Street Painting

Greatest 3D Street Paintings

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:36:00 +0000

I was so excited that my "Special Delivery" image made the list of the Top 10 Greatest 3D Street Paintings of 2011!! It's a huge honor to be mentioned amongst such great artists. It also gives me a huge surge of energy and inspiration heading into the 2012 street painting season.

A collaborative project between myself and Julie Kirk-Purcell, as well as web designer and media extraordinaire, and my husband,Remco VanLatum, WeTalkChalk will be the answer to using street painting as a savvy marketing solution. Throughout the years Julie and I have come together to create street paintings many times. The strengths we each bring to the table are a great balance for one another and have meant that we can create images better then our individual bests. The 3 of us are so thrilled to be starting the year with some great projects ahead and promise lots of exciting updates and inside tips on our work!

Giant Gelato in chalk!

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:32:00 +0000

It was a lot of fun creating this image of a giant cup of Gelato for the Festa Dell'Autunno at Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach. The event featured the culinary specialties of the resort including home made pasta noodles, a gelato laboratory, and even an olive press to make olive oil from their very own olive trees.

The idea for the 3D Gelato cup came to me after visiting the resort's gelato cafe. Pistachio is always my favorite flavor so I made sure to include a scoop along with Chocolate, Limoncello, Strawberry, Rasberry, and Nutella. Rasberries, Currents, and swizzle cookies garnish the dish.

The little tyke below was nice enough to pose for this shot early in the day. The full painting, 10 x 23 was completed in one day. So, unfortunately, by the time I was putting the finishing touches on the painting the sun was just going down so the photo ops weren't the best. I was hoping someone could pose holding the giant spoon...as if they were just picking it up to take a taste ;)

Fantasy 3D Street Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:08:00 +0000

My first street painting post pregnancy was a really fun one! I was part of a wonderful project created by PlanetStreetPainting for the city of Lelystad, The Netherlands. There were eight 3D street paintings to be created by 9 international artists throughout downtown Lelystad to kickoff the start of their cultural season. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet up with old friends from Germany, Holland, Mexico, Italy, the Netherlands, and to work again with Peter Westerink of PlanetStreetPainting.

I wanted to create something that was 3D but also very interactive for the public. I did several 3D concepts before I came upon a children's book illustration of the princess & the pea. As soon as I saw it I knew it was perfect! So I drew a sunken room with a huge stack of colorful mattresses...and at the top, you can sit for a photo op as the princess. We even had crowns. It was a bit hit, especially with the children. And in Dutch...'De Prinses en de Erwt.'

Childrens' book illustration by Ashley Smith

I really like this pic because it looks so impossible ;) The top of the painting extended about 36 feet.

And the stretch.

Grazie di Curtatone

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:43:00 +0000

Madonna con Bambino

In August of 2010, I had the distinct honor of winning the Maestro Gold Medal at the 39th Incontro Nazionale Madonnari in Grazie di Curtatone, Italy. It is the highest honor you can achieve in the competition. As part of the award, I was commissioned to create the 2011 festival poster. This is something I have dreamt of since the first time I competed in the event back in 2002 when I won a Gold Medal in the Simplici category. (3 categories in all, simplici, qualificato, maestro. Everyone begins in Simplici and you must win a gold medal to move to qualificato, and again to reach maestro status)

Unfortunately, I was not able to revisit Grazie to compete or see my poster hung around the beautiful city of Mantova...It was a happy occasion none the less because I gave birth to my own little bambino just days before. So it was a wonderful time for me none the less. And, I was fortunate enough to have friends to take a few pics of my poster and also bring me back a few ;)

Next year is the events 40th anniversary and I can not wait to return to Mantova to be part of the worlds first street painting festival, new family in tow.

2011 Festival Poster

Street Paintings by Melanie Stimmell Van Latum

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:29:00 +0000

The wonderful "Art of Day" has featured several of my traditional Street Paintings including the image that won me Street Paintings highest honor...a Gold Medal in the Maestro Category at the International Madonnari Festival in Italy.

