An unusual project is underway in front of the Santa Barbara Mission. Two artists are hard at work. They're on their hands and knees, using sponges to spread colored chalk on the ground. Cheryl Guthrie and Terri Taber are creating a billboard-sized artwork to be the centerpiece of the I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival.

It’s an image of the Santa Barbara coastline near UC Santa Barbara, with a woman who looks like Mother Nature in the foreground. The festival is a nearly four-decade tradition that raises funds for the arts programs in Santa Barbara County’s schools.