In the heart of Silicon Valley,  just blocks away from the Apple store in downtown Palo Alto, is the home of chalk art. These chalk paintings line the street for a mere 48 hours during the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts. During these two days, artists of all backgrounds come together to create, in chalk, images or pictures that they have collected over the years. Each artist has a different style that dictates what they decide to create. Whether it be paintings of old family photos, magazine clippings, or pictures from their imaginations, each is captivating in its own way. Read on to learn more about what artists use as motivation for long hours in the sun and art that only lasts 48 hours.

1. Erin Tajime Castelan

The blacktop was not the canvas Erin Tajime Castelan expected for her life, at least not initially. Originally involved in the high-tech field, Castelan found herself unhappy and unsure where to turn. “I had to find things that I could do that would help me repair,” she said. Her search for self-help led her to visit her sister in Santa Barbara, where she first encountered chalk art. “My sister got me involved [in it] and I instantly loved it…So, at a time that I was healing and wasn’t very functional, I couldn’t really do much and  didn’t have very much energy; yet I had enough energy to do [chalk art], so I just kept doing it,” Castelan said.

Seeing people walk down the street and stop to view her art has helped Castelan find an optimism that she believes cannot be matched by any other art form. “To me, being out in public and doing art is a way to have a contradiction to my own inner critic,” she said.

The image that Castelan chose to recreate for the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts shows an elderly man with his hands laced together in a praying position. While Castelan did not intend for this man’s posture to be affiliated with religion, many viewers drew connections to their own faith. “It’s so funny because a lot of people have assumed that it is Jesus, but when I see a man praying I don’t think that it’s Jesus, I think it’s something spiritual, not a specific religion.” she said. On a broader scale, Castelan has come to notice that, “when there’s an image, everyone makes up their own interpretation for it.” Castelan chose the image that she did not because she believed her viewers would connect to it in a religious way, but because she wanted to promote her own depiction of love. “I chose this image because I am so sick of the violence in the world right now…this is the mode that I want people’s hearts and souls to be in.”

Castelan has discovered that the key to living a fulfilling, happy life is to pursue love. “There’s so much to love,” she said.  “Don’t follow the other stuff — it’s not going to take us where we need to go.”

2. Joel Yau

Artist Joel Yau, who has a background in illustration, was inspired by street painting the moment he first encountered it. “I went to San Rafael for the second oldest street painting festival in the US,” he said. “Some [of my] friends worked at that festival so I just thought I’d visit. And then when I saw it I thought ‘Wow, that’s so cool. I want to do that next year.’ That was 1996.”

Although he designs for a living, he now participates in eight to 14 chalk festivals a year. Recently, his art has been inspired by older eras. “In the last five to six years I’ve been doing pin-up illustrations or photography, sort of vintage covers of magazines from the 40s 50s and 60s. So I’ve been picking images from either illustrations or photographs,” he said.

Although most festivals in the U.S. are volunteer-based, others offer pay. Yau has traveled around the world to participate in festivals in places ranging from Germany to Hong Kong to France.

One of the reasons that Yau appreciates chalk art so much is because of the interactive aspect of painting in a public place. “I do it because [I’m] tickled by the audience and the performance aspect of it…if there are kids who want to participate and feel like they want to jump in I do encourage that sometimes because, why not? I can always work over their work.”

Yau values his ability to share his art with others. “Can you imagine the awe and delight that people get [from it], either young or old?” He said. “To me that’s the gift, and that’s why I do it.”

3. Vicki Richtman

Vicki Richtman, who has participated in street painting festivals since 1993, is a personal trainer. But what may not be evident by her full-time job is what she’s capable of creating with her hands, some chalk and a strip of pavement.

The Palo Alto Art festival is Vicki’s 38th festival. The inspiration for her piece displayed in the festival, created with her daughter Chelsea Richtman and daughter’s boyfriend, Will Parks, came from an image of a monkey in a National Geography magazine. Her daughter Chelsea said “let’s stick him on the back of a turtle,” and their vision was complete.

Their creative process typically evolve similarly: “The way we create a lot of our images is we’ll see something that will strike an idea and then we’ll surf the internet for pictures that might have components we can use to put together an actual image,” Vicki said. “We like things that are really colorful, and we like things that tell a story.”

Employing google images and photoshop, the trio put together a template to base their art off of.  After two 12-hour days full of hard work, the image was brought to life on the streets of Palo Alto.

“We appreciate it so much, so it’s hard to say who else doesn’t,” she said. “We do it for ourselves more than for anything else — it’s the experience of sitting and creating it together that is so fulfilling for us.”