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. 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.
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.
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. All artists can paint into the night, but the lighting purpose was to encourage monochromatic paintings.
“Many artists want to enter both categories; the traditional full color palette and the black and white at night. It’s a new challenge that they are eager to try,” Brunsting added.
Traditional street painting is done with a full color palette of pastels. Pre-registered artists receive a 48-piece set of artist’s pastel chalk. The traditionalists and families will start Saturday and Sunday at 7 a.m. Their creations often take 12 to 20 hours to complete.
The 2010 featured artist is local muralist Jesus Gutierrez. He won the 2009 event for his entry “Aztec Princess.” A special treat this year is provided by the art students at Mount San Jacinto College/San Jacinto campus. They will be creating a giant 3D painting on Main Street similar to the popular “chalk guy” Julian Beaver.
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 and the scene of numerous concerts during Hot Summer Nights.
Both art events are free to the public and one of the many event offerings provided by the City of Temecula during Summerfest. Artists can still register for the events and children and families can participate at the event without registration. They 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. 
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