Sarasota Video Interview

I was so excited to come across a video the other day on YouTube.  It was an interview that I had done at the Sarasota International Chalk Festival in 2010 with Don Guy.  He shot the raw footage and gave it to his students to edit.  Then, as I was just cruising through some videos, I noticed one pop up on the right in the suggested column.  This one is by Jessica Ungenheuer.  It had been posted about a month and a half earlier, but I came across it in early February 2012.  Click here to see the video.

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. 



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