Street Painting Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 02:07:00 +0000

In the last few months I've been spending a lot of time in Orange County Schools teaching Italian Street Painting Workshops via the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. I love doing this because it is really a new experience for most children. There's something about being able to sit down on your actual canvas and create something vibrant and larger then life. Here are a few images that I loved from recent workshops...

Here are 4 pics of the wonderful work the k-7th grade students did during my 2 day visit to 'Our Lady Queen of Angels' Elementary. I drew the initial sketch for them and they painted them in beautifully.

And here are 3 large collaboratives from 'Harbour View' Elementary who chose a Patriotic theme for their Workshop imagery. They did a really beautiful job with some really iconic images...Statue of Liberty, Presidential Seal, and Uncle Sam with the Liberty Bell. These are each about 20 feet on the longest side.

I teach workshops all over Southern California via the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and Nationally / Internationally via The Street Painting Academy. If interested don't hesitate to contact me.

To book School Workshops in Orange or Riverside Counties please INQUIRE NOW.

To book Workshops in Los Angeles County, other States, or Internationally please Email Me at S.P.A.

3D Street Painting of Fountain

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Sat, 14 May 2011 01:56:00 +0000

I created this 3D street painting of a European fountain for a private event at the Universal Studios backlot yesterday. The event had a European theme with Italian comedians, caricature artists, and wonderful Italian and French musicians.

The entire painting took me just under 6 hours to complete and measured about 11 x 15 feet. Unfortunately, the finish had to come after dark which is when the party began. So, the bottom pic had to depend on the camera flash which didn't quite reach the top of the fountain. But, that's me, 7.5 months pregnant, testing the waters ;)
The process was pretty simple...the most difficult part was making sure the cherub at the top looked accurate with the stretching of the image. And of course, after the sun went down, it was nearly impossible to see the colors, even with a spotlight. Greens looked like blues and vice versa. Luckily I just had the bottom of the broken asphalt and the word Providence to finish.

I may be doing another one next week...stay tuned.

From Street Painting to Murals

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:44:00 +0000

Between street painting and workshop events I've been working on a mural at a private residence. It is something that made sense during my pregnancy as I didn't have to crawl around on the ground so much ;) The wall was brand new and had just been coated in a warm bordeaux plaster so It was just asking for something to liven it up. I worked with my client for several month on theme, colors, and some 'must haves.' Some of her 'must haves' were grape vines, lemons, Italian potter, structures / architecture, and a bistro...All with an overall rustic feel. We worked through several revisions before agreeing on this design and it was well worth it.

Working around the ornate fountain I designed a series of arches leading out to rolling hillsides and a La Cinque Terra inspired hilltop town. Grape vines tangle around the columns with a burst of violet and green. Then to the right of the fountain, a small flower shop leads you down a tiny alley-way behind the romantic Bella Donna Bistro.

In the beginning stages of the mural... completing weathered rocks and columns around the fountain.

The mural spanned 37 feet of the clients 9 foot backyard wall and it really added to the tuscan atmosphere. Below you can see the completed left side which can be seen from the clients living room windows and backyard deck. The entire project took about 3 months to complete. Definitely slower then usual but I had an ever growing belly to compete with which made the 9 x 37 foot wall a bit overwhelming at times. Especially those days on the ladder :)

The left side - complete with arches, grapevines, rolling hills, canal, and hilltop villa.

Bella Donna Bistro and Fiori (Flower) Shop add a cozy area between the clients giant eucalyptus trees.

A few dragonflies emerged amongst the grape vines to add a little of my signature.

Stay tuned - I have a few more murals in the works. One of which is the Nursery for our baby boy to bee...with an adorable Bee and Frog them. More to come!

