2008 Pasadena Chalk Festival

Well, it's been a long, extremely hot and tiring weekend. I worked from 8 am - 6 pm on Saturday and 6:30 am - 12:30pm on Sunday and finally completed my mural.

My area of cement was pretty tough to work with, rookie mistake choosing a high traffic area where the ground has been worn smooth. Other artists kept coming by and saying they were so sorry I got stuck with that spot. But, by the end I picked up new techniques for working with the smooth surface, so on future I'll know what to do.

I am still glad that I did it, even though my body isn't, it was good publicity for me. I got 1 job offer to teach, and 1 request to interview for a position as resident artist. Hundreds of people photographed my piece and told me it was their favorite. Lots of kids were able to recognize it as Diego Rivera's work which I though was amazing. I was even invited to an invite only chalk festival in Carlsbad in September, not sure if I'll go.

Anyhow, here is my final product:

And here is the painting it was based on:



Another part of the festival is that each artist is given a 1' by 1' canvas and asked to paint it. These are put up for silent auction with 100% of the proceeds going to charity. I am proud to say that mine was bid on 4 times and ultimately sold for $65. I would have priced the piece @ $40, so maybe I'm underselling myself!









And here is a short video showing the stages of completion over 2 days:

There wer over 150 murals, here are some picutres of other pieces there:

This was my neighbor, it was their 5th year at the festival, she won for most inspirational. They were very helpful to me and encouraging. Thank you!

Because a festival isn't a festival without an appearance from Chuck Norris.

Matthew Stevenson, BSc, MSc

A sweltering 2 1/2 hour convocation in pictures.

The procession

Ola Laura!

The glee club performed 2 songs, Matthew was up there with them

The two key points to keeping Bronson occupied: Peanut butter and...

Peekaboo!

Peanut butter...

Peekaboo!

Congratulations Varun!

Congratulations Walter!

Congratulations Laura!

Bronson spotted Laura before I did and started pointing and shouting.

Congratulations Matthew!
Matthew, Walter and Laura when all is said and done.
Here they are showing off the difference between a real diploma (the glowing ones) and a regular piece of paper from the Bursars office telling you that when you pay off your account they'll give you your diploma.

Congratulations daddy, we are so proud of you. It was alot of work raising a newborn and getting your Masters, but you did great.

FYI: Matthew came to Caltech to get his PhD and will be finishing that degree in another 3~ish years. Many astro students don't get their Masters degrees, but Matthew's class decided they wanted to. Missing from my shots are Yacine and Eli who also walked with their Master's today.

Sweet home California

Well, our week has been busy. Just as I start to recover my hearing, Bronson's eyes start leaking goo. Yes, he has pink eye. Oh, and a bacterial ear infection. Poor kiddo. He's pretty happy in any case, however we did have to quarantine him from children for the past few days and boy did he miss the neighboring kids. He was so glad to finally be able to play with them again. The doc is worried about the ear infection with respect to our upcoming flights, but another visit on Wednesday should give us a better idea of the extent of his recovery, so fingers crossed that he'll be a happy traveller. Just so you know, these pics were taken a few days ago - he's looking alot better now.

We've spent the quarantine time watching Curious George, playing legos and with a new special 'pretend' Diego camp set. We don't let B watch much t.v., but he did enjoy watching Bend it Like Beckham with me yesterday...he enjoyed the soccer scenes and was intrigued by the mother. Here are a couple lego structures he made, aren't they really unique and creative...aren't you so impressed?!??!

I am preparing for the upcoming Pasadena Chalk festival. I did not initially realise the largess of my designated work area and was overwhelmed to realize how big 8 feet by 8 feet is. So I have been diligently practising my technique this weekend and making a list of the supplies I will require for my 2 days of artistry.

Matthew graduates on Friday with his Master's degree. He has his cap and gown, he's rsvp'ed for the various social functions (hors d'oeuvres at the Presidents Garden, check.), all that's left now is to decide whether to bing Bronson across the stage with him, or go alone.

Well, I have 4 days left of work (Friday off to go to Matt's convocation) and alot to do. I got my first California sunburn today (sorry mom), since moving here 21 months ago, but it's not too bad. Just very, very suprising. I didn't get much sleep last night between changing my theme for my festival painting at 2am and waking with Bronson at 7:45am, so it's off to bed now.

Bronson loves milk. He also loves milk mustaches. His absolute favoriate food (at the moment) is yogurt. We actually have to limit how much he gets - only once a day after dinner, because if he could, it's all he would eat.

Bronson Simpson

Matthew Simpson

Jenn Simpson

OK - to bed! Really, this time.