Friday 15 September 2017

The People's Winner

Six years after the Bold Street International Pavement Art Festival, Urban Canvas have pulled off another great success with 'Chalk It Up', in Crewe town centre (Cheshire, England) on 26th / 27th August, 2017. There were 22 'screevers' who took part over the 2 days. The represented nations were USA, Mexico, France, Holland, and the UK.

Adry del Rocio is one of four Mexicans who took part in the 'Chalk it Up' pavement art festival. She chose to chalk up a 'selfie'. The public made her work their favourite and she was awarded the Peoples Prize.





Tuesday 12 September 2017

An Eastern Beauty

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

Carlos Alberto Garcia Hernandez (Mexico) chose to reproduce the work of a little known English portrait painter, with 'An Eastern Beauty'. The original was painted circa 1900 by William Clarke Wontner. The detail and quality of Carlos' work was astonishing. This work was voted runner up in the Copy Art category.







Monday 11 September 2017

Local Heroine

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

Philip Garrett is a Liverpool artist. For his subject matter at 'Chalk it Up' he chose to pay tribute to Ada Nield Chew - a leader of the women's suffrage movement who worked in Crewe. Philip was awarded Best Newcomer (jointly with Alex Hobby) for his large artwork.






Friday 8 September 2017

The Calling of Saint Matthew

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017
 
Omar Saenz (Monterey, Mexico) reproduced a detail from a Caravaggio masterpiece - The Calling of Saint Matthew. I was surprised that Omar used no underpaint and that the paving stones which he was working on were slightly rougher than some. To have achieved a result of this quality was amazing. For me, this was the deserving winner of the 'Copy Art' category.









Thursday 7 September 2017

The Lady of the Lake

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017
 
Ruben Poncia is from Utrecht, Holland. His anamorphic art was called 'The Lady of the Lake' and was created to be viewed through a large lens mounted on a tripod. His work won two prizes. It was voted best original art by the judges, and was runner-up in the public vote. If there had been a category for 'best donation hat' he would have won that too with his miniature self-portrait!

early stages - day 1
finishing touches - day 2


through the lens

cheers

Wednesday 6 September 2017

Civil War

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

Christine Edwards (Crewe) won 1st Prize for Best Copy Art in the Bold Street pavement art festival (2011) - click here to see her winning entry

This year she tackled something totally different. The work she produced was stunning. My problem with awarding prizes for art is that there are always more entries deserving to win than there are prizes. This work of Christine's must surely have come close to winning! I've called it 'Civil War' because of the caption written underneath - a lyric from a Guns N' Roses song of that name (a really powerful song - have a listen).





Monday 4 September 2017

Never Forget Your First Love

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

Keith Fearon is the Liverpool artist who's amazing 'Emma was Warned About Teasing' won the People's Choice award at the last Bold Street pavement art festival (2011). click HERE to see that
Here at Crewe, Keith has chosen to honour the town with his version of a Norman Rockwell painting, 'The Tattooist' (1944), which was one of the many illustrations he produced for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. The tattooist is adding the sailor's latest girlfriend's name to a crossed-out list of former conquests. Keith has amended this to read a list of favourite railway stations starting and ending with Crewe. It is called 'Never Forget Your First Love'.

 




FLORIDA FRIGHT

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

Jennifer Chaparro, from Florida, created an impressive anamorphic artwork of a gnome eating dinosaur-like creature. Notice how the work is designed to be seen from one specific viewpoint (see the first image below) . It must be so difficult to work on something that is deliberately distorted!




Three Dimensional Chalking

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

Today's exhibits are both anamorphic - designed to look 3D when viewed from one particular spot.


R2-D2 in 3D (Dean Tweedy - Borth, Wales)

the resourceful astromech droid being recreated by Dean Tweedy


Anthony Cappetto's amazing technicolor dreamfish
Detail of the 3D fish - Anthony Cappetto (New York)
Anthony with his catch

Sunday 3 September 2017

Mexican Monsters

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

Two more pieces of pavement art - this time both somewhat frightening monsters from Mexico.

Cesar Pollock (Mexico) won 2nd Prize in 'Original Art' category with this strange creation

Cesar at work - day 1


The Pharisee of Sonora (Vincente Rios Zarazua - Mexico)
Day 1 and the Pharisee emerges
some Pharisee info

The Royal Collection

CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

A young Queen and her daughter in law are the subjects of today's post. I wondered if there was a 'Royalty' category, but apparently not. Diana is very topical this year because of the 20th anniversary of her death. The Queen is always topical - and rightly so!

John Bully (Southend-onSea) created the young Elizabeth, and Jean Marc Navello (Toulon, France) gave us Princess Diana.





Friday 1 September 2017

CHALK IT UP - Crewe - 4 more screevers


CHALK IT UP (Crewe) 2017

This, my 2nd post of the Crewe event, shows the work of another 4 artists. Futher posts will follow very shortly.


Ghislaine Monte came over from Holland. Do you recognise this actress in her picture?
of course .... it's Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones)

Mark Sheeky is a local artist. This was his debut as a 'screever'.
Infinity - Mark Sheeky

Hannah Bold (St. Helens, England)
Crewe is a railway town. Hannah has created her version of a Crewe -built steam locomotive.





 
David Jewkes is a Crewe artist.

David Jewkes - Carousel