Many people watching the annual Seattle Solstice Parade in Fremont only get to see the infamous painted cyclists zoom by them and don't get a chance to really appreciate the work that goes into some of the painting.
Unfortunately, I don't have the names of the painters to go along. Maybe next time I can get more photos of the painters along with their cyclists. But until then, I present some photos from before the parade. And a few from afterward at Gasworks Park at the end...
A couple of photos from previous years...
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| from 2009 |
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| from 2010 |
And from the end of the day in 2012...
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| Superman flies away |
Look forward to some images of the parade in the next few days. In the meantime, I'd like to hear from some of the cyclists saying what the experience was like in the comments here. Thanks!
I am one of the painters from 2011 when a friend asked me to do the paint. I had done oil painting in my younger years - landscapes, etc. I got a few friends to join me and we had a great time discussing our ideas and came up with a design. The day of the parade we joined many others with our "entry" and were very inspired to do a great job because there were wonderful paint jobs going on around us. It was like art class and our subjects were just like a canvas. It was an experience I will never forget esp. for a lady in her 60's - I never would have thought I would be painting a nude man for a parade - with the blessings of my very understanding husband!
ReplyDeleteI am one of the painted cyclists that was in the parade. I have been in the parade 2 years now and every time it has been a blast. My friend and I decided two years ago that we wanted to join the parade and see what it was all about. The first year we didn't put very much thought into our paint job and compared to other painted cyclist, we felt that we were lacking in creativity. So this year we put more time into our paint jobs and they tuned out awesome! We had a lot of people comment on our paint and it felt nice to be recognized for our creativity. The past two years there has also been a big paint party in Ballard. It is so much fun to go and see what everyone is doing. The atmosphere when you walk in the community paint room is indescribable! It was so much fun watching everyone help each other, taking pictures, people asking for help with their paint from people they didn’t know. It was just great! I will continue to go every year.
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