A Labor of Love

A real testament to my love of art, I spent about 11 hours on my hands and knees between October 8 and 9, in the intense sun--hot, sweaty, grimy and sore in places you never really should be--producing art for art's sake.


"The Round Rock Chalk Walk" was sponsored by Children At Heart and benefited the Round Rock Area Arts Council.


Together with a group of local artists and art students, our "chalk art" was the featured attraction of the festivities in addition to the music, vendors and local shops and restaurants.

Each artist rendered their masterpiece (or someone else's) in a 10 foot square of asphalt, creating a lovely but impermanent display of pastels, all along Main street in downtown Round Rock.


My drawing was produced from one of my original photographs: from grids I created the outlines and completed the overall design. (My commercial art skills came in handy here!) And, I finally found a use for my Pan Pastels and filled in the large areas with these small disks of pastels using bristle brushes. For the details of the bird's face and feathers, or wherever I wanted the color the most intense, mainly hard pastels by Faber-Castell were engaged. The asphalt chewed through each stick of pastel in just a few short strokes, demolished my brushes and dissolved almost an entire set of Pan Pastels...not to mention my fingers!



Having been burnt to a crisp on day one despite SPF 50, Saturday I wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt for sun protection. It was only in the 80's but the sun is very intense this time of year, and I thought I would melt into the pavement! I must have thrown down 5 gallons of water and iced tea! And don't let my "Home Depot" appearance fool you...those knee pads left my knees red, swollen and in pain...hello gel knee pads, next time!

Barely able to walk or stand after 5-6 hours on the ground each day, I didn't have to crawl far to enjoy the Louisiana Longhorn Cafe (above) for the many tea refills and yummy meals I enjoyed while I was there. If you haven't tried their fare, it's quite delicious!

Thank you to all the friends and volunteers who kept me hydrated!



The public's participation was encouraged by providing small squares for kids to draw in for $2 contributions.

In great community spirit, passerbys and friends often asked if they could help, so I gladly accepted their offer during the early stages of the drawing. It would have been a daunting project to complete alone, so a special thank you goes out to: Jonathan, 9, and his dad, Brian, who helped to fill in the red areas (shown above). And, thank you to friends Kat and Debrah who joined in the messy creation of the feathers. I think they all had fun getting their creativity on and gained a new appreciation of being on the ground for hours at a time! (Hug your tile man!)



My popular peacock drawing was exclaimed over all weekend (thank you for all your compliments!) and must be on the entire town's cell phone! Send me your pics, if you've got some good ones!

Thank you for everyone who came out to support me and this event! I loved seeing everyone enjoy my artwork and for the lovely, encouraging feedback!

Photos courtesy of Rae Andrews. Thanks Rae!