Denver Chalk Art Festival

It rained on Saturday, but that didn't bother most of the chalk artists in downtown Denver. They went back at it to reconstruct their "temporary" works of art.  A hazard of this type of endeavor, to be sure.  

http://www.denverchalkart.org/festival_info/index.php

 

It was fun to see the original artwork on an 8 x 12 piece of paper being transformed into a much larger piece that brought smiles, curious looks and general fun to the crowd gathered on Market Street.  From the classic portrait style that you might otherwise find in an art gallery to sublime pieces  nods to Star Trek, the Avengers and much more.

 

 I've stood in the Louvre looking at the original, but this version put a bigger smile on my face and was a lot bigger than the famous Mona Lisa!

    More than any other, we wanted to see the finished piece, after all it was Where's Waldo and they hadn't put him in when we were there.   

 

 

 This was my favorite.  I got the artist's card after she told me illustrating children's books is her dream.  She went on to tell me "words don't matter, it is the images"... careful now... if we end up working together we might have to happily disagree.

Some seemed to have simply walked away, leaving smeared squares of chalk, but many were at work in the evening bringing their previous day's work back to life.  


Others covered it up to ensure the hours and hours and hours of work were protected and the detail in this one was literally spectacular.  I wanted to talk to her, but the line was too long.  Simply artistic genius!

My party agreed this wonderful blue fox was an overall favorite. 

     I really wanted to stary to see how this would turn out.  The use  of black and white was awesome!

         

Mother Mary 

holding baby John Elway? 

    

I was disappointed to have missed seeing the Gargoyle my latest novel is based on washed out.  I'd really like to see what he looked like before the rain took him. 

     Best story of the night.  This man was recreating a picture of his grandfather during WW1, with his head coming out of the airplane he flew in the war.  A picture was found in an attic that told the story he grandfather never spoke of.  A true American hero.  The artist bragged, "His friends called him Curly. I have his curly hair!"  A huge smile crossed his face and ours too!.  Thank you for your service Curly!

Now that is an awesome dude announcing my visit!

Reading specialist Reva Lobatos and son, Reva responsible for EVERYTHING you see on this blog, see below for a link to the last school I went to that Reva organized.  CLONE HER!

I wanted to say THANK YOU to ALL of the wonderful hosts this VERY busy Spring 2012 School Visit season.  I have been welcomed graciously and the excitement for reading, writing and anti-bullying was increased this year due to you wonderful educators who provide your students with an extra boost!  

My last school visit of the spring was a spectacular display of preparation, anticipation and excitement for students, staff and yours truly. 

I have always loved calling attention to excellence and so this blog is my hat off to one very special educator who simply goes WAY beyond the call of duty!  First of all, in these tight economic times a grant had to be written to provide this author visit.  The grant was turned down, but that didn't stop this 'steamroller of excellence'.  She went back to the grant committee and asked what needed to be done to modify her proposal to get approval.  They told her.  SHE DID IT, THAT DAY.  It was approved!  AWESOME STICK-TO-IT-NESS!

The walls were lined with covers, announcements.  

Fun assemblies and a very well attended family night at Henderson Elementary in Cheyenne, WY was a great way to close out the spring of 2012! 

Example of what it takes to get the kids pumped for an author visit!

So, here is my HUGE shout out to Reva Lobatos!  This is the second school and second school visit Reva has put together with me and this wonderful lady should be put in charge of the NATIONAL HOW TO DO IT RIGHT FOR KIDS committee!  

Representative Ken A. Esquibel, myself, Senator Floyd A. Esquibel, now that is some representation 
of Gov't in a school!

In attendance during the day was the Superintendent of schools, the school's district representative at the Capitol and a State Senator!  The most amazing thing to me is that this is just seems to be "standard procedure" for this excellent educator.  

I watched this cool dad reading with his son and talked to him about his involvement in his son's lives as it relates to reading.  He reads with his boys every night and it shows.  Talking to those young men was a true pleasure and hearing them talk about reading was music to my ears, WAY TO GO MR. LOBATOS!.  
No wonder those boys love a good story AND love to read!

CHECK OUT this link to an earlier blog entry I did to showcase what Reva did to prepare for my last visit.  http://justinmatott-snickers.blogspot.com/2008/12/books-are-door-to-head-and-heart.html  (By the way, not only did she provide her school with something different, fun and educational, she went home between the school day and the evening event and brought her own boys back to experience a night of storytelling, so not only an awesome educator, but an awesome mom.) 

There was no way ANYONE didn't know we had something special coming!

Talk about making a guy feel welcome!  Reva asked what my favorite things are and then filled a basket with them!  That is really going beyond the call, but SO appreciated!


I can't wait to see what she does next time!  Oh, there will be an next time!