3D Street Painting in Curacao

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:31:00 +0000

Ok, so I'm 5 and a half months pregnant and should be painting our babies nursery this week but instead we are heading to The Netherlands Antilles to paint on the Island of Curacao. They are having their 2nd annual International Street Painting Festival, The Colors of Willemstad. I'm really excited to be able to attend but am curious to see how my belly will get in the way of my process ;) If you're curious as well you'll be able to see the whole thing online. e-remmie.com will be live streaming my work start to finish on www.LiveStreetPainting.com So you'll be able to see me and my baby belly navigating a 3 x 7 meter painting.

Street Painting Makes Headlines

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:53:00 +0000

The University Museum sent this article to me after I arrived back home to LA. It's one of my favorite press clippings because of the amazing amount of images they fit into one page. It's fantastic!

I wish all the articles featured such coverage but I'm grateful for every little bit ;) Actually, now that I think about it, the show is still up. So my painting and the exhibit, "The Aesthetic Code: Unraveling the Secrets of Art" is still up until April 3rd. What a fantastic run. I wonder how the image is holding up on the floor. Would be interesting to visit before closing. I just hope they are able to save the whole piece for future exhibitions.

If you are in the Tuscon area and interested in seeing the show you can visit their link below for more info. http://artmuseum.arizona.edu/exhibitions/melanie_stimmell_2010.shtml

Street Paintings to end 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:01:00 +0000

It has been a few months since my last post even though I had two fantastic events. The main reason is...I found out my husband and I are expecting! We are so excited & are hoping he or she loves to street paint just as much as I do.

So, though 2010 has come to an end I thought I should post my last two projects of the year. The first, a 3D street painting at the University of Arizona Museum of Art for their 'Aesthetics of Art' Exhibition. This project was so much fun. I actually began the process in studio and shipped it to the museum since I was on a short timeline but the whole process was viewable on my new site LiveStreetPainting.com. So if you couldn't make it down to the museum you were able to see the live stream online. This was my first 100% Live event. It was great! Everyone could watch the painting unfold from home.

As for the image...I'd really been wanting to do a Marie Antionette inspired painting...I do so many Renaissance themed paintings, it was time for some Rococco ;) Here are a few pics of the finish.

One aspect of my visit to AZ that I really enjoyed was the street painting workshop I gave to a handful of University students. I had them paint several Marie Antionette Portraits which doubled as 'vintage invitations' to Cream and Crumpets with Marie.

Just a few days after Arizona, my husband and I left for Houston. They have one of my favorite street painting festivals and they were celebrating their 5th year. You can see the posters I designed in my last post. They wanted something really fantastic for their anniversary so I designed a massive 30 x 60 foot collaborative street painting! We had 8 artists, myself included, to create "The Art of Sound" Everyone did such an amazing job in only 3.5 days. Again, one of my favorite parts of the project was having the live stream of the entire event. Remmie took care of all the tech for us so everyone could see the process as it evolved from day to day, even before the start of the festival. Another plus was that students from KIPP Houston created the beautiful border panels around the artwork. They designed and painted it wonderfully. Rebekah Tee was their lead teacher...she's amazing! I've known her for several years and her students always do fantastic work. My husband, Remmie, captured some amazing pics of KIPP working as well...you can see them all in purple shirts and beanie caps -It was pretty cold out.

I love this pic! Remmie took it from the roof of the Houston Library. It was super windy so he had to crawl on his stomach to lean over the edge and take the shot. But everyone is in it! Art of Sound panel team and KIPP Border team.

Panel Artists

Genna Panzarella, Lysa Ashley, Jessica Bennet, Anat Ronan, Lilibeth Andre, Lauren Garnett, Iris Vanessa, Melanie Stimmell Van Latum

Border Team

KIPP Houston High School-Rebekah Tee

KIPP Sunnyside High School and KIPP Spirit Middle School- Randall Mosman

KIPP Academy Middle School-Brandy Hebert

KIPP Sharpstown Middle School-Jessie Peltier

KIPP Liberation- Carla Carter

Looking forward to the 2011 street painting season. I'll keep you posted on my next Live event! Have a great Winter!

