Chalkin' the Walk

I have a new morning ritual. I don't do it every day, but I do it a few times a week.

I color on the sidewalk.

I've always loved chalk art (also known as street painting) and wanted to give it a go. A few weeks ago, I figured it was time to try it out. I've doodled with sidewalk chalk aplenty in my life, but I wanted to up my game. So I started researching. I was surprised to find that there is very little information on street painting on the internet. I scoured pinterest, google, and YouTube and found hardly anything in the way of tutorials.

Here is what I learned:

• Use soft pastels (not oil pastels - I didn't know there was a difference)
• Hairspray can be used as a fixative to help the color stay
• Foam is a great tool for smudging and blending (or you can use your hand, but the foam saves your skin)
• Tempera paint can be used (I haven't invested in any yet, but I hope to)
• Use a chalk line to make a grid (I haven't gone this extreme yet)

That's basically it.

I've been to the Utah Foster Care Chalk Art Festival many times, and I've watched the artists work and taken note of their supplies. Now I have all the more reason to observe them - knowing that the internet isn't going to teach me the ways of street painting. Of course... the festival is canceled for this year. 

COVID-19: killer of dreams. 

Utah Foster Care Chalk Art Festival 2016

I've never taken an art class in my life except in junior high when it was required, but my art teacher was hospitalized at the beginning of the semester, and we had a sub who let us run wild for the rest of the school year - therefore, no art was ever done in art class. But I've been having a blast with my simple, little doodles. And sometimes it’s nice to not know the rules... because then you don’t have to follow them!

(Please don’t make that your life’s motto - I actually do believe in rules. Just not when it comes to things like sewing or drawing).

These were my very first - Pua and Hei Hei from Moana. I think they are my favorites. 

Then I tried for Woody. He turned out fine, but the coloring of his face was a little zombie-esque. For this one, I tried drawing in white chalk first and then filling in the colors. 

You know that artsy thing where you draw circles with lines through them and then add the details? I'm sure there's a proper term for it... but my art teacher was hospitalized, you know, so we never got around to that. Anyway, I can't do that thing. I've tried several times in my life. It doesn't work in my brain. I attempted it for Woody and had to start over and do it the Brittany Way. 

Foreign language

This was the first time I tried setting the chalk with hairspray. I'm still experimenting with that a little. 

Then I did Flounder. Every image takes a ton of chalk, and I find myself running out of colors quickly. I'm learning how to work around that. Everything I draw results in more learning. 

After a little practice, I decided to try Robin Hood - my cartoon crush. 

The thing about Robin Hood is... his smirk is everything. I didn't nail the smirk. I made his snout a little too short, and I was disappointed. But it's all good. I've moved on with my life, and I'm at peace with the fact that my Disney drawings will always look like the non-licensed versions of characters that pose with tourists on the streets of New York and Las Vegas. 

On Sunday night, I drew this:

I let Daisy help me. She did some of the coloring and blending, and I traced her hands. I've never been able to draw hands. In fact, when I do birthday posters for the school, I try to eliminate the hands on any characters I use. My brain can't comprehend hands. As you can see, I don't even get hands right when I trace. 

Also... art teacher... hospitalized.

Earlier this week I made an attempt at Eeyore. I didn't have quite enough room on the sidewalk, so he's a little squished.

Right after I finished him, Nicky dragged a blanket across him. I hadn’t even cleaned up yet!

Yesterday I drew Nemo. As long as you don't compare him side by side with the actual Nemo, he looks pretty good. 

I've used up a lot of my common color pastels, so now I'm just trying to finish up some of the remaining colors before I start buying more. Black and white go fast! I bought some cheap white chalk since I go through it so quickly. The quality is poorer, but the price of white soft pastels is over $1 a piece. I've had some black pastels on order from Amazon for over a week. I used the last of mine on Nemo.. 

C'mon Amazon! My driveway awaits! 

On Tuesday, I made my first attempt at cleaning the chalk off the cement. I needed a fresh canvas! I used the jet stream on my handheld sprinkler. It cleaned Eeyore off easily because Eeyore was fresh and not set with hairspray. It hardly touched Woody! So yesterday I went outside with Dawn dish soap and a scrub brush and scrubbed my driveway clean. I got everything off except for a few traces of red and black. 

I'm excited to try some more things, and if I can manage to drag myself to a store, I might even get some tempera paint (Walmart only had two colors in stock - brown and red. I need to try a craft or hobby store, but I'm not very inclined to go to stores for non-essentials right now). Then again, with as hot as it's getting, this might not be a hobby for much longer. 

If you're wondering why my art teacher was hospitalized...

It was an allergic reaction to chalk!