Eat, Drink, and be Merry!

... And that was the theme for the 2015 Sarasota Chalk Festival held in Venice, Florida.

FLORIDA! A mad dash, red-eye flight, crossing of fingers to make it both in and out of Denver in November, and a 5:15am arrival in Tampa. Ooh, tired eyes, crooked neck and very excited heart!

Sketch and color study in hand, I signed in at the Festival office and Set out for Miami Avenue.

For the Eat Drink and be Merry theme... I knew I didn't want to create an image of anyone eating and definitely not anyone drinking, that made Merry my inspiration. Merry; I started thinking of laughing, happiness, joy, spinning, twirling, dancing, music. MUSIC!

After some sketching of people dancing followed by others of musicians, I drew a woman holding a moon like a Lute or Bass. Moon = Luna: Luna and Music: Luna's Merry Music of the Spheres!

Okay that last part is a bit of a jump, but after I'd finished my sketch and color rough, I was still massaging the title of the piece. I sent the art to my Mom and Sister and my Mom wrote back that made her think of The Music of the Spheres. Huh? What?

Thank you Wikipedia- I soon learned about a long ago concept of Pythagorous which in its essence describes the planets as consonants and whole notes - celestial sounds and music. 

Perfect! "Luna's Merry Music of the Sheres."

Middle of the Road

Truly. Literally. 

That's where I was over the weekend.

One of the best chalk festivals in the nation is held every June in San Rafael. This was their 22nd event! My first festival was 1998 I think!

The Italian Street Painting Marin had a theme this year of Venetian Carnivale- artists created murals of masks, costumes, gondolas... A wonderful variety of colors and textures and scenes. There were also people in costumes parading through the festival!

I always come up with an original design and this year I wanted to give a nod to the fantasy, beauty and surrealism of a Carnivale.

My piece is 'Bella Dea' or 'Beautiful Goddess'. She appears in the canals in a gondola, her hat (which is the night sky) casts a shadow across her face which is her mask.

I have two very talented little nieces who assist me each year. They're 9 and 12. We talk about color and light sources, school and plans for the summer. most of all, we laugh a lot.

Huge kudos to the ISPM organizers and volunteers for a wonderful event and congratulations to all the artists on their amazing talents and stunning murals!!

Diego y Frida: A Chalk Mural

Marin held a 'Pop-Up' Street Painting festival this year; a little smaller, invitation only. It was wonderful! Amazing talent. Spot on organized. Perfect weather. Most of all, a great opportunity to play and create with my chalk friends.

This year, the event had a theme. That's fun, that's new! The theme: 1940s.

The illustrator in me thrived on the theme. Research and photos and articles... the thread wove in and out and around so many interesting subjects and then. I found. Diego Rivera.

At the World's Fair in San Francisco, 1939-1940, Diego Rivera was invited to participate in the 'Art in Action' program. Visitors to Treasure Island were able to watch artists create, and Diego Rivera created a 72' long mural that can now be seen at SF City College. While here in SF working, Frida Kahlo (his ex-wife) decided to remarry. They were wed at SF City Hall on December 8, 1940 (Rivera's birthday.) 

My sketch made it into the Pink Section in the SF Chronicle and I just am so happy with my finished mural! My nieces joined me too this year, they always do and they are spectacular artists!

Chalk Mural Interview

A friend found this for me. I remember the interview and know the people who run streetpainting.tv but I hadn't seen this version!