Something for my Friends over Seas

Well it’s officially the end of the chalk season for me.  It’s officially May and the weather is hot and burning, so no more chalking until fall when it’s cooler.  For this final piece I wanted to do a photo reproduction, and wanted to do something cool for all my friends overseas wish I miss so much.  So I decided to do a soldier with a child since so many of my friends have families and many of them miss seeing their kids grow up.  I can’t even imagine what that is like.  The image didn't’ take me long to do. I believe it was a total of maybe 6-7 hours.  I’m very happy how it turned out.  I can’t wait to the next season.


Here's the original image. If you know who the original photographer is please post their name and give credit were it's due.

Never Forget Your First Face

It's been about two week since the last event and I came as prepared as I could. The drive to Leesburg was a little longer than expected but it was fine.  However I did run into a little bit of trouble.  Just like many small towns here in Florida there are very strict speed limits. You could be driving by and you will quickly see the speed limit drop from 45mph to 5mph.  Well sadly I fell into one of these speed trap.  I went up a bridge that says it was 40mph, halve way through the hump of the small  bridge the speed changes to 35mph and I got clocked going 52 through the light as I was coming down the hill.   By the time I slowed down due to the speed sign the cop was already behind me and I was being pulled over.  It seem that this was going to ruin my whole day.  Thankfully the Officer was kind enough to let me go with a warning since I admitted I made a mistake and there was nothing I could do about it, he was just doing his job. 

The rest of the trip made me super paranoid on the speed limit so it made the ride ten times longer.  Once I reached the Main St. Leesburg it was pretty nice. It reminds me of pictures of Classic American towns I've seen in magazines and books. I love it.  The day was great, everybody was in great spirits and the people of the town were extremely friendly and grateful.

For this event I wanted to do a piece that is very close to me and I wanted to be a face. I did the Rosie the Riveter "We Can Do It!" WWII Promo poster.  My father was born in the 1930's and my mother in the 1940's.  Both of them have seen many changes in their lives and they always believed in hard work and earning your keep.  Norman Rockwell and some other WW2 stuff were at times around the decor of our home as I was growing up.  Rosie the Riveter was especially my favorite.  When you come from a Hispanic culture and you are a girl, women are just mainly expected to be house wives.  So to see such as strong feminine figure really made me smile.  Maybe that's why I'm the hard worker I am today.

I was nervous. I never tried doing a face in chalk.  So this was truly a challenge.  Plus I wanted to do justice to one of my favorite WW2 art pieces.  While I was working I had a lot of seniors really enjoy the piece.  Many of them remembered the piece from when they were children, a few remembered from their job as  young teen, and few ladies told me they were a Rosie the Riveter.  All in all of the piece was welcomed quite well.  In the end there were many great pieces, and it seem we are getting faster and faster in each event.   

As for me I'm very happy with my performance and can't wait for my next one.  In the end I didn't win any of the Leesburg awards but I did win the FCAA award for the event.  I'm very proud and honored and can't thank enough for the people who voted for me.  

My First time at Safety Harbor

My pretty Pink Orchid (reference form an on-line picture.)

So it's been a fun spring chalk season, and for right now is almost at an end.  I did all right. I won an award in 1 out of 4 events so far.  It's a great start towards my Master Level goal.  Next come fall season. 

This event was very different for me.  First, it was at Safety Harbor Florida and it was my first time doing this event.  Second, I was replicating my first flower. Third, I was on my 3rd weekend chalk event in a row. Finally I was worried about my husband that had been release out of the hospital after suffering injuries from a car accident earlier that week.  I will have to say that I'm very very impressed with my self.  I DID 3 EVENTS IN A ROW with and epic bad back.  That is pretty epic for me.  I'll say it again EPIC!!!!! LOL

The funny part is I showed up on the second day of the event and did my painting fairly fast.  It only took me around 6 hours to do with breaks and goofing off time. At the time I was rushing to get home since my husband was home by him self the day after he was released from the hospital. It wasn't a very comforting thing to think off.   My husband all alone, recovering from surgery, on crutches, on pain meds hopping around the house.  No Bueno.

When I got home, I was happy and slightly annoyed at the same time.  I see my husband laying comfortably on the couch having a good old time. He told me that the problem he was having moving around with the crutches was the hospital set them up too tall for his height. Once he fixed that problem he even went and made him self  a quesadilla.  At this point I was annoyed for a second, but shortly after I was very happy to see him doing fine.  It really took a great lift off from my shoulders seeing him smiling on the couch.  At this point I had the option to go back to the event or stay home and enjoy some time with my husband in the AC.  I decided to stay and eventually crashed down on the floor around 6pm from exhaustion.  I guess I was truly running on pure adrenaline after being in an out of the hospital all week, plus working, and keep up with the house.  My body was telling me to shoot down. It was a great nap.  

