Street Painting & Plein Air Festival June 25-28 Starts Hot Summer Nights

Painters and muralists will fill the streets of Old Town at the 10th Annual Old Town Temecula Street Painting Festival and 3rd Annual Ralph Love Plein Air Festival Friday June 25 through Sunday, June 27.


Over 100 muralists and visual artists create giant pastel murals on Main Street 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 canvas.

This year organizers are bringing in lights for night painting on Friday and Saturday

“We’ve started a second division - Black and White at Night -for artists who prefer cooler temperatures, but also to offer a new challenge,” explained Melody Brunsting, event producer.

The Black and White at Night division is for monochromatic and black and white murals. Lights will be provided the artists for night time painting until 9 p.m.

Traditional street painting is done with a full color palette of pastels. This will continue on Saturday and Sunday beginning at 7 a.m. with artists painting 12 to 20 hours to complete their giant murals. The 2010 featured artist is local muralist Jesus Gutierrez. He won the 2009 event for his entry “Aztec Princess.” Gutierrez will teach a workshop Saturday, June 12 in Old Town Temecula at 9 a.m. The workshop is free as is the event.

The Ralph Love Plein Air Festival started three years ago and offers a $500 purchase award from the City of Temecula. An event within the event, Plein Air artists paint on location on canvas.

Plein Air Artists will scatter throughout Old Town in search of the perfect scene depicting the historic town. The event was named after Ralph Love. For many years, Ralph Love taught as well as painted. His students were made up of avid artists throughout Southern California, and their classroom was the wide-open spaces. On rainy days, the class would meet in the old Art Shack in Temecula, California, which Love opened in the mid-fifties. It was from this Art Shack that his work received national recognition. The courtyard at Old Town Front Street Bar & Grill is now known as the Love Courtyard.

There is no fee for either Festival. Children and families are provided free pastel chalk and a place to try their creative hand at street painting. Classic Rock tunes from the Two of Us will entertain Friday evening. Flamenco guitar by Javid and Maoko provide a Latin and world music backdrop on Saturday. Sunday live Big Band tunes by the Valley Winds will close out the Festivals. A Plein Air Art Auction is held Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Applications for both Plein Air artists and Street Painters are available at http://www.temeculacalifornia.com/ or by calling (951) 678-1456.

Additional prizes provided by Dick Blick Art Materials.

We could use some UMBRELLA SPONSORS ... Rite Aid has Umbrella's for $30.  The current stock is a bit beat up. Anyone purchasing an Umbrella and donating to the Festival or sponsoring an umbrella or e-z up by paying $50 sponsorship, will have their company name painted at one of the artist murals. Call Melody for details.

We are also looking for food sponsors. $5 lunch coupons or $500 cash as the sponsor for one day.