Spirit of Fiesta

This painting is another aspect of my art career. Fine art has always been the focus for me, especially in the medias of pencil and ink. But I have done many watercolor and acrylic paintings, some of these were commercial in style. These included logos, t-shirt designs, cartoons for newspapers, and caricatures. San Antonio is known for its many celebrations and festivals. The largest of these is called Fiesta and occurs every April since 1891. This event pays tribute to those who fought and died in the battles of Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto. In 1936 in order to raise money to support cultural events and conservation of historical sites, the celebration of Night in Old San Antonio was created. This was tied into Fiesta. Every year for many years the Fiesta commission held an art competition for the official design of the Fiesta poster. I entered the competition for three years in a row starting in 2016. For three years I was selected as a finalist in the competition. In 2019 the competition was held again, but unbenownst to the contestants, the director of Fiesta decided to hire someone to design the poster without so much as relating this to the artists entering the competition. After all the designing and hard work by the artists, we were misled about the contest. I filed a protest before the San Antonio City Commission and the mayor. I spoke before the commission and they agreed that the competition and paying an artist on the side was not done properly. Many thought that my design "The Spirit of Fiesta" should have won. The patrons of Randolph Air Force Base, Walmart, and a major t-shirt printing company all agreed that my design was better than the work done by the artist who was paid to create the poster. They decided to support my design. Several thousand t-shirts were produced and sold by Walmart throughout the city. Randolph Air Force base hosted a "meet the Fiesta artist" event and I was the guest of honor who signed t-shirts and poster prints of my design. "The Spirit of Fiesta" is exactly that, the spirit that Fiesta symbolizes, the songs, the dances, and the brilliant colors. The mariachi musician playing the trumpet was from a young man I photographed at a music store in San Antonio. In the design there are cascarones bursting open with confetti flowing out, flower wreaths with ribbons, cut-out paper designs called papel picados, along the River Walk flamenco dancers on the Arneson River Stage move in a poetic swishing motion to the music, and in the night air notes are swirling up to a starry sky. Thousands attend this celebration and enjoy the parades, the music, and the food.