My entry was called “Tree Sprite”. There were around 90 participants that showed up for the chalk art fest in Belmont Shore, Long Beach. 3 feet by 4 feet, soft pastel on watercolor paper, colored on the sidewalk (hence the rough texture). I didn’t place, but I still came away feeling like a winner. All day I had people stopping to talk to me, to tell me that I was the winner for sure (I took that as a compliment, not a prediction), kids sat with me to watch me draw, hundreds of photos were taken of my work, several local papers took pictures and interviewed me… the judges didn’t choose my work but my adoring public sure did. I came away flushed with compliments, happy to have been there and worked so hard.

Stan Pawlowski (sculptor of Schultz’s Peanuts, among other things) stopped to sing praises and look at my portfolio! Amazing! And Samuel Lippke (a fantastic photographer!) chatted me up and took some photos and graciously awarded me “2nd place” for his personal opinion award on his blog and featured me in his editorial on The Long Beach Post! So you see, I may not have been awarded by the judges, but I still won. Big time!

Shout-out to Justin Rudd, the organizer, terrific guy, and local hero. And a huge thanks to everyone who stopped by! And if anyone wants to buy this piece, let me know. :)

See my entry for last year.