Last Friday Night Date Night

I've been wanting to go to a sidewalk chalk art show for a really long time. When I saw billboards advertising a Chalk Art Festivals to raise money for kids in Foster Care...w00t!
I put the event at the top of my "things to do" list.

It was held at the really wonderful Gateway Mall, which is a great place to visit anytime anyway.
I convinced Bernie to make the event our Friday Night Date Night Date.

We arrived shortly after the artists got started. Each artist/group of artists paid a $1,000 entry fee, usually sponsored by a company or some other organization.

Sweet, and not even finished yet.

Doing a chalk drawing on concrete sounded fun to me until I watched the artists for a while. It is not easy to sit on concrete or kneel on concrete for long periods of time.

Some of the artists were blending their chalk work with their fingertips. I wondered how raw their fingers would be by the time their drawings were done.

Yes...artists suffering for their art!

(Naturally we ate. Do Bernie and Jill ever go anywhere together and not stop for something to eat? Noooo! In this case: Crab cake salad. Yum! I guess I was still on a Southern food kick!)

By the time we finished dinner Peter Pan's picture had progressed nicely.

Some of the artwork was so lifelike! Each artist seemed to have their own plan: some started in the middle and worked their way out.

Others worked top to bottom with an artist working on each side.

Most of them were working from a print.

Lots of them drew a grid and filled in each grid to match the grid of the picture they were using.

A few "famous" artists were given larger spaces and had their work chained off. The event lasted two days with judging at the end. It irked me a bit that I wouldn't be able to see the completed art...even though the mall is just 20 minutes from home!

Since we were in the mall...a bit of window shopping was in order.
OK ladies: tell the truth: Is this dress a thumbs up or thumbs down?
My high school home ec. sewing teacher would have had a stroke if I had turned in something like this. Is it possible that sewing has become a lost art and such raw stitching is the best that can be expected now days? Or is this an excellent example of cutting edge (HA! pun intended!) punk/steam punk/indie couture?
(I'm wearing a dress that I sewed as I type this. If I were to take it off and turn it inside out...it could look close to this. Wonder if I should try wearing it like that at work?)

I'm still gritting my teeth to hold back from buying these two framed magazine covers.
I"m thinking the floral hat is a Sally Victor...

Bernie did some shopping too...at the sporting good store.

Yes, it doesn't take much for us to have fun on a Friday night.

Best of all, we were able to support a good cause too.

Be on the look out; there may be a similar fund raiser coming to your area soon!