November 13th, 2017

It would appear that Tim was trying to push me off a cliff here right?  Not even close.  First of all, not a cliff.  It's an interactive chalk art painting and second of all, we were play acting, just hamming it up for the photo!

Yes another Chalk Festival was in town and yes we went to admire another year of chalk art.  It's different every time y'see.  And this year we got to take our guests!  We had two of our favourite people visiting for a few days and we did loads of fun things.  But today it's all about the Chalk.

​In my own personal history, I associate chalk with school.  Now mostly, I loved school. A big reader with a voracious appetite for information, almost every part of school was my cuppa tea.  Not the being called on part, I hated that.  As a child I was so miserably shy that being called on in class was tantamount of having my fingernails pulled out with pliers.  And of course, there was my arch nemesis, math.  I can still hear the squeak of the chalk on the blackboard as the teacher wrote out a math problem.  I remember breaking out into a sweat when she called me forward to solve the problem.  The dusty musty smell of the chalk, standing so close to the board, the feel of that smooth little cylinder of chalk in my hand as I rolled it back and forth, trying to not cry as I stood there not knowing the answer.    Horrible associations with chalk.  

​But now that I have a few chalk festivals under my belt, it's all changed.  Now it's just the most amazing thing ever.  The fact that it can be interactive art is an enticement certainly.  Usually in museums you cannot even stand close to the artworks without a guard nudging you back.  Some of these pieces are not only touchable, but walkintoable.  Not a word but you know what I mean.  I also love that the artists are right there.  Not only watched them working, but struck up conversations with them.  They are passionate about what they do, as well they should be.

​We saw vertical chalk art, horizontal chalk art and chalk art on the grass.   Some of it was intended to be seen from above, some from a specific vantage point, others through a lens, some just from any direction at all.  There was chalk paint, aerosols and those little pastels that nearly look edible.  Pots of water,  rags and brushes of all shapes and sizes.  And I love it all.

​It's the faces that I admire the most. The results are magical to me.  It's the only explanation I can come up with.  They are wizards and it is all done through magic.  Here is some of the best of what we saw:

And I'll go again too!