Street painting is an artform that's growing in popularity here in California. It's most closely associated with Italy, where there is a longstanding tradition of reproducing the works of Renaissance masters in soft pastels on the street. Street painters in Italy are called i madonnari after their favorite subject: paintings of the Madonna and Child (and variations on that theme). Here in California, the oldest street painting festival is in Santa Barbara and is called the I Madonnari Festival. It occurs every Memorial Day weekend. Other popular festivals are in San Rafael, San Luis Obispo, and San Diego.

We started street painting with some friends at the Santa Barbara I Madonnari festival in 2000. We've gone every year since then. In 2003, the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts added street painting to their arts and crafts festival. We participated that year and every year since. In the fall of 2005, we participated in the San Luis Obispo I Madonnari festival for the first time, and in 2006 we added the Danville Fine Arts Faire and the San Carlos Art and Wine Faire to our list of street painting venues. In 2007 we added San Rafael's Youth In Arts, then were honored to be feature artists for the first two years of Luna Park's Chalk Art Festival in San Jose in 2008 and 2009. We traveled out of state for the first time in October 2010 to participate in the Sarasota (FL) International Chalk Festival, and returned to Florida in February 2011 to paint in the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival.

2011 Schedule:
Lake Worth Street Painting Festival, February 26-27, 2011
Santa Barbara I Madonnari Festival, May 28-30, 2011
Danville Fine Arts Faire, June 18-19, 2011
Palo Alto Festival of the Arts, August 27-28, 2011
San Luis Obispo I Madonnari Festival, September 10-11, 2011
Luna Park Sidewalk Chalk Festival, September 24, 2011
Sarasota International Chalk Festival, November 5-6, 2011

Here are some photos of street paintings we've done in the past. Enjoy!