2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival - Day 1 - Saturday Pt 2 - 2022/06/18

It's Saturday and the 2022 Pasadena Chalk Festival is in full swing! Artists are doing their best to get their chalk down on the ground before tomorrow's judging! 

And we've got visitors! Even though Jacob lives all the way out in Palm Springs (2 hours away on a good day!) he still came out to see us! He's been coming with us to the chalk festival since 2011 and I'm so glad he was able to make it out here to see us! Unfortunately he stopped by while we were at lunch! 

He wandered around the festival until he saw us back from lunch and working again. Over in Animation Alley there's an upper level, which gives a great view to the alley down below. 

And here come even more visitors! Theresa, Alli, Ian, and Rita all drove up from Anaheim to see us too! It's been so long since they've seen Uncle Ruston! 

Ian has been asking and asking how old you have to be to participate in the Pasadena Chalk Festival. I don't know how old you have to be to do it yourself, but you can help Ruston and I out! We are moving on to the red ring that goes around the logo and could really use some help filling that in. I sectioned off a portion of the ring for each of them (making sure they didn't color into the lettering). 

I love how the red color "pops"! They both did a good job getting a good layer of color down, then blending it in. 

Oh yeah! That's how you know you're an artist. 

We've all got a little bit of extra red on us. 

With so many aspiring artists who visit the chalk festival, I love that the chalk festival has a Kids Section! This year instead of just having chalk and coloring pages for the kids, a local company Bazic Products is sponsoring the Kidz Land and it looks fantastic! 

There's a challenge where the kids collect stamps from multiple art stations to earn prizes. Things like playing cornhole. 

Drawing on the chalkboards. Alli picked the 5 emotions from the Pixar movie Inside-Out. Oh yes, I see Joy for sure. And Sadness is crying beside her. Anger is a fiery red. 

Ian is drawing a meadow scene with kids and balloons. 

Alli working on folding paper to make origami. 

Once they completed everything, they turned it in to collect their prizes. Glitter glue, erasers, stickers, and more. Thank you Bazic for making such a fun and entertaining Kidz Land this year!

Well I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get hungry. 

For years our traditional dinner was the Islands burgers just at the top of these stairs. Sadly they were one of the restaurants in this mall that didn't make it. Our PF Changs back-up wasn't available either. 

So instead we walked just a couple blocks away to the California Pizza Kitchen. 

Where we all tucked in to a tasty meal after a long day. 

I must have drank 5 of those raspberry lemonades. I went with a Carne Asada Pizza. Not bad, but I think I could do it better. 

It was great to be with old friends again, all hanging out and enjoying being with each other. 

One more group picture before they take off. 

Thanks for coming out to see us! Have a safe drive back home! 

There's lots of different photographers out here with lots of gear, trying to capture interesting shots of the festival. I especially liked this video that one such person airdropped to Ruston. If anyone knows the artist who made it, I would love to link them here. 

Ruston and I have been working on and off on this for most of the day. Honestly we could have finished it today, but figured we should leave a bit for tomorrow. 

Let's so see what some of the other artists are working on and how they are coming along!

Number 5 is ALIVE! (Almost. We'll check back in tomorrow.)

Beky Bell's original artwork is looking fantastic. I'm excited to see how it looks tomorrow! 

It's Bianca! She's amazing! Her artwork from a previous year is being used all over the festival, as banners and signage for the event. We chatted a couple days ago at the Artist Party and she said she didn't know what she was going to create this year. She'd decide what she'd make whenever inspiration struck. 

Kayla Garcia always does amazing work. Her artwork from previous years has won Best in Festival and her Boba Fett is looking great this year. She does such a good job with the shading and blending, but I don't know if there's more chalk on the pavement or on her! 

Beautiful!

By 8:30pm it was time for us to wrap things up and call it a night. Tonight this mural is getting protected much better than last night. We covered it with plastic painter's tarp, taped all around it, put down cones everywhere we could think to, and used the Paseo signage to block things off. If anything happens overnight it would definitely have to be deliberate! 

Ouch my poor fingertips. Rubbing all that chalk into the pavement has really made them sore. The hot water from the shower had them stinging! And I've apparently sanded off my fingerprints! None of my fingerprint scanners that unlock my phones or computers are working! Well, just one more day to go! 

And remember that picture I mentioned earlier that Kat took of us on the way to wash our hands? Look what showed up on the Pasadena Chalk Festival Instagram!