Fun With Chalk...

Rocket the Neighbor's cat guards the
supplies.

This looks a little "too advanced"
for me. 

Being a bored "artist" ( Or someone who enjoys dabbling in the "arts"...as they might say more accurately...)  Have have decided to give sidewalk chalk a bit of a go just to see how things would work out.  I watched a bunch of You-Tube videos and finally decided that Epstein didn't kill himself.

This looks like something I can
tackle...

Outlined in Charcoal..then Add color!

I also watched a few people doing sidewalk murals and got a few pointers.   Sure,  there are certainly a bunch of people that are better than me.  But I choose to compare myself to the 6 year olds who do it.   By setting the bar so low,  I look like a genius!

At least I have a shadow for this
part.

Coloring in the fish first. 

The toughest part is finding inspiration and deciding to go with it.   I could find nothing!  So I fell back on the old "koi swimming in a pond" theme that I often do when I have no direction.   Sometimes it is good to start with something familiar before moving on to the more complicated.

Cheryl snaps pictures. 

It still is very hot outside.

Quite honestly, I really had no idea how it would turn out or what I was getting into .  I have drawn on the sidewalk with chalk before.  But there is the Iowa Death Sun,   Rough driveway concrete, and the lack of dark colors.  Who knows what will happen?

Not too bad so far. 

Fish and lilys complete. 

The actual chalk was supposed to arrive in the afternoon.  I thought I would get a jump on things by outlining my design in charcoal.  (Thankfully,  I had a bag of Kingsford!)   I drew the basic shape and had to retire until the sun set later in the evening.

Rocket attempts to "help." 

I can back to it after the chalk arrived.   The sun was setting fast, so I only finished the fish and lilies ( Lily's, Lillies?  lilys?  Spell check hates them all except the possessive...  What is the plural of Lily?)  I found that the neighbor's Cat enjoyed watching me and walking over the chalk,  leaving colorful footprints all the way back to the apartment.

How is THIS helping? Both of you
are USELESS!

Today, I finished up the rocks and re-outlined the fish.   Every time a car drives over the mural, it smudges things up and I have to clean up the edges again.   It does not help with a cat AND a kid ( who is not my friend) attempting to help me.... by not helping me at all!  Everyone is a critic, but no one ever wants to help.

Koi Pond Chalk Mural finished... and Just in time for the Full Sunlight to hit it! ( with me out of the death rays!) 

He is only five, after all.  And staying in the lines during coloring is not taught until 1st grade...  So I guess I should not have expected much.   Still,  Kids have an unlimited energy with crayons,  I thought moving up to Chalk would not be that big of a leap.

Got a little bit of sun...

And a lot of Chalk on my face.

Eventually,  the shade that the tree provided had disappeared and I had to call it quits.  I think I was able to get it completed, though I'm sure I could waste  an additional hour or two just shading and filling in the gaps.  I was half-heartingly attempting a 3-D scene,  but I will have to settle for this level of "Monet"-ish art for the moment.  I still have plenty of Chalk to attempt another mural or two for he future.  It will all depend on the Iowa Death Sun and how motivated I feel after I recover from this Sunburn.   We shall see how things go.