Chalk Festival 2010

Every summer, Bellingham's Allied Arts Festival has a chalk festival, with people of all ages drawing their creations on the downtown sidewalks, with the roads closed and lots of booths set up, selling every manner of art. Prizes are awarded in the chalk festival for each age category. Today I walked around taking pictures of them all, many of them in progress. (Click any to enlarge.) The day was overcast, so the colors showed up really well. Last year, the bright sunshine cast shadows on many of them, but not this year. Sometimes cool, cloudy weather can be beneficial.

This lady was just finishing up her rooster, crowing in the brilliant sunshine. I love blue and purple, my favorite colors, and they are set off perfectly by the bright red, green, and orange, don't you think? This is one of my favorites.

The artist and her friends were admiring this intricate maze, which she had just finished. She was covered with chalk dust, from smears on her face right down to her toes. It must be really challenging to work on these without smearing them, and still making the art, which only lasts a few days, as beautiful as you possibly can.

This owl, with stars and fish, attracted me, too. (Looking at it now, I realize it also has my two favorite colors figuring prominently.) This one has the flavor of the area to me, with all the birds, the fish in the beautiful Bellingham bay, and the brilliant stars of summer.

This one also has the flavor of the area, looks like Mt. Baker to me! It was finished by the time I took this picture, but the nine-year-old artist was probably cleaning himself (or herself) up after the effort. It is amazing that these budding artists are so accomplished. And this last one was created by a 13-year-old artist, which to my eye is every bit as good as any of the others.

There are so many others I could show you, but I restrained myself to concentrate on my favorites from this year. There was also one of Snoopy with the message "Peace" on it that I liked, along with many abstract designs, some promoting organic gardening, and so on. This group is a good representation of the talented artists of all ages from my neck of the woods. Enjoy!
:-)