The last blog was told in pictures because I was too tired to write after hiking up Sauk Mountain. Today was more my speed - we attended two separate festivals. Festivals up here are like the spring festivals in Texas. The weather stays so mild in the summer (yes, I'm rubbing it in), that it's a joy to be outside - thus, festivals.
The first fesitval we attended today was the 18th Annual Chalkfest in Bellingham. Here's the premise: Anybody who wants to buy a square of sidewalk can create a picture using only chalk. You can refine it with your fingers and with water and you can use brushes, sponges, etc. - but you can only use chalk as your medium. You can be any age. A square of sidewalk costs $25 for adults and $15 for kids. To put on this festival, the city of Bellingham closes about 3 city blocks of their main downtown street to cars. The chalk pictures are drawn on the sidewalks along the main street as well as they shoot off onto the sidewalks of side streets. The pictures are no closer than 20 feet or so apart, unless it's a family project - then kids (whose squares are slightly smaller) draw closer to their adult supervisor/participants.
I'm sending the pictures out under a separate email, and you can either look at the pictures first and then read the blog or viceversa. (I think I'd look at the pix first. because the blog refers to them.) Stop reading now, and open up the pictures and look at them, then come back to the blog.
The first thing I noticed was the method of chalk application. The sidewalks were not the smooth as glass concrete we are used to in Texas. Instead, think of a concrete that has stuff embedded into it - in Oklahoma, it would be chunks of rocks - here it's bits of crushed shell. It's not pebbly, exactly, but it's not smooth either - it's pitted. Amazingly, lots of people - who must have the toughest fingertips in the universe - applied their chalk without the benefit of gloves. Application was interesting. Some people put down a heavy layer of chalk which almost seemed to stand on the concrete, and then sprayed it with water and smeared the resulting chalk paste into the concrete by smoothing it over and over with their fingers. This is a tricky application method since one small mistake is a disaster - if you slop the color over after you've wetted it down - well, you can't fix it. I thought the smartest people were the ones who were using gloves - some of which had pads built into the fingers, and knee pads. Oh, yes, everyone over the age of 20 had pads for their knees. The really experienced artists had special chalk, spray bottles, multiple pairs of gloves, knee pads that fitted onto their knees as well as pads to kneel on, AND a lawn chair to rest in.
This festival has two streams of participants - first group is about 50 artists 'invited' to participate. Everyone else was just Joe Blow (that's Okie talk for regular people). There was a certain skill level difference which is obvious from the pictures. Intriguingly, there were lots of people my age and older who were having the time of their lives creating their square. I talked for awhile to the "Hamster Farm" lady - that's actually her name (Hamster), and she laughed when I asked her if she raised hamsters. She's actually a beef rancher and sells organic beef from her farm in Ferndale. She was very proud of "creating the place I live and love". Her picture made me fleetingly think that perhaps she lives in the countryside around ToonTown - see the movie Roger Rabbit - to understand this reference.
I think my favorite contestants other than the hamster farm lady was the little girl who was about 3 years old drawing herself. Her picture is the stick figure who has a belly button. What isn't shown in that picture is her mom standing beside her encouraging her but not telling her what to do or draw. The kicker to the picture is that beside mom is the brand new (less than 6 weeks old) baby brother/sister in the pram - still too little for a stroller. I also liked the 'rooster' lady. When I asked her how she decided what to draw, she said it came to her just as she knelt down to begin. She confided that birds made her happy. The picture certainly shows it, doesn't it? From an artistic point of view, I think my favorite picture was the shockingly colored skyline of skyscrapers. Drake's favorite was the abstract guitar - done by a 20 something artist while her sister, using a serious camera, continually snapped pictures of her creating her square. Their two beaming parents were happily watching both of them.
This was a different kind of festival. There was an air of artistic achievement and gratification that is missing when you attend a traditional art show. There's a commercial element in the traditional show which isn't bad, but the joy of creation isn't necessarily witnessed. That's it exactly - as a patron of this festival, we got to witness the joy of creation by the artists. That kind of excitement just thrums in the air. The artists (pro and amatuer alike) were just thrilled when I asked if I could photograph their squares, and every one of them was eager to engage in any conversation I initiated. Many of them have participated for years. It was obviously a summer highlight for them individually and for this city. It was just crowded enough to be fun without being a crush.
The center of the street of chalk art was the traditional outdoor art festival. We saw some really excellent affordable art. We are now on the hunt for a new piece that will represent this adventure in the northwest. We found a potter today that had a really whimsical touch - creating pottery with elements from nature - both subtle and direct (like a covered pot that looks exactly like a turtle), and I'm wondering if I should have bought one of her pieces. We also saw a photographer whose photographs transcended the usual sky/water/tree/building type of work. I didn't inquire about the one I really, really wanted - I'm sure it was too expensive. I am ordering a handcarved magnet in wood from another artist since she sold the one I really, really liked.
Overall, this was a great festival. If I get to go again, I'm going to do a square myself. Of course, when I'm finished with it, a portable crane will have to be brought in to get me back on my feet! However, moving onward - we weren't finished with this day. Our next festival of the day was called "A Bite of Skagit". Gosh, that sounds like the title to a horror film, doesn't it? Actually, this was several restaurants inside Skagit County donating their food and skill creating "bites" that you could buy for $1 each. All the money collected went to the area food bank. Yes, hunger is a problem here too. Everyone knows how important I think this is, so I wasn't going to miss supporting this effort. It was in downtown Mount Vernon, and was even more local than the Bellingham festival. This was a community effort, and we had the added bonus of learning about the food coop that several famers in the are belong to and that Drake and I can join for $2 a month. The coop is actually a store where you can buy local food. Another bonus was that we got to sample several of the local restaurants and farms (yes, there was a farm selling berry shortcake - and I had TWO helpings - one raspberry and one strawberry - YUM).
The final picture is of our new bikes. I should have mentioned that we started the day with a short bike ride in Burlington. Aren't these cute! I got BOTH bikes for $50. Now, that's a deal. Of course, they are 18 years old and they are 10 speeds, but I think they are really, really excellent. You should see me in my helmet (are you listening, Sarah?). My final word is that I would like some petitioning prayers for my safety. I'm a bit wobbly (understatement), and I'm scared I'm going to fall. However, my fears or not, we are going to be biking the San Juan Islands and Lummi Island in the next week or so.
And, yes, I'm having a wonderful time. This week I've played bridge twice, eaten at 3 new restaurants, found a dozen more that I want to try, gone to two festivals, did a couple of short driving tours, and bought 2 bicycles. Oh, and did I mention that the temperature never hit 80 this week?
