Kansas City Chalk & Walk, September 6-7, 2014

We were invited to attend the Kansas City Chalk Walk in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Having friends in the area and having never been to Kansas City, we decided to accept the invitation. We met some of the most wonderful people and really enjoyed our time in both Kansas and Missouri.

Safety First! Always wear a helmet when chalking in Kansas City!

The surface that we were working on was unusual: polished concrete (it's an ice rink in winter). The surface is hard and extremely smooth. Without some sort of preparation the surface would not accept chalk, and painting would be next to impossible. Our usual coating of choice, tempera paint, was not an option because the property managers feared it would leave a stain. Cheryl, working with Jennifer Chaparro, devised an odd mixture of lemon lime soda-pop, salt, and flour as a surface prep. The sugary soda stuck to the concrete, the salt added texture, and the flour eliminated the excess stickiness. Overall, as a surface treatment the mixture was not perfect, but it did the job. More research is needed!

Helmet number two. Big helmet: almost four feet tall.

Emily is looking a little fuzzy.

If you pinch her nose, she won't sneeze.

Emily is completed and scoots away. Bryce rides topless.

The top-down view shows how big Bryce's head really is.

Working on scooter number three.

Cheryl giving Bryce directions. Or possibly, Bryce giving directions to Cheryl.

They asked us if we needed anything and we said "Dancing Girls."

And they brought us the Ballet!

Emily helps us lay out the path.

And she helps us lay in the grass.

Cheryl realizes that the poppies look like the wallpaper in the house she grew up in.

Wayne and Emily plant the last little bits of grass.

The top down view showing the full distortion of the image.

Almost done!

No matter what angle you look, the painted Emily is always looking at you.

We changed the brand name of Kai's banana-colored helmet from "Bell" to "Dole." His helmet is approximately six feet tall.

Bryce's mom told us that this is the "Spiderman" hand position.

A field of poppies.

And the final image. Emily poses with us and her mini-me on wheels.

I knew that we forgot to bring something...scooters!

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