The Best Kind of Therapy is Beach Therapy

So they say.....There should be a lot of happy, mentally healthy people living in Florida on the coast, right? Well, that's a topic for another day...There have been a ton of articles in the local newspaper lately about how Florida's mental hospital/clinic funding has been cut and how dangerous the repercussions have become....Scary....

Back to more positive vibes for the day, BEACHY vibes...How about the Siesta Key Crystal Classic sand castle competition last weekend? It was FABULOUS! Not only is Siesta Key one of the top beaches in the nation, but it has AMAZING crystal sand quality, which happens to be a HUGE attraction for sand sculptors. They LOVE Siesta Key Beach and come in each year to build the most amazing ephemeral sculptures which are----(WAIT! says E. You'd better explain what ephemeral means...Not everybody will be on board with that...) Sparky just had to throw out a big word for today...Her vocabulary has been declining a bit since she's been working so much at school with kindergarten and first graders. Not that kindergarten and first graders shouldn't learn big vocabulary words, it's just that Sparky is on a different wavelength when she is in the lower grades. (AHEM! The blog, Sparky, the blog? In case anybody new is reading, Sparky has ADHD, and it seems to have kicked in high gear lately, explains Eldo.)  Ephemeral sculptures last only for a short time, the wind and rain will start eroding the sculptures almost immediately.

The process is really cool to build these....The sculptors get their sand really really wet and pack it down to get rid of air pockets. They use all kinds of cool tools of their own design or from other sources. After they carve, spray, smooth, cut, and define their designs, they spray a solution of water with less than 1% of Elmer's Glue mixed in to keep the surface smooth so there is a tiny bit of protection against the elements and drying. As far as the designs, there is no theme like the Chalk Festival, (see previous post just before this one) the artists just wait for the sand to "speak" to them and look at what they came up with!

And then they hope for good weather...It was a terrific weekend...Not too hot, no rain, light wind...There were about 12 sculptures in a roped off section of the beach. It costs 5.00 to get in to get closeup views of the sculptures, otherwise you can walk around the perimeter and get some pretty good glimpses of the artwork.

Here is the first place winner for 2015.....A cathedral with arms around it. Entitled "Tender Loving Care"...

The detail was amazing!

There were some kind of "out there" sculptures....This one had something to do with the mind....(Looks kinda like the way Sparky's brain operates when she's crafting a bazillion things at once, laughs E.)

And there was a fabulous traditional, well, not really, sand castle.....

Sparky loved the little drip castle trees along the edge....

Here's another view -- you can see another sculpture through the portal arch. There was even a little fire in the castle fireplace at the front entrance.

And Sparky thinks the sculptor might have added a last minute touch(?) in reference to the attack in France as it was unfolding the same weekend as the contest.....

 This one was a little strange....But beautifully done....

Here is another one, the title had something to do with "when I grow up, I wanna be...."

The details were so defined...Sparky wishes she could have seen the sculptors at work to see how they did it and what tools they used. See the detail on the shorts of the large dragon?  But she got there the very last day of the exhibition and the very last half hour due to work.

There was live music, and even an amateur competition ...This person did a wonderful job!

Not only was the Chalk Festival and the Siesta Key Crystal Classic going on on the same weekend, there was the Medieval Renaissance Fair this past weekend also. Sparky might still make it to that. It's the last weekend for it.....Thanks for stopping by today.........

An Amazing Fall Festival....

Every year about the second week in November, there is a big weekend where the Chalk Festival takes place AND the International Siesta Key Sandcastle competition happens on the same weekend. WOW! Sparky's favorite of the two is the Chalk Festival. It used to be held in Sarasota, and the festival leader didn't get the best help from the city as far as support and assistance, so she moved it to the beautiful city of Venice, where it begins at the Venice Airport grounds. It is the ninth year for the festival. Tens of thousands of people show up to see incredible pavement paintings in chalk. Ten dollars to park your car at the airport where the festival begins, then free bus shuttle service to downtown for more artwork.

This year's festival theme was "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry." At the airport, there is an emphasis on the art of 3D which Venice is becoming renowned as far as the largest demonstration of 3D chalk art drawings. The one they did last year, of a shark, held the Guiness Book of World Records for awhile. For these record holding chalk paintings, they used Sherwin Williams paint to preserve the painting. Sparky saw a little girl posing a few minutes before this couple and she was being coached to pretend scream while they took her photo. It costs 5.00 to go up on a viewing platform to get the full effect of the 3D artwork.

And here is this year's 3D attempt at the Guiness Book of World Records....A 22,000 square feet of runway pavement artwork titled "Feast of the Gods".

This year they added some music venues with local and regional bands, and a "senior vertical wall" where senior citizens could do their own chalk graffiti without having to get down on their aging knees. Sparky and Eldo declined to participate in that. :-)

After viewing some cool 3D artwork on a smaller scale.....

Sparky and Eldo hopped on a free luxurious bus shuttle to downtown Venice to see more artwork. The shuttles ran back and forth constantly. It was great not to have to stand and wait for another bus when ready to return. No set schedule, just coming and going as soon as a bunch of people got on the bus.

The street was beautiful....The colors were eye popping. The artists work 12-14 hours days over a period of about three days to create this amazing art.

You can see the grid markings as this painting was being worked on. The artist works from a smaller gridded drawing on paper or tablet, kind of like those "learn to draw anything" art courses from years ago, where some of them used grids. Anybody can copy lines inside a single square and then color them, right? HA!

The artists' talents were amazing!

The artwork goes up and down West Miami Avenue in the heart of Venice....

There were so many wonderful photographic moments....It was hard to pick out the photos for the blog today! Sparky loved looking at the artists' tools of their trade....Oooooohhhh, so many pretty colors!

And this funky chalk holder....with the funky drawing underneath.....

Another shot of an artist close up, Sparky loves the colors from the photo and in his hands compared to the kids' shirts and hands...

Here they are, hard at work....You are right there, just a few feet away, so you can ask questions if you want to...We just watched in awe while they created.

The details of the eyelashes on this one were the conversation of the day from the bystanders...

Most of them wear gloves while they work....And they aren't afraid to get down and get dirty!

Like this gal.....

A fabulous day in downtown Venice today....Sparky leaves you with this particular shot from another angle, it's her most favorite of the day.... Come back soon and see the sandcastle competition, the blog will be back sooner rather than later! :-)   Bye for now......