The next day I went back to the event and got a chance to enjoy the event with my chalk artist friends.  I also got a chance to help some of my other chalk friends trying to finish their work.  It was truly fun. This event was wonderful, and I can't wait to do it again next year.  The only thing that I did not enjoy was the 8 block walk trying to see all of the other artist. It was simply spread to far apart between the artist, and many people did not get a chance to see the rest of the chalk artist. I hope next year they consolidate the areas were the artist are at. All in all this event gets two thumbs up. I'm very happy.

As for me I have learned a little bit more about my self. 

1) I have great stamina when it comes to chalking.

2) I'm getting faster with my chalking and technique.

3) The chalk artist community is still my favorite community to be involved with.

Till next time. :D

Safety Harbor Chalk Artist 2012 

2nd Push

Picture Chalk Reproduction for a bird by Ana Bruno-Stump

So this pass weekend I just went through my second festival in a row.  This time around I decided to try a bird.  I decided to completely take out all the black from the equation. I wanted to do a piece that uses nothing but mixed colors in order to achieve darker tones, and it was a challenged.  

Untitled Image, and untitled photographer.  If you know
the name of the photographer please give them credit were
credit is due and post their name below.

The untitled image is just astonishing as you can see in right.  I has a (what I believe ) humming bird just landing on a branch.  The basic composition of the piece had organic symmetry (is almost an oxymoron), it has great positive and negative space, and finally this is fallowed by the great combination of earth tone colors.  You just can't beat it.  This is so far my second reproduction from an image for this year and I think I'm getting better.  Not as good as the fish but getting better. 

The only negative experience I had in this even was the sun was literally taking a tole on me.  After 11 am I was literally directly under the sun until just around 5:30PM. At that point I would only have maybe 1 hour to 2 hours to work quickly under the cool conditions.  For most part it was pretty bad and very very hot.  I almost had heat stroke again.  It's really not fun, but thank God the people at the festival are always very kind to their artist and they made sure we all had plenty of water.  I also have my friend Bridget to thank for sharing her tent with me so I don't get heat stroke.  I still don't know how to repay her for he kindness.

What made this even very unique is that I saw one of my students trying the chalk events and it was fantastic.  I really love seeing my students trying new mediums  pass digital format.  For her first time she did very well for her self.

This event was just very fun.  It also helped that this is my favorite chalk festival of the year. The show is opened to many different styles and people brought their A game to the festival.  In the end my bird did pretty good. I placed 1 out of 4 honorable mentioned in the small square division. I'm very proud. To be honest I still believe my fist looked a lot better. This weekend I'll be doing another piece over the weekend at the Safety Harbor Chalk Festival.  This time I'm doing a flower. Let's see how I do. 

Chalk Fest 2012 Artist

Pushing For The Next Level

It's spring and the chalking season is on.  It seem that chalk festivals have exploded in popularity and now there seems to be one every weekend.  This year I'm taking it kind of easy.  I just went through four months of physical therapy and I'm trying to save my back by working smarter not harder.

The second event for me this year is the Haines City 2012 Chalk Festival.  This is the second year they have done it and is pretty cool.  Is a small event, and the people there are very friendly.  I have to say they treat their artist very well wish is very appreciated by the artist.  They also had a large amount of young kids coming out and trying out the experience.  I like seeing kids having fun with art. Maybe because I teach for a living, but is always fun to see students trying to figure something out and having fun in the process.  

As for my self I didn't do to bad.  I decided that I wanted to try to earn my Master chalk status.  In order to do this I have to meet certain requirements.  This included doing animal pictures, master reproductions, among other requirements. So I decided to start with animals.  I've learned a lot in the past two years I've been doing these festival and I want to step up my game.  So after my last festival this year I decided I would try something new other than my own images.  

For this event I wanted to do something that is a reproduction, an animal, and is close to me.  So I picked a golden Koi fish.  I've always loved fish, especially koi fish. One of the few things I want in my future house is koi pond or a big fish tank.  I'll take that over a fancy kitchen any day.  But anyway...  

I found an amazing picture on line by Victoria Sanchez.  The picture feature a koi fish underwater.  The picture has everything I was looking for and more.  The picture by it self is stunning, has great flow, rhythm, amazing contrast, and just a vibrant color pallet. With proper planning the image became easy to do and easy on my back while still holding it's charm.

I started at 8 am and ended around 2 pm. That is 6 hours with several breaks. That is pretty good. I can't complain. In fact it gave me a chance to goof around and make a second one for fun.  This gave me a chance to enjoy the lake view, talk to the other artist, and even free hand another piece.  

My chalk painting 7 ft by 4 ft.  6 Hr total.

The festival brought some great people out.  This Include a 10 year old boy and a 70 year old woman, who were chalking their hearts out.  This reminds me how good these festivals are for the community. There were several winners, but sadly I wasn't one of them.  Oh well is just part of playing the game.  But I should have picked a masters piece to reproduce or a portrait for this small event.  Usually these small events have judges with limited art education and don't understand anything that is unique.  So just like last year the portraits and the master reproduction pieces won.  No shocker there.  The exception were the student work and the First Timer Chalk artist division. 

