Question: When are PEEPS too good to be true? Answer: When they’re an architectural illusion. You’ll want to witness the creation of this illusion of depth at Saturday's PEEPS Fest in Bethlehem, just one of many activities in the New Year's Eve celebration at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.

Architectural muralist Holly Fields-Scott will be working with guests to create the PEEPS-inspired illusion from noon to 5 p.m., at the base of the circular staircase on the second floor. Guests will have the opportunity to participate in the execution of a forced perspective mural and witness how the illusion of depth is created when viewed from one spot. Whether helping to color the mural or just observing it coming to life is sure to be exciting as the midnight hour approaches.

Fields-Scott, of Walnutport, has been preparing the mural site this week, attaching canvas to the floor and stretching it inside the oval area at the base of the staircase. She prepared the mural with a base color to allow a graphic layout to be done on site using a single point perspective from a camera.

She explained that once the perspective is drawn, color numbers will be added to the design to aid in the coloring of the image with pastel chalks. This is when the public is welcomed to join in over the course of the allotted time of five hours when the three-dimensional image comes to life. At this point, some pretty creative photo opportunities can be had with the whimsical PEEPS.

Fields-Scott has been design director and co-owner of Bella Pintura Inc., since 2006, when she relocated from Fort Myers, Fla., to the Lehigh Valley. Her partner is Debra Miller, department coordinator of visual arts and education at ArtsQuest. Bella Pintura specializes in architectural decoration providing mural illusions, wall finishes and Italian plasters, custom wall coverings, accessories and furniture. A former resident artist at the Banana Factory, Fields-Scott will be conducting classes there during the winter session in authentic Italian plaster finishes and decoration, as well as paint finishes, and exotic woods and marble.

She also works in the buon fresco ancient painting technique, having studied in Prato, Italy, and the techniques as sgraffito and grisaille. She is a surrealist portrait painter as well, with a Renaissance Animal portrait series including "Moose & Calf with Peacock Headdress," painted just after 9/11. It hangs in the children’s new oncology treatment area at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest campus.

"My daughter, Nevada, was just six months old when I painted it," she recalled. "I don’t think I put her down for weeks after that. It was a personal connection of myself and my daughter as Madonna and Child. Whimsical, yet sobering."

Prior to Bella Pintura, Fields-Scott was co-owner and art director of Fauxliage, Inc., in Fort Myers for 18 years, providing custom design applications for architectural decoration and home accessories. Her services attracted clientele in Detroit, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago, in upscale residential, hospitality, casino and theme design projects.  She developed and produced a commercially rated wall covering line used in the hospitality and casino industry and decorative accessories for the interior design market. Her clientele included country singer Shania Twain for her home in Switzerland and Siegfried and Roy for their apartment at the Mirage in Vegas.

"I never met any of them but worked through their designers," she said. 

Born and raised in the Binghamton, N.Y., area, Fields-Scott majored in theatre design at SUNY Purchase and SUNY Oneonta. She was set designer for numerous films, including Michael Figgis' "Leibestraum" (1991), "Just Cause" (1993), and "Palmetto" (1996). Locally, she was set designer for Bethlehem's Pennsylvania Youth Theatre's 2010 holiday musical, "The Christmas Doll," based on the popular book by Pennsylvania resident Elvira Woodruff.

Earlier in her career, Fields-Scott was involved in public art projects and painting murals for the city of Binghamton. She said she would like to do similar projects in southside Bethlehem because "a mural has a way of bringing a community together and bringing out pride. …The face of a neighborhood can change with a mural. When it's just paint and not a structural change, which can be costly, people are more open to the project."

In addition to the PEEPS mural, there are ongoing family-fun activities through Saturday featuring those delicious marshmallow treats. The festival is being presented by Just Born Inc. and ArtsQuest, with live music, arts and crafts, films, s'mores making, and photo opportunities with the PEEPS mascot. Some activities are ticketed events. For further info: artsquest.org/peepsfest/

Arts Roundup:

Related drops to the New Year will be happening across the Lehigh Valley on Saturday. One such place that will be hopping with a "first" will be the city of Allentown, which marks its 250^th anniversary in 2012. Mayor Ed Pawlowski calls it "nothing short of spectacular." The 800 block of Hamilton Street is the place to be with free, family-fun outdoor activities and performers. The Eve kicks off with a "Bells Will Be Ringing" inaugural gala and silent auction at the downtown Holiday Inn.

Though we didn’t have a White Christmas, who says you can’t have ice – but thankfully not on the roadways. Award-winning ice sculptor Mark Crouthamel, owner of Sculpted Ice Works, said he'll be carving subjects on site that will be very familiar to Lehigh Valley baseball fans.

You’ll do a double-take at the stroke of midnight with the inaugural bell drop officially ringing in the 250^th anniversary year. Why a bell? Allentown has a history rich in war activity, namely the Revolutionary War. The bell is appropriate because this great city hid and protected our nation's Liberty Bell at Zion's Church during this time. I might add that in the following weeks, make it a point to visit the church on Hamilton Street in downtown Allentown and learn more on this historical happening.

Getting back to the bell drop – In a partnership with the city of Allentown and the New Year’s Eve committee, the Da Vinci Science Center worked with children earlier this month who created and built the special bell and attached their wishes to it for the new year. The lighting of the bell with fiber optics was made possible by Off-Grid Technologies in Bethlehem. There will be a ceremony for the lifting of the bell at 8 p.m., when Pastor Bob Stevens of Zion's Church and Pip the Mouse will ring Allentown’s Town Bell. Churches citywide have committed to ring their own bells at midnight as part of the New Year celebration. For further info: allentown250.com

Also in Allentown on Saturday, the Da Vinci Science Center is gearing up for its 2012 Family New Year Party from 6 to 10 p.m., as part of Allentown’s 250^th anniversary kickoff celebration. The Magic of Matt Cadabra heads the entertainment, with dinner and dessert and a Glow-in-the-Dark party of hands-on science activities. Tickets are $39 for adults, $29 for kids. For further info: davincisciencecenter.org

We've got a PEEPS drop, a bell drop, and Easton joins in the fun with a 10-foot Crayola Crayon drop at The Crayon Experience (formerly called The Crayola Factory) on Saturday at 8 p.m., followed by a fireworks display. The festivities begin at 2 p.m., with colorful and creative art activities and live entertainment by Sing for America, Juggernaut String Band, and School of Rock. Two new exhibits to debut are "Dry E-Race Car" and "Be the Star of Your Own Coloring Page," plus the premiere of an "Inside Out Wall" sea-themed mural on a see-through wall. Admission price is $19 in advance, $23 at the door. For further info: crayola.com

It"s New Year’s Eve in Reading with Peter Brennan's Jeans 'n Classics and the Reading Symphony Orchestra, featuring the music of Sting and The Police on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center. Jeans 'n Classics is based on the concept of combining rock musicians and headlining stars with world-class symphony orchestras. For further info: ReadingSymphony.org

A planetarium show, "Tales of the Maya Skies," will take place at the New Year’s Eve party on Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Reading Public Museum. There also will be a museum tour of the new Arms & Armor Gallery. Registration is required. For further info: readingpublicmuseum.org

For train lovers – Fully operational train layouts will be running through Saturday at 3 p.m., at the Lehigh Valley Heritage Museum in Allentown. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. The 4,000-square-foot exhibit includes antique Lionel trains, Thomas the Tank Engine and his pal Percy, plus more than 250 train-related artifacts and relics. For further info: lehighvalleyheritagemuseum.org

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"