the prizes were awarded, we waited around for about a half hour for the shadow to cover the entire work, so that the pictures would turn out well.  Thanks to Craig for taking such great photos during the event!

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.