Curls Comic

This past Sunday I participated in “Blossom Bash” an official National Cherry Blossom Festival event, transforming PenFed Plaza into a vibrant spring destination at Tysons Corner Center. 

ArtsFairfax hosted live chalk art contest inspired by America’s Semiquincentennial: In honor of America’s 250th, chalk art reflected the natural beauty of America’s flora and fauna, celebrating the plants, animals, and landscapes that make our country beautiful. 

The event “paints PenFed Plaza pink” with a curated retailer market, live entertainment, family-friendly activations, giveaways, and interactive experiences—designed to drive regional attendance while spotlighting participating retailers and restaurants.

This was my first time at this one-day outdoor program. I heard from the other artists there that they had done the event in previous years. My art was inspired by the Japanese cherry blossoms and I did a koi fish with blossom fins in the water with emphasis on movement and spring colors. 

It was definitely windy at this elevated outdoor event space and two of my name tags blew away. I am happy with my art given the parameters of the wind and physically doing it in a squat position. I rarely got on my knees, but they did advise artists to bring towels to roll up for protection. I did bring a bath towel, but didn’t really use it. Many of the artists had skateboarding knee pads. I was starting to use up many of my main colors — white, pink, and blue — glad to make it through to complete with sparse resources. We had to tell PenFed event workers and attendees not to step on the art area (which was obviously sectioned in five foot squares with tape, so it was striking to see so many people oblivious to what we were doing — for those that don’t know the colors smear when being stepped on). It was an interesting challenge and I’m glad to be a part of it!