The surface is always changing...

"What is the surface that I will be chalking on today?"  It seems like a fairly simple and minor question, but to a street painter, it is very important.  I have been chalking for years, and have completed many street paintings.  I enjoy the challenge that each new piece of art and each new surface presents.  It's part of what keeps it fresh and different.

Sometimes the surface is rough asphalt.  A common practice in Florida is to mix in pieces of shell, which makes it even harder to chalk on, since the chalk doesn't like to stick to shell or large chunks of rock.

This is a typical asphalt road in Florida with shells mixed in.

And sometimes it is just bumpy.  Sealing it (albeit temporarily) with a wash of tempera & water, helps the chalk stick.  It makes the colors brighter, also.

This was one of the roughest, bumpiest surfaces I have chalked on.  The picture was taken at the end of the day, and you can see how the low sun shows all the bumps in shadow.

Smooth concrete is nice to work on, but it to can present some challenges too.  It can have a sharp "tooth" to it, that can rip your fingers or gloves to shreds.  Usually, it is a better canvas because it is white or light gray, so you don't have to put down the tempera paint as a base.  Occasionally it can be too smooth, which the paint would then be needed.

And sometimes you end up with a line or crack right down the middle of your art.  The best thing to do with this is either make it part of the art, or try to fill it with chalk so it "disappears".

Bricks or paver bricks are a challenge because of all the cracks that have to be filled with chalk.  When I worked on the pavers in Curacao, I broke a lot of sticks of chalk, trying to get it to cover.  The other problem with pavers, is that many times they will be different colors.  This may be pleasing to look at, but it can be a bear to work on.  The bricks are fabricated of different substances and they all take the chalk a bit differently, so you have to constantly adjust the pressure and amount of chalk applied. One thing to remember is the more porous the surface, the more chalk you will use.

Here you can see how rough the pavers were in Curacao.

The other end of the spectrum is a super smooth surface, like a polished granite or marble.  Even unfinished granite can be very difficult to work on.  Chalk just does not like to stick to it, and the tempera base is almost imperative.  The large pavers in Ireland were granite (below), and we were glad that we had brought paint to prime the area first.

You can see the outline of the large squares of granite in this overhead shot.

And lastly, when you get bored, start chalking your body!

Mercedes and Carmen start experimenting on themselves in Naples, Florida.  I think the heat got to them.

How Did I Get Started Street Painting?

 This was my first attempt at street painting in 2005 at the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival.  

 I have a degree in Design from UCLA, and many years of painting and drawing experience, but this was something I was not familiar with.  The medium, soft pastels, and the huge scale, were totally new to me.

My older daughter, Mercedes, and I thought it would be fun to try.  We had been the to see the festival the previous two years, and kept saying to ourselves, "We could do that".  So we did!

Unfortunately, these pictures aren't very good.  For some reason the color is a bit off.  It wasn't large, I think we started with the smallest size (4' x 6').   We were hooked, especially me.  The next year we were put in the featured artists section on Lucerne Ave., away from the craziness on Lake Blvd., and have participated each year since.

Mercedes, age 15, hard at work.

Carmen, age 9, shows off her first street painting.

And Carmen, my younger daughter, wanted to join in so badly.  I set her up next to us on a blank area of asphalt, gave her some chalk, and let her go.  Little did I know how amazing an artist she would turn out to be.

18th Annual Lake Worth Street Painting Festival

The forecast was not good.  Rain, wind, and thunderstorms.  Gloomy weather was with us all weekend, but we made it through.  It was windy all weekend, and we had a short period of showers from 9 - 10 am on Saturday morning.  We were all raring to go, and it was hard to stand around and wait.  Most of us had plastic to cover, and the rain was light enough that we were able to uncover and start working fairly quickly.

Plastic and folding chairs save the day.

End of day on Saturday.

My piece, an original composition of a three headed dragon coming up out of a hole in the ground, was my largest piece yet at this event (10' x 20').  It was also a first for a 3D piece for me at this event.  I usually do much more traditional work.

View from the opposite direction.

Carmen working on Sunday.

Carmen was able to participate this year, at the last minute.  She choose to do a Bouguereau on an area that was about 6' x 8'.  She didn't finish, but it was beautiful none the less, and was a big crowd pleaser.  

Cheryl and Wayne Renshaw brought a three headed dragon puppet, which looks like lunch in this photo.

I actually finished earlier than I thought I would.  I was worried I couldn't finish it by myself, but I was done by about 2pm on Sunday (total of 16 hours work).

The crowds were often lined up to take pictures and view the art from the "sweet spot".  I often heard comments from the crowd that this art would make an awesome tattoo and that I should be a tattoo artist.  Maybe someday - you never know.  If you had told me I would be chalking the streets at age 50 for a living when I was 20, I would have thought you were nuts.

