The Chalking of Ghent

Sounds like an old-timey disaster. "The Great Ghent Chalking of 2010. Several died."
But I went there, and it was awesome.

It was interesting to see how the event progressed. I got there a little after it started to find a few isolated pieces like this:



And walked away seeing patches like this:



It was mostly parents with their kids chalking it up, which was cool. Although there were a few full-grown women playing hopscotch.



I parked at the Chrysler, because I like to walk. A statement I must now amend to "I like to walk when it's not noon in the summertime."

My first and last contributions shared a theme:



The one on the right has an accordion!

The eleven-year-old girl drawing next to me asked me what she should draw. I suggested a bunny:



She told me she draws her signature smiley faces for classmates for 50 cents a pop. That's more than I've been making for my art recently. /bitter

It's interesting to see what messages pop up when you give people the chance to express themselves:



The one on the left says "Keep our beach clean," and the one on the right is a drawing of a washing machine that was on the sidewalk in front of a laundromat. So, we have environmentalism and crass commercialism sharing the same concrete. Speaking of free speech:



Graffiti. It's never too early to get the kids hooked on it.
Wren, AKA "The Best" and Bess AKA "Cool" had a few tags up on the streetz. Next stop: smokin' weed and wearing eighties t-shirts ironically.



Left: a fire escape.
Middle: my lame drawing of said fire escape.
Right: the two juxtaposed together. Photo taken while crossing a busy street because I am a dangerous rebel omg.



Another site-specific chalk drawing of mine. The pic on left is just after I finished, and the pic on right is about an hour later. I did a few of these, but didn't get pictures of all of them because I was saving my memory card for all the pieces done by 5-year-olds that were more creative than mine.



Proof that I am not a communist.



Someone else is funnier than me.

Also - can you tell the difference between a Death Star and a pig?



They're surprisingly similar. Except pigs apparently have seven legs.
Finally: wtf, is that Zoidberg??? lol.

I wore my art jacket, so I got a couple of compliments and a lot of weird looks. A nice young woman tried to talk to me while I was tracing a shadow with chalk:

"Hey, I like your pictures!"
"Thanks!"
End of conversation.

It didn't even occur to me that I had old business cards in my pocket. I could've been all... if you like my drawings, I am on the internet! All the time. Watching you.
But instead I blanked. Marketing's just not in my blood. Neither is social interaction. Baby steps.