Pastels on the Plaza is my favorite of Arcata’s yearly events, and this year was above average. The weather was pleasant, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the event, the music, and the farmer’s market.

This was my tenth year doing the event, and as always, I was doing a square for the best landscape designer on the north coast, Genevieve Schmidt.

I like to use the event as an excuse to try out new ideas and tools. For several years now, I’ve been wanting to try something more impressionist, and this year, I finally just dove in and went for it. I ditched my usual tame color palette and my small blending tools in favor of using every color in the box, and a full size, 8″ bench brush as my paint brush. My mom also drove half way across the state to help me out and was instrumental every step of the way, not least by doing all of my lettering so I could focus on other things.

I didn’t push things in the foreground quite as much as I had intended because the navy and purple pastels were a bit too drab and crumbly.

When a business donates to Northcoast Children’s Services, the get either a 3×3′ square or 3×6′ (usually actually 3×5′) landscape. I really wanted to do something in a portrait orientation, so I moved the text area from the bottom to the sides, and I think it worked out well. I continued the black border a bit at top and bottom, which really framed it and took it out of the fray.

Leah Vaughn did the square next to me for Holly Yashi jewelry. I love how it came out. It manages to have a strong subject in the masterfully done hummingbird, and also fade smoothly into a whole different kind of design around the edges. The grey background really left a lot of open color palette for the rest, and probably saved a lot of frustration transitioning between foreground and background.

Stencils seemed to be the innovation of the day all around the square. Getting perspective and spacing to look right can be really hard in this format, with the big horizontal space and ever changing lighting. I don’t think Casey Vaughn’s perforated paper method worked out as planned, but luckily, he’s got enough lettering skills to freehand it anyway. He was working on behalf of Pizza Gago, a local woodfired pizza maker.

Due to some scheduling conflicts, I didn’t get to do my usual afternoon walkaround to see all the finished squares, so this year, we’ll go with more of a look at things in progress.

This guy was doing a fun square using a small brush and spray bottle. It’s a technique that didn’t work out for me when I tried it, but maybe I’ll have to revisit it. It seems like it helps to fill in the crevices and make solid color areas, which I could have used to get my black areas darker.

Cafe Mokka is a great little local coffee shop with hot tubs and saunas. Their artist did an impressive job of  translating an iconic design, and getting an extremely smooth, crisp look on the concrete, which may not come through in the picture because it was in the dappled shade of tree branches.

I didn’t get to see the artist working on this piece for the Siren’s Song Tavern, but I think they must have perfected some kind of template technique.

This lady really had her system worked out, with her muffin pan mortar and pestle, and Yuban water. They don’t really make tool sets for sidewalk pastel, so we have to come up with our own.

Mike Craghead did another big black and white of an awesome locomotive with Buster Keaton.

Though I must admit I mistook it for Bill Nye.

The Alibi has a great pastel every year. Their artist has an impressive ability to get their logo perfect with just a picture, a fistful of bushes, and a ruler.

One last shot for a bit of context:

I’ve never understood why they pick the first week in October for Pastels on the Plaza. We inevitably have our first rain that week. While I’m sure some bureaucrat somewhere thought this would be a good way to make sure all of that unsightly artwork didn’t stick around, it also makes for a tense morning wondering if if we’re going to spend the whole morning sitting in a puddle getting rained on. Even a couple weeks earlier would be much better. This year our first big rain arrived the evening of the event, so if you didn’t show up to the event itself, you missed it.

This year my mom came to help me, which was awesome. I like to get the creative work mostly done before I arrive. There’s enough chaos to think about on the plaza without having to come up with a plan too. We did this sketch of a bug’s eye view of a house sparrow and flowers. I like to have a central subject for some crowd appeal, and come up with a design that works well with both the pastel colors and the rough sidewalk. I was working for Genevieve Schmidt, a local landscaper. This one went quick and easy. Maybe next year I’ll have to challenge myself again.

I was sitting by Leah Vaughn, working for local jewelry company Holly Yashi. I like the fancy flowers and the way the two unblended background colors went together. The colors didn’t come through completely in the photo. The best weather for photographing the event is  bright overcast. We had alternating sun and shade all morning, and then sun for the end of the event.

Casey Vaughn did the square for Pizza Gago. Bricks and walls are always a good choice. They work well with the chalk pastel pigments and the roughness of the sidewalk.

Susan Devine did this for the Morris Graves Foundation, and I think it’s her best one yet. All of the companies in the event are donating the money for the square to North Coast Children’s services, and the artists are donating their time. Combine it with live music and a farmer’s market, and you have a great event.

This one for Primal Decor was actually my favorite this year. Their artist always does an exceptional job. It isn’t complete in this picture, but when I came back later, it had been dulled down by the wind. As an artist, sometimes it’s just some little thing that catches my eye. There were other squares that arguably came out better in some overall sense, but there is something in the colors and textures on the face that I found really enviable. I’m going to have to spend a few minutes watching them work one of these years.

This still life for Ramones Bakery also impressed me. She was working wet, with brushes. It’s a common method, but not one I’ve employed unless it’s already raining. I tend to just make mud. It does make for a smooth and vibrant result though. I was most impressed with the gold border on the plate. I think a bit more black in the background would have brought things up a notch.

Erin, Jill, and Cat have been making my list for a while now with their excellent work for Humboldt Area Foundation.

And below are some others that caught my eye this year. You can click any of the pictures in this post to see a larger image.