This weekend I revisted a childhood friend- sidewalk chalk. My town of Bend, Oregon had a hot air balloon festival and space for artists to create chalk art as everyone strolled by. I wanted to try using actual coffee grounds as the chalk, but wasn’t allowed to. Oh well, getting to use color was fun.
It took about 2 days to complete Van Gogh’s Starry Night. In the evening, crowds of people walked across everyone’s art! I was surprised at how durable chalk art is, as well as being very enjoyable to create. You should try it! Here are some tips I learned:
1. Use chalk pastels (not oil pastels).
2. Save black for adding last; it will muddy up the other colors.
3. Scribble a bunch of chalk and then use an eraser or paintbrush to work it into the cracks and dents of the surface.
4. Wipe your fingers and brushes off on a towel frequently.
5.Wear sunscreen! I got a nice purple burn by the end of the day…
August 6th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Rubber gloves help keep your fingers from being rubbed raw. To protect the work as you draw, bring a big piece of flat cardboard to sit on. And some artists bring dustbusters to suck up extra chalk dust.