Street Painting Live, Via Colori Houston

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 01:48:00 +0000

Check out www.livestreetpainting.com this Sunday for the Via Colori 'Art of Sound' Collaborative project. We are working hard to complete it by mid day November 21st.

THE ART OF SOUND

At 1,800 square feet, it will take a team of eight artists three
days to complete the crown jewel of this year's Houston Via Colori,
The Street Painting Festival. The Center for Hearing and Speech is
celebrating the event's fifth anniversary by featuring a collaborative
mural, The Art of Sound, on the back courtyard of the Downtown Houston
Public Library.

Via Colori's 2009's featured artist, Melanie Stimmell Van Latum, has
returned to contribute her artistic talent to the design of the record-
breaking mural. The largest street painting mural ever produced in the
United States, The Art of Sound was created to illustrate a hearing-
impaired child's journey to sound.

Artistic Director
Melanie Stimmell Van Latum

Panel Artists
Genna Panzarella, Lysa Ashley, Anat Ronen, Jessica Bennett, Lilibeth Andre,
Iris Vanessa De la Cruz.

Border Team Artists
KIPP Houston lead by Rebekah Tee

Live 3D Street Painting at University of Arizona!

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:42:00 +0000

I'm so excited to be traveling to Arizona this week to so a 3D street painting as part of the Exhibition 'The Aesthetic Code: Unraveling the Secrets of Art' at the University of Arizona Museum of Art in Tuscon. I've designed a really fun piece with a Marie Antionette theme which you can see below. Not only will patrons of the Museum be able to enjoy the painting, but also anyone with internet access. Starting at 10am November 12th-14th, you'll be able to catch every moment of the painting performance and maybe even see more of the exhibit.

Catch me here...10am -6pm all 3 days.

The Aesthetic Code: Unraveling the Secrets of Art

November 12, 2010 - April 3, 2011

(sketch) Cream & Crumpets

10 x 15" 3D Street Painting

This exhibition explores the basic math and design principles that artists have utilized for centuries. It is designed to help the layperson develop a vocabulary to approach unfamiliar works of art. By learning about the basic elements of art and seeing how the application of these elements enhances a work of art, the visitor will be able to recognize these principles and perhaps have some insight into art that otherwise seems incomprehensible.

The exhibition starts with line, space, shape, and value -- and then moves on to more complicated principles such as time, balance, movement, perspective, golden ratios, tessellations, fractals, color and optics. Illustrative examples from the UAMA's own collection make these concepts come alive. Along the way, visitors will experience spinning a color wheel, drawing with a camera obscura, watching colors separate into different depths with Chromadepth © glasses, and learning how light affects the color of an object.
On opening weekend (November 12-14), the maestra Madonnara (street artist) Melanie Stimmell will create a 3-d anamorphic work in extreme perspective on the Museum floor that will remain on view throughout the exhibition.

Street Painting In-Flight

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 02:44:00 +0000

So, this post is long overdue. I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to blog but I figure it'd be nice to have it online regardless of how late. Continental In-Flight Magazine interviewed me for their October 2010 issue. I have full page article and photo in their 'Advance' section.
They sent a wonderful photographer named Lisa Wyatt to my house and she took some great shots of me on the asphalt and in studio.

The Article also talks about the upcoming Via Colori street painting festival in Houston, TX for which I will have designed an XL Collaborative piece titled the Art of Sound. The 30 x 60 foot painting will illustrate a child's first moments of experiencing sound & will be painted by a team of 8 artists, including myself, Genna Panzarella, Lysa Ashley, and 5 female artists from the Houston area.

Part of my proposal for this project included the collaboration between children as well as professional artists. So, the Art of Sound will be finished with a beautiful border designed and painted by young artists from KIPP, Houston.

Stay tuned for an update in the next day or so....Something cool will be happening!!!

