If there’s one thing chalk artists universally dread, it’s the wind. Sure, we’re used to working outdoors and adapting to all kinds of weather conditions, but wind? It brings a whole new level of challenges. Here are a few reasons why wind can be a chalk artist’s worst enemy—along with a reminder of why we keep pushing through anyway.
1. Covering and Uncovering Your Art Becomes a Battle
When chalk art needs to be protected overnight, we carefully cover our work with plastic sheeting or tarps. Normally, we can remove it slowly, rolling it up to ensure nothing disturbs the artwork underneath. But on a windy day? The plastic takes on a life of its own, blowing in every direction and even taking flight if you're not careful. You definitely need help to keep everything grounded!
The same goes for covering up the art in the first place. You need weights—lots of them—or a few extra hands to hold things down while you scramble to tape the tarp in place. It’s a chaotic scene, and sometimes the wind wins.
2. Wind Eats Away at Your Chalk (and Your Details)
One of the most frustrating things about wind is how it impacts the chalk itself. Chalk doesn’t stay on the ground as well when its windy, especially areas intended to have more texture since the chalk isn’t rubbed into the ground as much to create that (rather, it usually sits on top of other layers of chalk). Thus, you lose a lot of the detail, texture, and depth that makes your piece pop. As an artist who loves realism, this is a big hit. Those fine textures and highlights that really make the art pop are gone with the wind—literally.
Additionally, you lose more chalk overall. It’s blown away before it even has a chance to settle on the pavement, which means a lot of reworking to get the colors as vibrant as you want them to be.
3. Working Faster for Less Progress
On windy days, you must work twice as fast to make half the progress. The wind slows you down, whether it’s blowing dust around or making it harder to lay down your chalk in the first place. As chalk artists, we’re always on a time limit – whether it’s a commission or for a festival, so you’re racing against time and the elements.
Why We Keep Going (Even When the Wind Won’t Stop)
Despite the struggles, this is what chalk art is all about: working with what you’ve got, no matter what weather conditions you’re dealing with. Chalk artists learn to adapt. The wind might slow us down or make things harder, but it’s all part of the process. You have to create something from nothing, no matter what external elements are working against you.
At the end of the day, that’s what makes chalk art both challenging and rewarding. You never know what kind of weather you’ll face, but you keep pushing forward and find a way to finish your piece, wind or no wind. It’s all part of the process!
For more, here are some videos I've created to highlight this below.
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