Behind the scenes at the La Quinta Arts Festival

“This is my golden cat tails. It’s an original black and white photograph,” said Mark Stephenson, a Sky Valley artist.

Stephenson proudly showed off his photo of reeds in a pond, printed directly onto gold leaf, then flooded with multiple layers of a clear epoxy.

Stephenson is a professional photographer his entire life who decided to focus on fine art 12 years ago.

And he says he’s thrilled to be back at the 34th Annual La Quinta Arts Festival.

It’s set to open Thursday, the annual festival the nation’s top-ranked fine arts show three years in a row now.

This year’s 34th annual event will feature 220 artists from 35 states, Canada and Argentina presenting their original artwork over four days at La Quinta’s Civic Center Park.

Stephenson said, “It’s very difficult to get in as you might imagine as it’s reputation grows. Because everyone wants to be here.”

Trs Taylor won the honor of creating this year’s festival poster.

Taylor described his 5 by 7 foot tar paper painting.

“This is William Guadalup,” Taylor said. “And he’s riding down the road here with his grapefruit. And they’re all spilling out of his basket,” Taylor added.

Taylor notes the painting’s black lines is the tar paper, not paint.

The black lines are carved into the tar paper.

The former biochemist’s tar paper painting will be on display for all festival goers this weekend.

Taylor said, “This is probably my favorites, if not my favorite festival. The grounds here are just beautiful.” Taylor added, “People come here from all over the country, Canada, Chicago and L.A. And they buy art.”

The La Quinta Arts Festival runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.

Read more about the festival on it’s website athttp://http://www.lqaf.com/.