3D street painting for OSU

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:37:00 +0000

So, as you can probably tell, I've been doing more and more 3D street paintings lately. And though apprehensive in the beginning, I'm really beginning to enjoy them. Not only am I having the opportunity to work in some great cities but my index of images is growing in size and styles. This painting, for instance, was for the Ohio State University Activities Board. They wanted something representative of the University for Freshman Welcome Week. The style of this image is really different from my traditional street paintings but I really enjoyed painting something iconic for the event. Brutus Buckeye even came out to enjoy it.

The finished piece will have a permanent home in the Ohio Union Hall above the grand fireplace.

Street Painting Gold Medal!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:49:00 +0000

This August Remmie and I went to Europe to visit family, friends, and to street paint! 21 days to visit, tour, and paint in 2 festivals and for 2 events. We had a great time!

The first, was the original street painting festival, and my favorite, Incontro Nazionale Madonnari in Grazie di Curtatone. I can't tell you how much I love this event. The people, location, everything. Part of the beauty of this event is that it is 24 hours from start to finish. 6pm to 6pm the following day. So, there is a constant stream of people strolling through the event at all hours of the night to see the beautiful paintings the 200, or so, artists are creating. Unfortunately, the first day was rained out. Heavy rain all day! So, the festival was postponed till 8am next morning, if the rain stopped. It stopped all right! It turned into very sunny, hot weather. But 200 artists finished 200 paintings in 12 hours, and it was lovely. The painting I chose to do was a Madonna and Child by Scottish artist Marianne Stokes. It's a stunning painting with a gorgeous dandelion pattern behind the two figures.

Madonna con Bambino... Gold Medal winner in the Maestro Category. The highest street painting honor. I was so happy! Because I won the Gold, I will be designing the festivals 2011 poster. This is something I've wanted to do since I first attended the festival in 2002 and won my first Gold in Semplici category.

We had a fantastic drive from Italy back to Holland to visit with Remmie's family and friend for a few days. But then we were off to The Colors of Valkenburg, a festival in the southern most tip of Holland. The festival is a competition with two categories, Copy Art and Free Art. I chose the Copy Art route since I wanted to paint one of my favorite images. I can't paint it, as is, in the US because it has some nude figures. It's Herbert Draper's, Lament for Icarus. It's stunning! The original is cropped so that you do not see all of Icarus' wings. So I extended them in the street painting so they grew outside the frame of the painting. Remmie helped by painting in the wings with black pigment before I painted the individual feathers on top. He did a great job.

Lament for Icarus... First Place winner in Copy Art! And Third Place Peoples Choice.

By this time in the trip I was totally exhausted but had two more events to do in Holland. Both were for Dutch clients via my friends at PlanetSteetPainting. Thanks Peter!

Here is my favorite of the two which I painted for the Brabant Cultural Festival.

Remmie and I had a wonderful time visiting friends and family and making new street painting friends from all over the world. Miss you all and hope to see you next year!!!

3D Street Painting for FRINGEMK

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:54:00 +0000

Just returned from a great trip to the UK where I painted for a new 3D street painting event in Milton Keynes. This 3D pavement art event took place along side several festivals called 'Urban Games' which included the Midsummer Place Painting Prize, Pavement Art Festival, Photon Reaction, and Fools Journey. Also taken place in Milton Keynes was the 'IF' festival which featured an international group of performers and interactive exhibitions including acrobats and carousels. So the city was alive with arts and culture.

Westbery Farms Artist Studios was kind enough to host 8 street painters for the duration of the event. Westbery has a long history in Milton Keynes dating back to the 1600's. It's a beautiful & historic brick farmhouse with most of its rooms dedicated to the creation of art. All surrounded but large fruit trees and even a mote! What more could you ask for.

For the 3D pavement art exhibition I created this anamorphic painting titled 'Special Delivery, ' featuring a showgirl/ dental assistant in the mouth of a hippo. The entire painting was done in soft pastel and included dental floss, which I painted black, for the balloon strings. It was a really fun piece to paint and spectators seemed to enjoy its humor ;)

photo by 'Legge'

Summer Street Painting Events

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:53:00 +0000

The summer has started and my street painting season is well under way. I have an amazing schedule of events over the next few months and created a calendar at www.MelanieStimmell.com to keep up to date on when and where I'll be painting.

