The first thing we did was to paint a layer of thinned black tempera paint as a base to cover the shells in Lake Worth's asphalt. We learned this year what happens if we make the tempera too thick--it peels up off the street when it dries.
Lake Worth Street Painting Festival, February 25-26, 2012
We returned for our second year to Lake Worth, Florida for their 18th street painting festival. The weather was nearly perfect for street painting--not too hot, not too cold--except for the possibility of rain. It rained for a little bit on Saturday morning, but not enough to affect anyone's painting. The threat literally hanging over us probably helped us stay focused, as all the street painters in our section finished by mid-afternoon.
Our painting this year was based on a play date we had with our godsons, Bryce and Kai, at a local park. The kids and their trucks were darn cute, but we decided we needed more of a story, so we imagined the scene that might happen if Mom happened to fall asleep by the sandbox, leaving her purse within reach.
The first thing we did was to paint a layer of thinned black tempera paint as a base to cover the shells in Lake Worth's asphalt. We learned this year what happens if we make the tempera too thick--it peels up off the street when it dries.
Once we laid down our template, we discovered we'd mismeasured--Kai's head was offset six inches.
Fortunately, the error was easy to correct with a little more tempera paint.
By the time the sun set on Friday night, we had half of the sandbox edge and the top half of Kai's six foot tall head complete.
We arrived on Saturday morning just in time to cover the paintings before the showers began.
When we removed the plastic after the rain abated, we found only a couple of spots where water got in and washed away our template. Unfortunately, one was Bryce's eye, but we managed.
Wayne completed the other sides of the sandbox, and Cheryl finished Kai's face.
A lot of people commented on how large Kai's head was.
After finishing Kai's head, Cheryl moved on to Bryce's.
After finishing the faces, Cheryl started working on hands while Wayne worked from the feet up on Kai.
Kai sticks his tongue out in concentration.
We added the car keys Kai is holding.
By around 5:30, all of the skin tones were done, and Kai was finished.
By then, the painting was looking pretty good, and barring poor weather, we were sure we'd be able to finish in time.
One hears about having a palate cleanser between courses in a meal; Cheryl was a palette cleanser as she switched from skin tones to other subjects.
Just to prove that Kai isn't the only kid with a big head--Bryce's isn't quite as tall, but it's still pretty stretched.
Cheryl was worried that it would rain overnight, so they covered the painting just in case. The bike racks kept the plastic from blowing off if the wind came up.
It appears that Cheryl got some help in painting the iPhone.
A couple of our friends were painting dragons bursting from the street at the festival, so we thought we'd show where they were bursting from--our sandbox.
By late morning, the dragon, pail, sunglasses and truck were done, and Cheryl was starting on the purse hanging over the edge of the sandbox.
The purse is done, but not all of its spilled contents, and Wayne has begun filling in the sand.
The view from the top.
The painting is almost done, and it's only three o'clock!
Wayne and Cheryl pose with the nearly-complete painting.
All done! We thought we'd try digging with our cellphones.
The lower right corner had an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini bra along with the sunglasses and pail.
Car keys and cell phone...plenty of buried treasure!
Dragons diving into the sand.
The purse and all of its contents spilling over the edge.
Bryce's head and shoulders.
The finished painting.
By Monday morning, car wheels and a morning rain shower had done a lot to obliterate the painting, but Kai still peeked through.
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