International Chalk Festival 2015 - Eat, Drink & Be Merry

We had another great time at the Venice Chalk Festival on November 13, 14, & 15 in Venice, Florida.  This is the largest international street painting event in the world, with artists from 16 countries, including Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Peru, Brazil, China and Russia. It was a great chance to see some old friends, and make some new ones.  It's always great to meet artists that I am connected to on Facebook, but actually get to shake their hand and talk face to face.

The event created a Guiness World Record piece of art with artist Kurt Wenner on one of the runways.  It involved many artists and two weeks of work.  It was so long, you could only view it from atop a scaffold.

I did a 3D piece out at the Venice Municipal Airport, which was 12' x 26'.  Titled "Picnic Pinup", it was my version of the theme "Eat, Drink and Be Merry" with a pure American twist (hot dog, potato chips, lemonade and a cute girl).  My art took about 13 hours (2 days), so on the third day, I helped Janet Tombros, Ron Hawkins, and Henry Darnell on their tryptic piece "The Making of Wine with the Minions".

The weather was very hot on Friday, and we were very popular with our pop up tent, as there was no shade out at the airport.  Saturday and Sunday were much more comfortable, a bit cloudy and very windy.  It made it difficult to keep the chalk on the ground.  And the ground at the airport was extremely rough, but the tempera base coat helped a lot.

Thank you to our host family, Cris and Jim Anderson who allowed us to crash at their house during the event.  And thank you to Denise Kowal and all her great volunteers who make this event possible each year.

Photo by Mark Zou

Photo by Craig Houdeshell