Art
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From sidewalk painting to charcoal portaits, busker artists display their talent as they create their art. Unusually talented and sometimes gifted, they're likely to appear at art festivals, buskerfests, and country fairs when not performing in their daily nitch they've most likely found.

Let's examine in detail the inner workings of this kind of busker that is taking art outdoors...and into the real world.

A most relaxing and casual approach is had by several artists. Some artists simply paint on an unrolled canvas...or even an actual sidewalk, itself. Others artists prefer to bring an easel and lawn chair to their favorite place, read the paper, and sip coffee until a customer arrives.

Watercolor, pen and ink, and even pencil can present a masterful medium in portraiture. The artist must spend serious time exercising care and patience to insure exact likenesses. These sittings can last hours depending on the amount of people to be rendered but for individuals, they can last around ninety minutes.

Caricature artists employ squeaky magic markers and can have an interesting agenda. They seemingly take your worst features and exaggerate them to absurd yet very recognizable proportions. The result is a unique perceptual abstraction within 10 minutes.

Face painting is an ancient medium enjoyed by children as well as adults. Many a face has been painted in the likeness of tigers, clowns, mimes, and everything else. Using water-based paints, the "canvas" is human skin and the art becomes mobile until washed off. Depending on the request, some artists start with the legs then work their way up finishing with a glorious painted mask.

In some places, heat and sun actually make shade a necessity. Going to work with shorts, flip-flops, a beach umbrella, and a tan has it's obvious advantages especially in the dead of winter. Sunglasses and marguiritas are optional.

Of course when it rains, the beautiful sidewalk art is washed away. All bets are off and the artists are forced to relinquish their talents until the weather clears allowing tourists and shoppers to, once again, grace their "pitch".

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