Visitors strolling down Hiester Street this weekend may feel as if it morphed into the streets of Rome during the Renaissance Era thanks to artists taking part in the 8th annual Italian Street Painting Festival during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

"We have almost 50 people doing artwork right now," said Holly Foy, one of the coordinators of the street painting festival. The artists began yesterday and will continue through tomorrow, she added.

Foy said the artists create their own schedules.

"Whenever you come down, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., people will be here," she said.

The artists are found through advertisements on the Arts Festival web site. Anyone can apply to be a sidewalk artist, Foy said, but most of the artists are students.

"About half of the images are by State College Area High School art students, and the other half are mostly State College Area High School ex-artists. We also have people who just walk by and ask to do it next year," Foy said.

Corinne Grissinger (sophomore-fine arts) is currently working on a replica of "The Desperate Man" by Gustave Courbet.

"You have to love being messy to enjoy this," she said.

Grissinger said people often talk to her while she's drawing. "You get a lot of little kids who come up and ask questions," she said.

This is Grissinger's 4th year drawing at the Arts Festival. She will spend about 20 hours in total on her drawing, she said.

"It has to be perfect," Grissinger said.

Foy said Italian street drawing has been included in the Arts Festival since 1999. One reason street drawing is so popular is because people get to see the process of creating the artwork, she said.

"Here you can walk by at 10 in the morning and see an artist sketching on naked pavement and walk by six hours later and see a finished Van Gogh," Foy said.

Taped next to each artist is his or her name, a short biography and a printing of the original painting they are working on.

Patrons paced the street yesterday, often pausing to talk to the artists or admire a particularly striking work.

"I think [the street drawings] are kind of a cool idea," said Patrick Crumley, an Iowa resident. "I just hope it doesn't rain."

If it does rain, the drawings are covered with a clear plastic tarp so the artwork can still be seen, Foy said.

"Most street painting festivals, when it rains, the paintings wash away," Foy said. "We cover ours up."

Free tours of the paintings will be given at 1 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday. Participants can also meet and talk with sidewalk artists and learn about the history of Italian street painting, Foy said.