My last event was the La Jolla Festival of the Arts where I created an anamorphic, or 3Dstreet painting titled, "The Emergence of Art."

Here's an interview I did with the local news channel...

I'm excited about the next few events at which I'll be creating 3D/anamorphic and XLarge collaborative Street Paintings. I've completed the designs and am ready to paint. This press release is for the Expressions in Chalk Street Painting Festival in London, Canada which I will do following FRINGE UK and The Porches and Verandas Festival in Ridgetown Ontario.

"Melanie and two local London artists will create the central painting (15’by30’) and the public will be encouraged to share their stories and leave chalk tributes in the hundreds of small squares (1’by1’) that will make up the road of hope that will curve through the festival. This event will culminate Sunday evening in a ceremony where the public will be invited to light candles of healing, hope and remembrance for themselves and loved ones whose lives have been touched by cancer."

3D Street Painting, UK

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 21:02:00 +0000

From every angle it will be almost unrecognizable, a frenzy of abstract color gradations and smudges, but from just the right spot, a sultry showgirl will come to life. The image, titled ‘Special Delivery’ is Melanie Stimmell’s 3D street painting which she will create at The FRINGEMK International Pavement and Street Art Festival this July. Chosen from an international list of participants for her wonderful Renaissance style and captivating alabaster figures, Melanie will compete before an extimated 300, 000 visitors in Milton Keyes, England. The Pavement Art Festival takes place in the largest indoor space in Milton Keynes, Middleton Hall, from 12 – 16 July. This event combines technical brilliance and live performance art of 8 artists, including Stimmell, the only artist from the U.S., and will be a visual feast. The focus of the event is the ‘anamorphic’ technique, or 3 Dimensional drawings and paintings that create vast optical illusions.

I'm so excited to be traveling to the UK for FRINGEMK. I've designed a really fun image and am looking forward to chalking amongst incredible artists for this special event. Stay tuned for pics. But for now, I'm heading to La Jolla Arts Festival where I will be the featured chalk artist where the theme is illusions in art. So, I've designed another anamorphic piece titled "The Emergence of Art." In addition to my street painting, I'll also have a Fine Arts booth. I'll be displaying several of my paintings and limited edition prints from my recent solo show, "Vessels of the Avant Garde."

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:31:00 +0000

The first weekend of June was spent on the streets of Larimer square in Denver, Colorado. It's an event I do every year because I enjoy it so much. The festival has such a great turn out and the people are so nice.

The painting I created is called the "Love Letter." The original is by Gabriel Joseph Marie Augustin Ferrier. What a name! This is a pic of the figures without the background. I always like the photos of the paintings unfinished...they are a bit more provocative and feel like they are emerging from the asphalt.

I chose this image not only because of it's sweetness but also because of the woman's red hair. I love painting red hair and even added my signature orb up top.

Here's more info for next years event!

Denver Chalk Art Festival

Larimer Arts Association
1430 Larimer Square, Suite 200
Denver, CO 80202
303.685.8143 (p)
303.623.1041 (f)

Mandala Street Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:53:00 +0000

This is the final image of a large project I did for the Center of Living Peace in Orange County. The Center promotes peaceful living via meditation, yoga, dance, visual arts, and gardening classes and workshops. They asked me to create a 9x9 foot canvas street painting during their grand opening weekend which they would later display in their main room as a permanent fine art piece. There were so many ideas and symbols that we needed to represent to really portray the message of the Center. It was a really intense process trying to create something to meet their needs while still keeping my personal style. Traditional Mandalas are much more geometric and much less figurative. Figures are my specialty so I needed to integrate them into this project as symbols of harmony in humanity.

So, I started with 4 intersecting circles and created a vesica piscis symbol at center.

