Arbor Lakes Chalkfest - 2016

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to be part of Minnesota's first ever Chalk Festival, Arbor Lakes Chalkfest! I was one of 21 artists able to come and it was an amazing experience. I had never been to Minnesota before and this festival went above and beyong to make sure we had a great time, even more so since it was my 7 year wedding anniversary.

Back in 2014 I got permission from one of my lifelong favorite artists, Brian Froud. As you know, I haven't been to to many festivals over the past year so I jumped at the opportunity to finally have a large important festival to bring a piece of his work to the street. With the help of the festival, I decided on "Queen of the Bad Faeries", a little spooky but so visually striking and still a little playful.

And we begin...

For the first time I laid out a tempera base, it made the chalk go on so smooth and it really helped the material's go farther and just on the pavement... something that is important when you are doing a 10x10ft piece.

Do you know I freehand? All of this was freehanded onto the street. My proportions arn't always spot on, but it works and I always feel just that extra bit of accomplishment. On this piece I started at the eyes and worked outward.

ALL DONE! I got to work around 7:30 Saturday, of course there was alot of prep work with the paint, ect. Then around 12-1pm it got so hot I took a very long break. This is Minnesota, I didn't sign up for Florida Weather! I clocked in a few evening hours as well, I had no idea it stayed light till 9pm... Sunday I was determined to be done early so from 5am-11pm I finished up my second half and enjoyed the rest of the day.

And for the grand finally.... "Art and all beauty is for the moment - ten seconds or ten centuries. The expressions of the moment are ever present because we can live only in the ever present."


This video has gotten alot of strong reactions, but it really was awesome to watch. To quote another artist, Willie Zin, "...the thought of seeing it washed away in front of me was unimaginable until I physically saw mine being pressured washed off. It was actually quite amazing. I didn't feel sad but an excitement because it means we will come again and giving me another reason to redo.. reborn and relive... a sense of a life cycle in a positive way of thinking. And I like that.. I thought I would feel terrible inside but it didn't. .. I do understand about the fading part. But, it's taking me to a new level of thinking. Life itself is not permanent. In this case, short lived and we do our best to preserve that moment in the process and accepting it as it goes away in front of us... a bittersweet emotion to me... yet gives me hope to come back..."

Hold Your Horses - Art Gallery of Viera 2016

I don't know if you know this, but I am a director at Art Gallery of Viera. Each month we host a different themed show, as well as have a different artist who does a demo. Well, in January we had a horse themed show and I created a piece for in front of our gallery.

I would guess it took about 2-3 hours, that is how long our opening receptions are. And maybe 3x5 in size? I'm not to sure on that part.

 

Below is me with it to help judge size and my original sketch.

Artfest Ft Myers 2016

Back at it again!
I was one of the professional chalk artists at ArtFest Ft Myer's for the fourth year in a row! We instructed and judged 32 teams of high school student's while completing a sponsor piece (thank you Truy Nolen) and our own. The student work is spectacular. This year my co-professional artists were Cass Womack Nate Barronowski, BK Lyons, and Matt McAllister.

The above is my finished piece, it's a combination of Saturday and Sunday's work. We had some rain that flooded out the work so I put together a piece that could be done at separate times.

And some of my original sketches that I did to make this piece

Eau Gallie Artworks 2015

Hi! I am trying to catch up with all of my blog posts, I’ve been a bit behind. Despite not doing many festivals it was a busy year.
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For the past few years I have coordinator the chalk portion of this festival. It is always a busy time, this year especially due to the rain. We didn't have alot of time, but a friend of mine (Amanda Shaw) and I teamed up to do an in memory piece for Link Johnston, the director of ArtWorks who passed away earlier in the year. He was a great guy and the festival would exist without his hard work.

Dunnellon Chalk Art Festival 2015

Chalk Art Festival - Dunnellon, FL | Oct 17, 2015

Hi! I am trying to catch up with all of my blog posts, I’ve been a bit behind. Despite not doing many festivals it was a busy year.

I was the featured artist for Dunnellon, so I decided to do a mermaid with the famous rainbow falls in the background. Like I said, it has been a while, so I don’t remember all of my details on this unfortunately, but it was probably 6x6 and 4 hours. I did use a reference photo for the mermaid, you can see it HERE credit to astrals-stock

Upcoming Chalk Festival I will be in... 2015

• Dunnellon Chalk Art Festival - Dunnellon, FL | Oct 17 | INFO
• ArtWorks Eau Gallie - Melbourne, FL | Nov 21 | INFO
• Chalk Block – Fort Myers, FL | Feb 5th – 7th | INFO

Florida Hospital in Kissimmee Grand Opening

These past few weekends I have had the pleasure of working for Glickman Productions to create some art during the opening of the new Tower at the Florida Hospital in Kissimmee.

