#1
"I became interested in chalk art about 5 years ago. Fort Worth (where I live), started a chalk art festival and I saw a posting on FB asking if anyone wanted to try something new. They had an amateur division with no cost to enter. I signed up and went and met one of the professional chalk artists. He told me to get ready, it is very addictive...and it is!" Jan told Bored Panda.
"After I won in the amateur division, I was invited to the professional division. Last year I participated in three festivals, and my goal was to participate in 6 festivals this year, and in March I was accepted to another festival. But when all of the festivals started getting cancelled or postponed, I was really disappointed," Jen told us. "That’s when I decided to just start using my sidewalk and driveway."
#3
"One Sunday I drew two little pieces, and then my daughter said she wanted to help," the artist told Bored Panda. "I was actually a little tired by that pint, but she found a reference photo she really liked and got everything set up outside, so I sketched everything out and she chalked out half and I did the other half. Then she became as addicted as me."
"I was working from home, and she started going outside a couple of hours before I got off work to get started and began sketching out her own pieces and chalking them, some of those I helped her finish. Now we usually work together by starting out with a sketch that I usually do, and then we divide up what parts of the piece that we will each work on. She definitely pulls her weight and does about half of the piece," Jen explained.
#5
"Neighbors really love our work," Jen told Bored Panda. "We have requests all the time, sometimes I get messages asking what is out there now so that people can walk down and look, and even our FedEx delivery driver said that he looks forward to driving down our street to take photos of what is new. Many neighbors have asked to pay us, but we aren’t doing this for money, just to give back. Some have been insistent that they help, and we have received several gifts of pastels to replace our diminishing stock."
"We definitely want to continue this in the future...but probably not quite as often after all of this ends," the artist told us. "I think it will definitely be for holidays and special occasions. My family has often commented that we are more connected with our neighborhood and community now, with social distancing, more than we ever were before.This has also been an experience with my daughter that I will forever be grateful for."
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