chalk it up

A while ago, I designed this piece of art for a school activity, chalk it up. Each class gets a box (or two or three) to fill with chalk, so this year my class decided to elect two designs made by the students in the class. My design was chosen (yay!) and I became the proud leader of one of our chalk designs. Here is what you need:

                    paper                                                     pencil
                    lots and lots of chalk                            clean sidewalk or asphalt
                    spray bottle                                           hands (lots of these)
                    your own creativity

The first thing to do before any drawing project is sketch out whatever you want to draw. (See my sketch at the bottom of the blog.) Inspiration can be found pretty much wherever you look. The classes at my school were told to do a garden/flower themed design because of the garden tour, a fundraiser in which people pay to tour decorated gardens near the school. However, if your job is to create a technology themed masterpiece, look around. Maybe your boring white computer mouse would look good as an outrageous rainbow creation. Anyway, once you have perfected your design, use chalk to outline your flower or computer mouse or whatever, then start filling it in with color. To avoid having your colors looking rough and, well, chalky, rub them in with your fingers and spray it with water from the spray bottle. This makes it last longer and look vibrant and beautiful. When you are done, don't forget to sign it!

Other Ideas
It is a good idea to experiment with different materials in this project. I suggest investing in good, vibrant chalk. Yes, yes, it is more expensive, but you will be much happier with your finished creation if you buy it. Also, there are special types of paint that can be used to create art that is just like chalk, except it lasts way longer. My class used blue paint one year for chalk it up, and there was a large blue rectangle on the blacktop for about a year! But use whatever works best for you, because you are the artist!

P.S. I always love hearing (reading, actually) your feedback, so leave a comment if you liked this post!

This is the other sixth grade class's design, by Ahmed Zaman.

Here is my first sketch. Chalk is so much brighter than colored pencil!