CHALKING IT UP STREET ARTISTS PUT BEAUTY AT ADMIRERS' FEET.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Nearly 150 artists wielded their pastel chalks, the spectrum of hues emerging as familiar famous works of art and tributes to current events, at the third annual Bella Via street painting festival Saturday.

Deanna Sanderson Helsten spent the day hunched over her allotted square of pavement, painstakingly re-creating American artist Norman Rockwell's 1921 piece titled ``No Swimming.''

``I wanted something happy and something American,'' said Helsten, the director of KidsArt in Valencia, participating in her third Bella Via. ``I wanted something that people would recognize, where they'd stop and say, Hey, I know that picture. It's nice when people stop.''

Event organizers said the Italian-style street festival - modeled on an Italian tradition spanning 400 years - was expected to draw as many visitors as the 85,000 who attended last year.

The festival continues today at Town Center Drive, featuring artists, street vendors, live music, a stilt walker and a section where kids can create their own works of art.

Hosted by The Newhall Land and Farming Company, the event matches local business sponsors with artists, with a portion of the proceeds from the money paid for a square going to the Bella Via Fund, co-sponsored by the SCV Chamber Education Foundation, which raises money for education.

Canyon Country resident Cyndi Stadlberger chose to reproduce American artist Mary Cassat's youthful ``Children on the Shore'' for her first crack at street painting, while a number of others incorporated symbols of the United States, such as American flags, eagles and the New York skyline.

``I chose this ... because it represents children,'' said the mother of three boys who selected the piece with its sponsor, Child and Family Center. ``This whole idea is fantastic. I don't know if I could do it more than once a year, but it's definitely a good thing.''

Valencia resident Joshua Esparza, 23, chose to reproduce a head shot of R&B singer Aaliyah - a tribute to the star who perished in a plane crash in August.

``I thought, after the trade center, I'd remind people that a star was lost,'' Esparza said. ``She died a couple of weeks before the trade center (attacks) and I just want people to remember her.''

Helsten, taking a break from her Norman Rockwell piece, said the fate of the creations laid down on the pavement - strong hoses will erase the lustrous colors and laborious designs on Monday or Tuesday - is just part of the process.

``I just detach myself from it,'' she said. ``I don't even think about it. You take lots of pictures and that's your art.''

By Saturday afternoon, a number of artists were colored themselves, with pastels blanketing their hands, faces and pants, as well as the red tint of sunburn on exposed shoulders and shorts-clad legs.

``You have to take a break a least once an hour,'' Helsten said. ``That's mandatory on your back. But it's so neat to get up and see what the other artists are doing, the different techniques people have.

``Some people put the pastel on really velvety. Others leave it rough,'' she said. ``There are so many ways to interpret a piece.''

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5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Participants in the Bella Via street painting festival in Valencia create their sidewalk art before festival-goers Saturday.

(2 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) Mollie Aberle, 8, of Granda Hills blows chalk dust from her work at the festival.

(3 -- color in SAC edition only) Joshua Esparza creates a portrait of singer Aaliyah, killed in a plane crash.

(4 -- ran in SAC edition only) Fans of the chalk artwork walk among the pictures taking shape on the concrete in Valencia on Saturday. The street painting festival continues today at Town Center Drive.

(5 -- ran in SAC edition only) Lindy Madrid, 13, wears her artist's status on her face Saturday at the street painting festival at Town Center Drive in Valencia.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News