Yesterday, I spent the day in Clifton with my friend Tina Clyburn painting with chalk on the street at a yearly event called Streetscapes in Clifton. The day began with clouds and rain. The rain did not last long and by 1pm were were in sunshine.
Streetscape is where artists transform a street into a virtual museum. The street is the canvas where the artist reproduce a famous work of art using custom made chalk. The artist made the chalk at an workshop several weeks prior to the event.
Spectators watch the artwork evolve during the the two day festivities. In addition to the artwork, there were musicians and entertainment for all ages. There was a kids area where they could draw their own masterpiece with sidewalk chalk.
In this first picture we had to walk on the duct tape to make sure it stuck to the asphalt.
The next step was to put brown craft paper around the perimeter of the "canvas" area .
Tina then placed the drawing of the painting we were going to paint on the "canvas". Tina chose Madame Matisse: madras rouge as our masterpiece to recreate.
This painting has lots of bold colors and will translate well with the chalk.
In the drawing are tiny holes that we pounced baby powder over. This process will transfer the drawing onto the "canvas".
After we pounced, the drawing was pulled off and vol la our drawing is ready to paint.
We then used white chalk to make our baby powder lines show up better.
Tina began placing the red print on the dress as I began the print on the hat.
I moved from the hat to the face. It is really hard to make lines especially fine lines on the asphalt. I got the shape of the eyes (somewhat), but could not add the lashes. The same on the hat. I made the squiggle lines, but could not get the dot and dashes that Matiesse used to represent shadow on the lines. However, when you stand back to see how things are looking it works.
Tina worked on the dress. The beautiful dark blue chalk that she made at the workshop filled the dress nicely.
After I finished the hat and face I moved onto the hands. I really had a hard time with them. Mostly because Matisse painted them limply. That bothered me. Also, as I stated earlier, it is hard to translate small lines on the asphalt. So the fingers were very hard to shape.
8 hours later our 5'x7' painting was done on the first day!
I can not thank the city of Clifton, who planned the event, for the kindness they treated the artists. We began the day in rain and they planned ahead by putting us under a tent. They provided us with the space, brown craft paper, feed us and kept us watered. This is an awesome event and I look forward to next year.
If you live in the Cincinnati area and would like to join us or create your own masterpiece let Tina or I know and we will keep you informed.
Happy Painting
Gaylynn
Streetscape is where artists transform a street into a virtual museum. The street is the canvas where the artist reproduce a famous work of art using custom made chalk. The artist made the chalk at an workshop several weeks prior to the event.
Spectators watch the artwork evolve during the the two day festivities. In addition to the artwork, there were musicians and entertainment for all ages. There was a kids area where they could draw their own masterpiece with sidewalk chalk.
The next step was to put brown craft paper around the perimeter of the "canvas" area .
This painting has lots of bold colors and will translate well with the chalk.
In the drawing are tiny holes that we pounced baby powder over. This process will transfer the drawing onto the "canvas".
We then used white chalk to make our baby powder lines show up better.
Tina worked on the dress. The beautiful dark blue chalk that she made at the workshop filled the dress nicely.
After I finished the hat and face I moved onto the hands. I really had a hard time with them. Mostly because Matisse painted them limply. That bothered me. Also, as I stated earlier, it is hard to translate small lines on the asphalt. So the fingers were very hard to shape.
I can not thank the city of Clifton, who planned the event, for the kindness they treated the artists. We began the day in rain and they planned ahead by putting us under a tent. They provided us with the space, brown craft paper, feed us and kept us watered. This is an awesome event and I look forward to next year.
If you live in the Cincinnati area and would like to join us or create your own masterpiece let Tina or I know and we will keep you informed.
Happy Painting
Gaylynn
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