Painters and muralists are invited to enter the 12th annual Old Town Temecula Street Painting Festival June 22-24.
Temecula's Street Painting Festival draws thousands of visitors a year and organizers have joined forces with the Arts Council of Temecula Valley to create a week of activities celebrating Temecula Festival of the Arts starting June 18th.
Volunteers are also needed to assist with the event.
The Ralph Love Plein Air Festival, now in its fifth year, will begin on Monday this year with plein air artists painting Old Town Temecula scenes through Saturday, June 23.
Street painters begin their creations on Friday, June 22 at 5 p.m. More than 100 muralists and visual artists create giant pastel murals on Main Street and Mercedes in Old Town Temecula during the event.
Families, children and beginners join in the creative endeavor in the family section where more than 500 smaller squares are blocked out for spectators to paint with pastels on the asphalt.
Town Square Park will become a giant exhibit hall for visual artists. The Arts Council will install a 40-by-80-foot enclosed tent, with an air cooling system and lights. This tent will house 20 plus artists. Another 25 booths will be located at the through Sunday, June 24.
The Plein Air Festival has been expanded from a two-day event to a weeklong painting experience. Artists will paint scenes from Old Town Temecula, Monday through Saturday, June 18-23. The completed pieces will be on exhibit and available for silent auction beginning Saturday, 10 a.m. at the Civic Center.
Street Painter Best of Show award winners receive a $500 cash prize and are honored the following year as the featured artist. Additional prizes are awarded for People's Choice, best Monochromatic and Best Youth.
This year, the Street Painting Festival has a patriotic theme and a special prize of tickets to the 2013 for the best street painting depicting the Festival.
The Ralph Love Plein Air Festival offers a $500 purchase award from the City of Temecula. First place award is $200 and a weekend stay at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. Artists' choice award is $100. An event within the event, Plein Air artists paint on location on canvas.
-- By Melody Brunsting, spokesperson for the Street Painting Festival