Is like the last chalk festival I went too. The only reason the winner won was because it was kind of a 3D piece.  The artist didn't do the perspective, she just asked the judge to put on the 3D glasses and have the red and blue lines pop up.  Literally. When I asked the judge for the feedback, they say it was unique because it was 3D.  It just blows my mind. I guess all other art principles and fundamentals needs to be tossed out.  Beauty and art is in the eye of the beholder LOL.

Extra Chalk Painting I made for fun.  Only 2 hr.

To be fair there were some very nice piece in this show.  I will never take that way from the artist, and I'm very happy for them.  Some may say that I'm bitter, but I simply say is an obvious pattern.  After two years of doing this type of work and going to local art festivals is just a pattern I see over and over again.  There was another artist out there that agrees with me because she's a illustrator like my self not a traditional artist. Illustration work is not always understood by may people.  

In the end I have to say it was an amazing experiences. I pushed my chalk technique and now I feel confident to continue to push forward. It will take me a few years, but I'm sure if I keep pushing I can reach master chalk status. I can't wait to try my portrait skills next year at this event.

I have another festival next weekend. Let's see how I do.  I'm scraping my own image and just going with an animal piece for this. Cross your fingers for me.

6 things Chalk Artist FEAR

So I'ts been two years since I've started doing chalk street painting and there's nothing like it. The preparation, the long two to three day festivals with the beaming sun on your back along with the interactivity of the local folk who's only art knowledge or experience is next to none.  While this is all fun and dandy, I've have learned that chalk artist have major fears when it comes to their work before judging time.  Here are the top six things chalk artist fear:

1.  Rain

To a chalk artist this is an ugly four letter word.  This is especially bad when you are almost done and the sky threatens to wash your work away before judging time.  What's even worst is that every average person has to ask you the same stupid question at every show "What happens when it rains?"  Well it washes away you dumb ass, what do you think is going to happen.  Of cores we can't say that to their face, but don't be fooled, we are thinking of it. This question is on the top dumbest question we get asked at festivals. (future blog).

2. The leaf blower

In rare occasion this maintenance tool becomes a major threat as bad as water, but it has happened to me in the past.  Most events they warn the maintenance group from doing activities that could damage the art for the festival, but sadly you do come across that "tool" that just want to be a smart ass and do the opposite. We encountered this problem early last year at a local chalk festival.  The maintenance guy was going around blowing off chalk off the artwork by using leaves as an excuse.  Neat less to say one of the chalk artist caught him and gave him a lot of hell for it. They continue to do it after he was cought, so the artist had to stalked him to make sure he didn't keep doing it to other peoples work. The guys literally blew way several peoples days worth of work.  It was brutal and just dickish of him. 

3.  Strollers

With so many parents trying to stimulate their children with art, you will think they would have more respect for it them selves.  I've personally had my street painting run over by strollers and it's really boils my blood. Most of these people are simply to busy texting on their phone to pay attention where they are walking their bundle of joy.  Really lady, the piece is over 10 feet and it's in NEON COLORS.  How did you not see it.  What is worst is that 90% of the time they literally go right through the center of the piece.  Not to bad if you are doing abstract art, but if you are doing a portrait, this is hours of work you must back track.

4. Senile old people in their electric carts

Senior citizens are for most part our biggest audience.  They are the majority of the people we talk too and tip us.  However, every so often you come across that one elderly person that is not just slightly senile, but is also ridding on an electric cart. This makes them a big threat.  Those tires on the carts are not small, and were ever they roll you will see a lot of damage.  Nothing like having a bright or dark color land on your whites. The worst part is we can't really yell at them.  I mean... yes we are pissed, but we also understand that this person is probably not all there so we are stuck with loudly asking for them to please move off the piece.  Talk about biting your lip.

5. People walking right through, and sometimes with a drink in hand

Just like the stroller people, you have just the normal people walking through your piece.  This is normally due to a conversation with another person, cell phone conversation, or texting.  Some of these people are just being ass whole, and just don't want to walk around to their destination.  So they walk right through thinking they can get away with it.  What is even worst is when that person is holding a drink and they drip on your work or drop it right on your work.  I had this happen to me the first time I did a chalk event two years ago.  Sadly this happened over night so it was a very nasty surprise the next morning. Neat less to say I always cover my art work up before leaving after that experience. 

6. Unsupervised children

Oh yes.  Believe it or not, this happens often but not as often as people walking on your art.  Nothing like having a small child pick up a chalk and start adding to the work, and smearing hard to hide colors.  Some of these cases the parents are no where to be found, or they simply grab the kid and don't even bother to apologize.  In that case I feel very bad for the kid for being raised by such poor mannered parents.  Kids probably going to grow up into a little bastard. 

So next time you are at a street painting festival, please be mindful of the artist work.