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LAS CRUCES - A blue manta ray hovers over the intersection of Main Street and Griggs Avenue, its giant fin partially concealing the utilities manhole cover and the cracks surrounding it.
The blue ray is playing cards with a crab.
Little children respond to the giant chalk art painting as if it is real.
"The cards must have fallen out of a boat," one little girl says to the mother.
Older children look on in awe as artist Bob Diven adds the detail and shading that makes "Blu Ray Player" look realistic and three-dimensional.
Abby Hooley, 8, asks Diven if he is the same person as Ratcatcher Robert, the rat-flinging catapulter from the Renaissance ArtsFaire. He says that he is.
Looking at the chalk art, Hooley said, "It will tell you what a ray might actually look like."
Ulisses Cordoba, 10, said he liked the way everything in the painting is real and 3-D.
"I hope I will be able to draw that way," he said.
Only a few people actually notice that the manhole cover and the cracks around it are not real.
"I like to put in detail that rewards the careful viewer," Diven said. One of his favorite moments, he said, is when people do a double-take and realize even the cracks in the street are not real.
Diven, 51, is a Las Cruces artist and performer who recently began doing chalk art on the pavement at the intersection of Griggs and Main on Saturdays. He is, technically, a vendor at the downtown Farmers and Craft Market - a street performer, to be exact, but
"It's not high art," Diven said. "Sometimes people walk right over it."
Diven uses a combination of street chalk, hard pastels and regular chalk to create 3-D images on the pavement. Recent creations include a giant zipper holding the street together; a dinosaur peeking out from a (painted) crack in the road to sneak a piece of pumpkin pie; and tendrils from a giant vine growing out from the street's actual manhole cover. One time, he "lifted" a section of pavement in order to show a river running underneath the road and the creatures that swim in it.
The chunk of pavement looked so dangerous, in fact, that he felt obligated to write next to it in chalk, "This is a drawing, too!"
Diven produces the 3-D effect using a technique called trompe l'oeil, French for "trick of the eye," he said. Combining light and shadows in certain ways makes flat drawings appear to be three-dimensional, he said.
Diven said he usually starts working on an image around 9 a.m. on Saturday. He said he starts with a basic idea in mind and tries to have it finished within two hours. After that, he begins embellishing. The dinosaur who poked his head out of the street eventually had a little bib and a spatula to go with his pumpkin pie, Diven said.
Diven said there's a kind of "ballet" to the rhythm of the day as he creates his chalk images. At times, he works alone. Some people watch him for a moment and keep going, whereas others, usually children, stay and talk with him.
"A lot of people just don't see it happening, but kids do," he said. "It's amazing how many people don't look down when they walk."
Diven began doing chalk art during the Farmers Market on September 11. He had previously tried setting up a booth to sell CDs and also playing guitar on the street, neither of which really worked for him, he said. But chalk painting is a perfect blend of art and performance, he said.
"It's very relaxed," he said. "People come and go. I like the vibe."
If they enjoyed their time, they might put a tip in the hat that he leaves on the street, he said.
"It's direct and democratic," he said.
Diven said he first did chalk art in Denver in 2003. His painting of a cowgirl surrounded by pieces of pizza and other whimsical images won two prizes, one for best original design and one for best in show. The festival he was part of has since been named the Denver Chalk Art Festival.
Diven said the process of making a chalk painting is like "doing a giant Etch-a-Sketch," referring to the classic toy that erases all the images one creates.
Diven said he particularly enjoys talking about what he is doing with young artists, the children who actually stop to watch what he is doing.
"Creating art is my job," he said. "This is what I do for a living."
This year Diven said he is celebrating 30 years of making his living as a professional visual artist.
Speeded-up videos that show Diven creating his chalk art images have been posted on YouTube.
His chalk paintings eventually are blown away by the wind, worn away by car tires, or washed away by the rain.
"It's an existential slice of life," he said. "It's here and then it's gone."
Jeff Barnet is a reporter for the Sun-News' Multimedia Targeted Division. He can be reached at (575) 541-5476.
If you go
•What: Bob Diven street chalk art painting.
•When, where: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays at the Las Cruces Farmers and Crafts Market, intersection of Griggs Avenue and Main Street.
On the Web
•Website for Bob Diven: www.bobdiven.com
•Videos of Bob Diven's street art on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFCfj1RNddA
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVNufIm_XyE