The first week I was asked to chalk their new tower... 4ftx4ft on hardboard in 2-3 hours

The next week I collaged some other images for a Florida wildlife picture. 4ftx4ft on hardboard in 2-3 hours

Chalk T-shirts

Sometimes I design chalk-humor t-shirts based on my experiences as an artist... I hope you enjoy them...

"Chalk Monster" Chalk humor Tee Shirts by ArtofChelsey
Find more Chalk T-Shirts at Zazzle

"Ra*N is a four letter word" Chalk Humor Shirt by ArtofChelsey
View more Chalk T-Shirts

Official "Gopher" Chalk Humor T-shirt by ArtofChelsey
Look at Chalk T-Shirts online at Zazzle.com

"It's Chalk, I Swear" Blood Splatter Shirt by ArtofChelsey
Make your own custom t shirt at Zazzle

"Next year I'm Chalking Landmines" Chalk humor Tee Shirts by ArtofChelsey
Design your own personal shirts online at Zazzle.

Master Certification

I have technically been a Master Street Artist since about September last year, however I had to wait till the President of the Florida Chalk Artist Association was at the same festival as me to officially get my certification... so YAY!

What exactly does being a certified Maestro mean?

CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

For many years, street painters have demonstrated their skills and talents. A certification system has been established in Italy to recognize the three levels of skill and proficiency. Likewise, the FCAA has established a certification-recognition system with three levels for its members:

SEMPLICE (APPRENTICE) - Student – entry level

• Beginning street painter, chalk artists

• Participate in 5 street painting festivals or events as part of a group or solo.

• Attend street painting demonstrations or classes.

• Produce artworks of people or nature (landscape, animals, seascape, plants)

QUALIFICATO (QUALIFYING ARTIST)

• Participate in a total of 10 street painting festivals or events; 7 as a solo artist.

• Provide a program or demonstration on the art of street painting.

• Write an article or column for an art publication or newsletter covering street painting techniques, events, or observations about the art form.

• Demonstrate an understanding of gridding, pouncing, and/or freestyle street painting techniques.

• Produce artworks from an original composition and a portrait (facial image)

MAESTRO (MASTER ARTIST)

• Qualify as an apprentice and qualified artist (meet those requirements).

• Participate in 15 street painting festivals or events, 12 or more as a solo artist.

• Participate in at least one Large Festival similar or equal to Disney Masters of the Arts Street Painting Festival. (Lake Worth Street Painting Festival / Sarasota Chalk Festival)

• Provide educational programs, instruction, or demonstrations of street painting.

• Receive an award in a festival of 30 or more street painting artists.

• Produce street paintings in 3 of 5 categories such as a master reproduction, portrait, landscape, still life, abstract, impressionistic, black and white, or pop art as part of your entries to demonstrate your skills and proficiency.

So needless to say I feel pretty accomplished having completed everything above. It is something I have been working on for a few years, meeting most of the qualifications but just needing to participate in certain festivals to achieve it. I guess now I will have to pick a new goal…

Winter Garden - Spring Fever in the Garden April 2015

This weekend I had the pleasure of recreating a piece by Jasmine Bkecet-Griffith in Winter Garden, FL. It was 6x6ft and took about 7 and a half hours... I am beyond happy with how this came out, it is beautiful and my proportions are pretty spot on, something that is always a challenge when you freehand...

 Here is the original piece just for reference and to credit the original artist...

Please visit her website at http://www.strangeling.com/

Some more in progress pictures...

Toho Water Authority - April is Water Conservation Month!

I was commissioned by the Toho Water Authority to create a piece promoting Water Conservation Month, the slogan being "There are a number of ways to save water and they all start with you".

It shows three different images where water is being wasted and the water is spilling down the entryway to the building. It took about 6 hours and was about 8x15ft.
 

They were a pleasure to work with, I couldn't believe how beautiful the building was! Check out their facebook.

Art at the Avenue's with the Art Gallery of Viera

If you didn't know, I am a new director for the Art Gallery of Viera, so I of course had a part in our first Art at the Avenues festival. It was a crazy hot day so this 3D piece was a little hard to compete (especially on concrete) but I got it done! About 8x8 ft

Artfest Ft Myers 2015

Each year this gets bigger and better! I was one of the professional chalk artists at ArtFest Ft Myer's for the third year! We instructed and judged 30 teams of high school student's while completing a sponsor piece (thank you Truy Nolen) and our own. The student work is just so amazing. This year my co-professional artists were Charfade, Nate Barronowski, BK Lyons, and Ron Hawkins.

My finished piece, following the theme of "Bugs on Vacation" features an Ant with a camera and a trail of bugs following him out of a suitcase. It was around 7x7.

As always, the next day I came back and was challenged to do another 3D bug like I did my spider last year.

Here are a few pictures from that weekend: