Those wings weren't just for photos

A few months ago I got introduced to the Chicano Federation. They've been in San Diego since 1969, running programs for families who need housing help, childcare, immigration support, the kind of steady, unglamorous work that doesn't always make headlines but changes people's actual days. Their whole ethos is "Community first", and it felt aligned with what I care about, so Swil Arts came on as one of the sponsors for their Unity Luncheon and we donated our time and services for the day.

The luncheon's theme was "From Moment to Movement," honoring Ms. Rachel, and a monarch was chosen as a symbol the Federation uses for transformation, migration, and community strength. My job was to bring it to life. So I painted a monarch. Just one, by hand, in watercolor, wings wide like it was mid-flight. Then I scanned it at a very high resolution to keep the texture and color variation from the original painting, and used that one file two different ways.

The first was big. I blew the wings up to backdrop size and set them so a guest could stand in front and the wings would look like their own. People lined up for photos wearing wings they didn't have to lift a paintbrush for.

The second was small. I used my monarch line drawing and printed it on real watercolor paper, the kind that can hold color and still feel like something worth keeping. We set up a coloring station before guests arrived. As they colored, we asked them to flip the card over and write a note to Ms. Rachel.

That's the part I keep thinking about. One by one, people sat down, picked up a pencil, and wrote something true. By the end of the luncheon we had a stack of postcards, each one a little different, each one carrying somebody's actual handwriting. Gathered together, they looked like a cloud of butterflies. One moment, multiplied into a movement.

This is the kind of project I love most. Not because it was flashy, but because it gave people a reason to slow down at an event that usually moves fast, sit with a pencil in hand, and say something they meant.

If you're planning an event in San Diego and want a moment like this, a piece of art guests can actually step into, color, or take home, that's exactly the kind of thing we build at Swil Arts. Custom illustration, coloring stations, keepsakes people hold onto long after the day ends. Send me a message and tell me what you're planning. I read every one.