Here is the video - Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Art) by Craig Houdeshell:

Lake Worth Street Painting Festival 2010

I chose to do this picture by J. C. Leyendecker from a Saturday Evening Post magazine cover from the 20's. I loved the colors and at 8' x 10' it was a crowd pleaser.

Carmen did her own art - a Bouguereau reproduction (see below), and was the only "kid" included in the featured artists area.

Carmen wins First Place!

Carmen's winning artwork. She won first place in the Student Division at the Avenida de Colores Street Painting Festival in Sarasota, Florida. She even beat a team of 4 girls from Dreyfoos High School of the Arts. Pretty impressive for a 14 year old in eighth grade!

Carmen got started about 7:30 am on Saturday. She used a paper template for the 4 foot x 6 foot area on the sidewalk. Luckily, she was in the shade most of the afternoon.

We aren't sure who the original artist of the piece was, but we think it was by Sophie Anderson. Here Carmen, finally finished around 1pm on Sunday, sits back and talks with another artist. Carmen was definitely one of the crowd favorites, and gathered one of the largest amounts of cash in her People's Choice donation box.

Bloom N Garden N Chalk Fest

Jennifer & Carmen participated in the first Bloom N Garden N Chalk Fest in Safety Harbor, Florida over the weekend of March 28th and 29th. We got started around 8am, and put down a layer of white tempera paint on the sidewalk. It was the first time we officially had to work on the sidewalk. We had two spots next to each other in front of the local art gallery shop.


Saturday was pretty warm and very windy. We each had a 4.5' x 8' space. Carmen did a reproduction of a Bougereau and I did a piece by Jim Warren titled "Awkward Age".

Sunday morning we got heavy showers. We all covered our pieces with plastic and duct tape fairly well. We decided to uncover them to let them start drying out around 8am, but then another bunch of showers came and washed some of us out.

We just had time to lay a new piece of plastic over Carmen's piece, but mine was sacrificed. Around 11am, we saw blue skies and decided to see how quickly we could recover. They moved the judging back an hour to 3pm, so we all hunkered down and got to work.

2009 Lake Worth Street Painting Festival

Jennifer & Carmen get started. This year, our template was too small, so we used a grid method to map out the painting. We did "The Nut Gatherers" by Bouguereau. We started actually "painting" around 10am on Saturday. We usually start with the faces first and then work outward.

Carmen works on the folds of the dress, while lots & lots of people strolled by. The weather was the best we've had in a long time - cool, a little breeze, and NO RAIN!

Done! We finished around 3pm on Sunday.

2008 Lake Worth Street Painting Festival

Jennifer & Carmen participated in the 2008 Lake Worth Street Painting Festival in February.

Here, Jennifer gets started by using a template to transfer the pattern to the street.
Carmen works on the blue sky and puffy white clouds. The art is titled "On the Heights" and covered a 10' x 10' area.

Finished, right before the rain started.

Naples Street Painting

Original art by Robert Bateman (color is not exactly right)

White paint has been applied, and the stencil was transferred.
Painting was done at the opening of a new housing development with an art theme in May 2007. It was very hot, from the first thing in the morning. We had two days, Saturday and Sunday, to work on the paintings. On the second day, we finally got some coverage and relief from the sun, when they brought out some tents.

Detail of the bird.

Finished painting of flowers and bird.

Jennifer, Mercedes & Carmen with finished work.

Where Do I Start?

The first part of doing a street painting, is deciding on what you will be painting. Not all art will reproduce well. Choosing wisely can make the difference between a messy, unrecognizable work, or a striking masterpiece.

This picture is a scan from a book of the original painting by Thomas Lawrence, entitled "The Calmady Children". We found it in a children's art book. The main reasons we chose this work were the very engaging faces of the two girls, the beautiful tones on the skin and hair, and the dramatic use of light and dark. We knew this would work well when done large on the ground with soft pastels.

Other styles that work well are masterworks from the medieval times, impressionistic paintings, and most realistic works. Of course you can always use an original piece of art for your inspiration. Using a popular painting that is well known is always safe, and will be a crowd pleaser. Remember your audience, and that this is primarily a piece of performance art.

Lake Worth Street Painting Festival

Jennifer, Mercedes & Carmen Chaparro with their finished street painting on Lucerne Avenue at the Lake Worth Street Painting Festival, Florida, in February 2007.

The street art, done completely in pastel chalks, is a reproduction of a painting called "The Calmady Children" by Thomas Lawrence .

We started by making a large paper template for the 10' x 10' area. We poked holes in the paper, and laid it down over the roadway, and transfered chalk dust to the surface. We then started applying the chalk around 9:30 am on Saturday and worked until about 4pm. Luckily we didn't have any rain that night, and began again at 9am on Sunday morning. We finished about 2pm on Sunday.