How to Make Chalk Art, 2010 Chalk Festival

Yahooo, Friends! Sketching the Chalk Festival was a great fun. The theme was "Blues."(Participants wore blue!)

Enjoy my results, 13 watercolor portraits.

Mostly, cloudy and very light rain. Jackets were needed, even though the sun sometimes burnt us.

I learned so many interesting techniques below.
1) Stretching Canvas
Because of moisture in the air, canvases got buckled on pavements. Oh, poor artists! Taping down, water spraying canvases, etc, etc. But Jenny McCracken did stretch the huge canvas first and never

had that trouble! Yes, she tamed a wide canvas like watercolorists. Wow, Expert!2) Strings For Straight Lines
Strings are more handy and practical than scales. Please remember, a huge canvas is on a ground, not vertical.

3) 3D Composition
Images on a ground are distorted for viewers. In order to achieve a normal image, paradoxically, length and height get looooooong. A demonstrated work at Town Hall...was impressively and ridiculously long.

4) Use Bamboos for Brushes
Bamboos or long sticks are very good tools to prevent back or neck pains. Furthermore, an artist can easily step back and check an ongoing work. Imagine, if you were crawling on a ground, it is very annoying to stand up and set back often.

5) Hands Spread Chalk
OK, Girls, we know how to spread flour on a cutting board. That's the way! Hands and fingers spread chalk painted and settle down it on a canvas. Artists painstakingly repeat the process over and over again.

6) Second Wind AvailableUnlike watercolor, changing colors and drawings is very easy.7) Home-Made Chalk
An artist said he made it by himself. Yes, pastels cost too much for a massive work. According to the artist, only a few cents were cost for a piece of chalk. Easy "piecy"?!

In a painting process, putting value and color seems to be different from watercolor or my watercolor. An experienced artist said, "Just upside down to watercolor." Mmmm...I'm not 100% sure.
Each chalk artist's style is very varied. Very fascinating, even though I still do not get chalk painting in general.

In my eyes, the most beautiful thing is experienced artists helped new participants who were not familiar with chalk like me. But I'd like to add, all big names were so humble and respected others.

Another wonderful thing is that we all artists agree at this point ; joy in painting and drawing. Colorful joys poured over walkways.

Hey, guys, beer, wine and nice food tasted soooo good at a pub after the event.The organizer kindly allowed me to join their party and other artists urged me to enjoy it together.

Also, other backstage players and hard workers came. I courteously appreciated backstage players' hard work, saying, "You are the real heroes."
We promised to see again a next year instead of saying bye. Nice. We kissed, hugged or shook hands and went back to each life.

Friends, come join us a next year!! Yeah!!

How to Make Chalk Art, 2010 Chalk Festival