Never Forget Your First Face

It's been about two week since the last event and I came as prepared as I could. The drive to Leesburg was a little longer than expected but it was fine.  However I did run into a little bit of trouble.  Just like many small towns here in Florida there are very strict speed limits. You could be driving by and you will quickly see the speed limit drop from 45mph to 5mph.  Well sadly I fell into one of these speed trap.  I went up a bridge that says it was 40mph, halve way through the hump of the small  bridge the speed changes to 35mph and I got clocked going 52 through the light as I was coming down the hill.   By the time I slowed down due to the speed sign the cop was already behind me and I was being pulled over.  It seem that this was going to ruin my whole day.  Thankfully the Officer was kind enough to let me go with a warning since I admitted I made a mistake and there was nothing I could do about it, he was just doing his job. 

The rest of the trip made me super paranoid on the speed limit so it made the ride ten times longer.  Once I reached the Main St. Leesburg it was pretty nice. It reminds me of pictures of Classic American towns I've seen in magazines and books. I love it.  The day was great, everybody was in great spirits and the people of the town were extremely friendly and grateful.

For this event I wanted to do a piece that is very close to me and I wanted to be a face. I did the Rosie the Riveter "We Can Do It!" WWII Promo poster.  My father was born in the 1930's and my mother in the 1940's.  Both of them have seen many changes in their lives and they always believed in hard work and earning your keep.  Norman Rockwell and some other WW2 stuff were at times around the decor of our home as I was growing up.  Rosie the Riveter was especially my favorite.  When you come from a Hispanic culture and you are a girl, women are just mainly expected to be house wives.  So to see such as strong feminine figure really made me smile.  Maybe that's why I'm the hard worker I am today.

I was nervous. I never tried doing a face in chalk.  So this was truly a challenge.  Plus I wanted to do justice to one of my favorite WW2 art pieces.  While I was working I had a lot of seniors really enjoy the piece.  Many of them remembered the piece from when they were children, a few remembered from their job as  young teen, and few ladies told me they were a Rosie the Riveter.  All in all of the piece was welcomed quite well.  In the end there were many great pieces, and it seem we are getting faster and faster in each event.   

As for me I'm very happy with my performance and can't wait for my next one.  In the end I didn't win any of the Leesburg awards but I did win the FCAA award for the event.  I'm very proud and honored and can't thank enough for the people who voted for me.