Sparky apologizes in advance for the heavy photo post, but that's the only way to appreciate the AMAZING artists this past weekend, who took to the pavement at the Venice Airport to share their awesome abilities and artwork. Over several hundred artists each year have competed in the chalk festival which has been going for nine years now. Chalk art is believed to have originated in where else, none other than Italy...no surprise there. The Italian artists were called "madonnari". Chalk art started to become popular here in the US in the 1970's.....Each year the festival attracts over 100,000 visitors to the area. If you've always wanted to be a
madonnari, there is a section for novices at the festival, too...a chalk wall to leave your graffiti, and individual squares for your personal designs, too!
Drum roll, please.....The 2016 Chalk Festival, here we go....
The theme this year was......
Love and peace.....and lots of hippy dippy stuff....rose colored glasses popped up on more than one artist's site....
Janis Joplin....
A fitting tribute to veterans...
LOTS of 3D work this year....You looked through special magnifying lenses to see the depth or climbed up high from an observation platform to get the special effect...The 3D designs are anywhere from 12 feet to 100 feet tall. They appear to sink inward right into the pavement, or rise upward and out.
Sparky was more interested in the regular squares of art. So interesting to see the artists' depictions of this year's theme of peace and love.
And the tools......This artist had a brand new set....sigh...Sparky always loved chalk and the Crayola 64 box of colored crayons....
With chalk in hand, the artists go to work, taking anywhere from just a day to over a week to complete their work, but the festival lasts for just four days....They all have sketches or photographs that they work from, making a grid on the pavement and working from their drawings, square by square, the metamorphosis is truly AMAZING!
Here is the artist working from the photograph to the pavement.....
Another sketch and another piece of art in the works....
Some of the artwork goes from the pavement and continues up a wall....
The themes range from serious and thoughtful, to artful whimsy...Not sure who this is...
And then there are random pieces of art strewn all around.....
A giant mosaic circle....a portion here....
Sparky loves how the outfits complement the artist and the drawings....
The details are incredible....
And last, but not least, Sparky thinks the best is saved for last.....Her top two favorites...This is #2....
And here's Sparky's #1 favorite of all......
Every November, about the second week, usually, you can see the Chalk Festival here in Venice, FL.....It's truly one of the best festivals in the area....Thanks for stopping by today to have a look...