North - Snow Lion, Winter, Moon, Arts and Culture represented as a constellation.

South - Dragon, Summer, Sun, Inner Reflection represented by the clear globes.

East - Sekhmet, Spring, Sunrise, Environment represented as a fan of leaves.

West - Garuda, Autumn, Sunset, Peace and Diplomacy represented by the olive branch.

MulitCultural portraits -

Male - Clockwise

Female - Counterclockwise

Auspicious imagery - Koi fish, Lotus flower, rings.

Center For Living Peace

4139 Campus Drive

Irvine

California

92612

Peace may sound simple - one beautiful word - but it requires everything we have, every quality, every strength, every dream, every high ideal.  - Yehudi Menuhin

Mills College "Walk of Honor"

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:30:00 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be able to work with Julie Kirk on this project for Mills College. Julie designed the project with Mills for their 2010 Commencement where Nancy Pelosi would be speaking. The 18 panel street painting celebrate women who have made a difference in Science, Medicine, Sports, Film, Politics, and so on.

The panels I painted were:

1. Women in TV/Film which included my all time favorite, Lucille Ball, and Katherine Bigalow, Halle Barry, and even Wonder Woman.

2. The Founding of Mills, portraits of founder Susan Mills, and a former and current president of the college.

3. U.S. Politicians, such as Hilary Clinton and Barbara Lee.

4. Nancy Pelosi and graduates. This panel was worked on by both Julie and I because it was very important to have it perfect for Nancy's arrival.

She posed with Julie and the painting on commencement day. Unfortunately, I couldn't be there but am happy it all worked out so well.

The total mural measured about 7 x 180 feet along the path.

Street Painting & Oil Painting residencies

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Tue, 04 May 2010 04:36:00 +0000

It's been a busy few months and everything will culminate in the next few weeks. I recently spent time in Arizona where I was giving street painting workshops to Waggoner Elementary just outside of Pheonix, and also to some local High Schools. Now that I'm back home, I've been teaching collaboratively, via the Music Center, with 3 teachers at a Los Angeles High School to integrate the arts into their curriculum. It's been going really well and next meeting we'll be creating their street paintings on campus. Will post pics!

Also with the Orange County Performing Arts Center, I'm debuting a new oil painting class for elementary school children. It's a 12 week residency where the children will learn simple techniques of painting with oils while completing 3 paintings and have a mini gallery exhibition at their school. I'm really excited about this because it is one of the only oil painting classes offered to young students.

http://www.ocpac.org/artsteach/

Street Painting for VASE

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 03:41:00 +0000

Visual Arts Scholastic Event

___________________________

I was invited to create a street painting for Houston's Visual Arts Scholastic Event. This was my 3rd time participating as a Master Artist. Like last year, I created an original image that students could interact with, providing workshop time with me and allowing them to have a hand in the finished piece. I only had one day to complete the painting so having the help of these very talented young artists was wonderful!

- The sketchbook pages swirl around a young artist and into her portfolio. Each of the pages was painted by a student with an image inspired by their competition piece.

The Visual Arts Scholastic Event is the only art event of its kind in the nation. Students are provided the opportunity to bring artworks created in their art classes to a regional event where they are interviewed by a certified juror who evaluates their work based on a standards based rubric and their understanding of the art processes involved in the development of their artwork. Only academically eligible high school students in grades 9-12 enrolled in a Texas public or private school Texas can participate in VASE.

Gallery Street Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Street Painter) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:08:00 +0000

"Queens of Avant Garde"

Please join me at Rebecca Molayem Gallery

for my newest Exhibition during The Avenues

Art & Design Walk

In addition to my framed exhibition, I will be

creating an original canvas street painting on

the floor of the gallery during the Artwalk.

Friday, March 26th, 2010

12 - 5pm Live street painting demonstration

by Melanie Van Latum

6 - 8pm Cocktails

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

2 - 5pm Live street painting demonstration by

Melanie Van Latum

6 - 9pm Artist Reception