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Monday, July 6, 2015

Pasadena Chalk Festival Day 2 - Silent Auction and Chalk Winners - Sunday part 3

Every artist was asked to provide a 1'x1' painted canvas for the Light Bringer Project to auction off. Saturday was a busy day for it, but with the auction ending on Sunday at 6pm, most of the bidding happened then.
Because there was only so much space on the tables, and not enough space for all 200 canvases, the organizers took the paintings that had received a bid on Saturday and placed them on the outer tables where they'd get the most traffic. Canvases that didn't get any bids were placed together in a box that people could go through if they wished, but were mostly unseen.

Luckily mine had received a bid on the first day and was on an outer table. Time is just about up, it's way past the minimum $35 bid and would ultimately be sold for $65!

Here's just a few of my favorites.
Robin Williams went for $260.

I like the colors of Crush, Squirt, Marlin and Dory.

Roger, Mickey, Donald and Goofy, all looking out over the Pasadena City Hall.

An impressive Darth Vader sold for $105.

This looks to be an original creation. I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking at, but someone put a bid in for it.

There was quite the bidding war going on for the Freeway Lady painting. One person would bid, put down the pen, then the next person would up the bid again. In the end, I think it was a sob story about a personal connection to the Freeway Lady that ended the back and forth bidding.

Moe Notsu, whose chalk mural is a patchwork of famous faces, has a painting that is also a patchwork. Picasso, Andy Warhol, Monet, and Jean-Michel Basquiat went for $360.

Shuji Nishimura can blend and shade like few can. This photo realistic painting of Picasso was the winner for the Best of Silent Auction, going for $500!

Who ended up with that original art creation? Ruston won it for $35! He paid as soon as bidding ended and we left for animation alley to get a picture with the chalk counterpart.

The Spread the Love mural turned out well. Front and center are Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly. Just behind them we can see a Spoon and Fork got together and made a Spork. Right beside them is a Picnic Basket and Thermos. Up top there's Bread and Butter (the sun). Ketchup and Mustard are hugging it out beside a grill. I still can't figure out the couple on the left side though. Any thoughts?

Down the Well by new artist Nat Rungseriruch.

The winner of Best in Animation Alley was this Creature Campout by Jen Swain.

Remember back on day 1 when we ran into that artist who is a 17 year veteran of the festival. He wasn't too happy to hear that we'd be crushing our chalk and painting it on. That didn't do anything for our mood at the time. Well, we found his entry this year. I'm just going to show the picture and leave it at that.

Among a few of the murals meant to be inspirational, this rainbow infinity symbol represents the Autism Rights Movement.

On the 2nd level, near the Cinemark, murals depicting scenes from movies are featured.
Excited for the upcoming Star Wars movie, this chalk drawing featured red glowsticks for the light saber.

The 1990 Liam Neeson movie Darkman.

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's

Charlotte Scoville took home the prize for Best in Chalk of Fame for her reproduction of the poster from My Fair Lady.

We actually caught up with her a short time later. She really gets into her work. Chalk just gets everywhere!


There were a few murals up here that looked like they were going to be left unfinished.

Back down to the lower level we came across Jared Leto's version of the Joker by Christoosh.



Working in the mask couldn't have been easy for Anonymouse.


A Batman/Superman mashup.

Ruston and I both thought this one was great. Those were real Lego pieces in front of Vader.

The awards ceremony was supposed to start at 7pm, but that time came and went. Ruston and I weren't expecting to win anything, but in talking to a couple other artists, we knew we were going to get a couple votes for various things. There's so many much more talented artists that either of us could ever hope to be, but still, we're both sitting there filled with a nervous excitement.

Finally at 7:50, the results are in.
President of the Light Bringer Project Tom Coston came out to the stage and took the microphone. First he thanked all the many companies who help sponsor this event, all the participants, and especially the volunteers. Alright, let's get this started!
A new category for this year is Best New Artist. All the artists have voted and the winner is...

The Michael Flowers team! Wow!
Ruston and I were both in shock. We shuffled our way onto the stage where we were asked to talk a little about ourselves and what inspired our chalk art. Yikes! Public speaking in front of hundreds of people!
After receiving our prize, we made our way back to our seats, getting congratulated and cheered by so many people, hearing "I voted for you" by a few people, and getting congratulated by Randall Williams, our intro to chalk art instructor from last week. Both of us were so excited to have won we were literally shaking.

The prize for winning Best New Artist? A $25 gift certificate to the Bodega Wine Bar, $20 to the Pasadena Antique Mall, $10 to the Yard House, and a free meal at 50/50 Burger.

You can check out all the other winners on the official Pasadena Chalk Festival page.

What a roller coaster of emotions this weekend has been. From the lows of Saturday morning when things just couldn't go right, to the highs of being recognized by the other artists as Best New Artists!
Ruston and I had an amazing time. Going to be back next year? I think so.


The next day, Ruston came back to check out a few things. I wasn't sure the artist was going to finish  C-3P0 and R2-D2, but they did and it looks awesome.

All the umbrellas and tents are down, but people are still respecting most of the art and not walking all over it.

And there's still people checking out one of our favorites.

Hope you enjoyed this inside look at the 2015 Pasadena Chalk Festival.

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