This year I participated in two charity chalk walks/festivals. I had posted my process for my Marilyn Monroe chalk portrait a number of months ago benefiting Foster Adopt Connect, and this time I drew a tribute of Tom Petty for Harmony House (a wonderful organization that provides safe and secure emergency housing to families escaping domestic violence). Music was Petty's solace from the abuse in his own household. We had about 20-30 artists throughout the afternoon despite the earlier threat of rain and raised $300! It was just a blast too. I love meeting new artists in my community and interacting with people while doing live art.
I used the same set-up as previous chalk portraits but this time I had the luxury of having smooth concrete instead of rough asphalt. However, as the wind picked up, the chalk started to blend so I had to keep going back over my darks and lights to keep that wide set of values because of it. That is also just part of chalk art; it's ephemeral. A good metaphor for life!
Unfortunately, I bought a bad pack of batteries (an 8 pack for a dollar seemed fishy!) so I didn't capture the entirety of my process before my camera died. Good news is the part that gets cut out is fidgeting with details and going back over those values like I was talking about. I'm glad to have captured the bulk of it. I learn more about my process by going back and watching.
I signed up for the afternoon portion of the event which was a collaboration between the chalk walk and White River Brewing Company's yearly street festival. All day there were artists from the market at one end of the street and we ended on the far end at the brewery. The previous year I had done a live painting for the same event so it was fun doing live art in another capacity this time. I'd like to sharpen my chalk game, so practice.
