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!
:-)
They are stunning! I wish I could have been there
ReplyDeleteI love all of these but the owl one is my favorite!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun to walk along and view all the art..and some are such young artists!! It is great to see:)
ReplyDeleteOh, these are wonderful...! I love the rooster. I had not heard of this festival until now.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!!! Love the rooster, too.
ReplyDeleteIf Honolulu had such a festival, it would have to be done on Fort St. Mall, which is restricted to pedestrians and no vehicles. However, the artists would have to do their work in the early morning because it would be too hot later in the day.
I love chalk art, I wish our city did similar festivals. It takes a lot of talent to do drawings like the ones in your photos. I really like the third one down with the woven look.
ReplyDeleteThose are nice chalk arts DJ, and my favorite and caught my attention is the maze it looks like a carpet, that you wouldn't dare to step on it, the design is very original.
ReplyDeleteIf you have more pics I would like to see them.
ReplyDeleteThey used to do that in San Diego and it was held in Little Italy area and they were awesome. The 13 year old is so talented.
Beautiful drawings and such vibrant colours too. I can imagine you walking around taking pictures and not knowing which ones you liked the best. Thank you for sharing. I love street art of all kinds and that is some of the best.
ReplyDeleteBlessings, Star
What a neat thing to do, lov'n it, the photos are great, colors all came out perfect!
ReplyDeleteCan't resist, ya know know what came up on the security verification thing on my last comment,,,,, POT DUNG, Hmmmmm!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my, those are beautiful, and I too enjoy the rich colors. I vote for the rooster.
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful!! What a great community event...we should do something like that here to encourage young artists.
ReplyDeleteI love the owl! It's beautiful with the purple and blue surrounding it. Bellingham sounds like a great place to live. We've had a few arts festivals here too...but the weather kept a lot of people from attending. Hope you're enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteI hollering for Hannah as I write! These are amazing and so intensely colorful!!! I'm with you....voting for the rooster and the maze. What talent!!!
ReplyDeletethese are amazing..we used to have a contest in college each year...all of the sidewalks would be covered and it was always fascinating what artists could do witht he chalk...i think the first one is my fav actually...
ReplyDeleteThat Celtic knot and the Tiger are great. I hope they won some decent prize for all that chalk.
ReplyDeleteI have been sitting in front of my computer writing a long post (too long!) and you make me feel like I need to get out again (I have not been out much since California.) You are so energetic – walking the market, flying out of aircraft, hiking in high sierras then going to a chalk festival! The chalk arts you selected are so beautiful – it is hard to choose a favorite. Thanks for coming to my blog and writing such a kind comment.
ReplyDeleteThat was Mt Baker - ala my daughter Aria - thanks for posting - can't wait to tell her she's famous :)
ReplyDeleteOh what a lovely, colourful post. I love the owl with the fish best, but that knot and the rooster are particularly fine too. All show great talent. Thank you for sharing these.
ReplyDeleteI remember your post on this last year. I love chalk pictures. I play with sidewalk chalk with the kids, but my stuff never looks like this:)
ReplyDeletethese are fabulous!
ReplyDelete