Two orange pumpkins splashing in the waves, accented by bright shades of turquoise and lime green. Colorado resident Sandy Kaunisto is the winner of the 2007 Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival Poster Design Contest.

2007 Poster Design Winner Sandy Kaunisto will be signing posters on October 18-19 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Coastal Arts League Museum, 300 Main Street, in Half Moon Bay. Entries for the 2008 Pumpkin Festival Poster Design Contest, a joint effort by the Coastal Arts League and Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee, will be on display at the CAL Museum from October 11 through November 6. The public is invited to visit the museum to vote for their favorite design (The Peoples Choice Award) during the entire month the posters are on display including Pumpkin Festival weekend, October 18-19.

She was thrilled to learn she had the winning entry, which will be used as the centerpiece in all Pumpkin Festival promotional material. “I wanted my design to be colorful, fun, yet simple,” Kaunisto said. “I loved using bright California colors.”

Kaunisto learned about the poster design competition online while Googling “art competitions.” She created her winning entry using the digital art software Adobe Illustrator. The artist plans to use her $1,000 prize money to supplement her daughter’s college tuition.

“I decided to enter this competition because I thought it was more homey than other art and wine festivals,” Kaunisto said. “I love the fact that Half Moon Bay has a hometown parade with traditional people who attend year after year. That’s why I wanted something that would have that hometown feeling.”

The Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival Poster Design Contest is a joint effort of the Half Moon Bay Beautification Committee, which runs the Pumpkin Festival, and the Coastal Arts League, a local non-profit organization that supports local artists. The 2007 contest was the first time graphic artists competed to have their art featured in the festival’s promotional campaign.

“We had stellar entries for the competition, but Sandy’s design really captured the coast,” said Shirley Kellicutt, member of the Coastal Arts League and chair of the poster design contest committee. “Because of the quality of her design, it was easily transferable to the festival promotional materials –– t-shirts and fashions, wine and beer glasses, wine bottle labels, posters and brochures. “Her logo provides strong branding for the 37^th annual Art & Pumpkin Festival.”

Kaunisto knew she wanted to be an artist in sixth grade. In college, she double majored in cultural anthropology and science/medical illustration. After college graduation, the artist went on many archeological digs. She took hundreds of pictures and slides. “I was an on-the-road photographer for a while,” Kaunisto recounted. “I went everywhere in the United States except for Hawaii, Alaska and North Dakota. I have since visited Hawaii and Alaska.”

After traveling around the country, Kaunisto worked as an industrial photographer, taking pictures of projects including the desalinization of the Colorado River, the MX Missile and the C-470 roadway around Denver. She and her husband, Dave, settled in the city of Centennial 18 years ago. They have two teenagers. Kaunisto has worked for the city of Aurora for 25 years in the graphics design department. She and her team design business cards and all publications for the city.

In her spare time, Kaunisto enjoys oil painting and pastels. Her favorite subjects to paint are landscapes and still life. “I do a lot of landscapes of Southwest areas, houses and gardens,” she noted. “I also like doing still life scenes of flowers and food –– anything that doesn’t get eaten within a few days.”

Kaunisto recently learned how to make fused glass blast tiles. She takes classes every Monday night and is able to make eight to 10 tiles in about two hours. “I’m always creating,” she said. “I love to paint, even this wall. Any form of painting is artistic and fun, peaceful and calming.”

As for plans for entering next year’s Pumpkin Festival logo competition, Kaunisto already has a fresh design ready to be submitted. “My next entry is going to be as exciting as this year’s,” she promised. “It’s the same two pumpkins on a very different adventure.”