Now's the perfect season to break out chalk and draw on the pavement, and there are many people who do this at this time of the year. Though it's usual to assume that this type of activity is reserved for children, and it's common to see simple drawings done by them, there are people like Cuong Nguyen who take it to another level. The artist, who's a portraitist by profession, participates in various street festivals where he can hone his skills on an unusual medium.
Here's what the artist had to say about himself: "“In Vietnam, I was trained to be a portraitist since I was 10 years old. When I was a kid, I spent most of my time drawing. I started going to art class when I was 10 and at 14, I was able to earn money painting portraits of people. After high school, I was accepted into the Saigon Art Academy."
He also shared the circumstances which pulled him in into this type of art: "I had seen street paintings in San Francisco before, but it was in 2001 that a friend of mine from work, Sara Modercai, who is also a mural artist, encouraged me to try a small street painting in San Rafael, CA, at her annual festival of street painting. I did it and since then, I haven't stopped.”
