The winning T-shirt and poster design for the 2020 Natchez Balloon Festival makes a big impression with a lot of tiny details.
The winning artist, Alex Felter, is the son of Ellis and Sherri Felter and grew up in Natchez. He is a 2012 graduate of Louisiana College near Alexandria, where he, his wife Lizzie and two daughters now live.
Five-year-old Heidi and 2-year-old Nina are just as thrilled to be watching the hot air balloons fly next month in Natchez as their dad will be, he said.
More than 40 hot air balloonists are expected to fly during the annual Natchez Balloon Festival on Oct. 16, 17 and 18, weather permitting.
Felter is a self-employed ad designer and an aspiring illustrator for children’s books and magazines.
He has done freelance illustration work since 2015 and has been drawing since he was 2 years old, Felter said.
“This is the first balloon poster art that I’ve ever entered in the competition,” he said of the winning design for the 2020 Natchez Balloon Festival T-shirts and posters. “I’ve always wanted to enter.”
Unlike many other hot air balloon art that includes bright primary colors, Felter’s balloon art has a soft orange and yellow glow as though the sun is setting on the festival ground at Rosalie from a bird’s eye view.
“I wanted it to have a warm and inviting feel,” Felter said. “If you’ve ever been up in the air, you see this hazy look but it is also really bright. I wanted it to be a bird’s eye view. Like you’re in a balloon and not just looking up at a balloon.”
