Chalking with the Locals in Buffalo

This was my second time chalking in Buffalo, but the first time working with local artists.  Marie Verger, the organizational force behind the festival, was able to encourage two artists to participate.  Jenny Wuerker, a landscape painter with a gallery in town, and Steve Heil, the local high school art teacher, were my assistants for the day, and did a fantastic job!

Jenny Wuerker, Jennifer Chaparro, lead artist, and Steve Heil.

We started at 8:00 am in the morning.  It took about an hour and a half to get the art set up and the tempera paint down, and transfer the design with the template.  Here is Steve getting the tempera down with a roller.  I was sweating already, as temperatures were in the mid 80's before 10 am.

Steve finishes up the tempera layer.

We were making pretty good time, until about 1:30pm, and the rain started.  We watched it come in, and had two tents up, but had to scramble to get the plastic and tarp down over the art.  At first, it looked like it would be a minor shower, and then move on.  But it kept raining, and then it started running down the sloped parking lot and down the cracks in the concrete.  It lasted about an hour, and we quickly pulled off the plastic to minimize damage and get it to dry as quickly as possible.

Steve and I hold down the plastic, and wait for the rain to stop.

We jumped back on it, and really work hard to get the piece done in one day.  The sun came back out and it got pretty hot again, so we were glad we had the tents.  The size of the art was about 12' wide by 20' long, so that you could sit on the horse in the picture. 

Jenny and I work on the colt and try to figure out the tangle of legs.

Jenny typically works with paint, and had never used pastels before, so this was all new to her.  The technique of layering the chalk takes a little bit of getting used to, I have to admit.  I think it is similar to watercolors, since you need to put down lighter colors first.  Lighter colors are hard to make dense and pure when layered on top of dark areas.

And collaborating is always a bit difficult.  I am used to working with my daughters, but I know their skills well, and what they do best.  The challenge here was to assess what each of us could bring to the art and direct it to it's best use.  I think both Jenny and Steve have a new appreciation for how hard it is to complete something of this size so quickly and the challenges of the weather and surface.  I hope the experience didn't scare them off from doing more street painting in the future!

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.

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.

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.

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.