Marco and I took the watercolors to Sausalito last week. It's been quite some time since I had done an art festival and I was pretty anxious, but so proud of the work I was bringing down. I worked night and day for over a month to get them together. If you remember, I was really changing directions with the oils, going more abstract and much more painterly than previous work. Going back to watercolors has the tendency to ground me, bring me back to center and I think they did again this time - though I can't wait to jump back in that direction again. Tony from Rocky Mountain Frames designed and hand-crafted the most beautiful Arts and Craft period frame for me. It was simple and elegant and the reviews were excellent! I even replicated a Percy Gray-style frame, hinged into a triptych and it was so beautiful. Be sure and look up his frames, his workmanship! He will develop a frame style specifically for your work or from his choice of his designs. rockymountainframes.com. I'm loving his floated frames these days :)
We had all day to set up the booth on Thursday - funny, it took all day! Seems like the more time you have, the more time you take. We have such a great time together though that I enjoyed every minute of it. The setup at Sausalito is quite organized, very well run. They treat their artists so well and the volunteers are AMAZING! Here is a pic of the booth....
The show started on Friday evening. I had no idea it was going to be such an elegant affair! Black tie and formals. A few collectors wandering, but most were there for the gala. Saturday morning at 9am was when the crowds started showing up. The music acts were great - a little bit of something for everything (Hermans Hermits and The Fix). I took a break and went over to the stage to see a few minutes of almost all of the bands. And did I tell you about the margaritas? Yummy!
There was some amazing art at the show - love the work of my friend Aaron Bushnell, Santiago Michalek (and his beautiful wife), Brian Blackham - all Utah artists, Richard Hall and a few more celebration artists and so many more talented artists. I only wish I had more time to really spend time looking at the art, but there were so many people there I didn't spend much time out of the booth.
One of our favorite parts of the trip was a great little retro restaurant called Marin Joe's. Food was EXCELLENT, the service was even better. Our waiter Seth, made sure we tried the best on the menu and we appreciated his advice! What a cool place - I recommend it highly. Oh, and a coffee shop right in Sausalito very close to the festival - can't recall the name, but it was the best coffee in California! We went back three times :) We even eventually got used to the not-so-elegant hotel we stayed in, sans the night with the police and the girl that jumped out of the window :)
It's good to be home and I'm looking forward to the Western Visions Show in Jackson,WY and the KAWA women's paintout this week. And then on to the workshop with T. A. Lawson in Maine.....
Will keep you posted - going to be an amazing month!!!!
Your booth looks amazing! sounds like you are keeping busy~ love your watercolors and oil, very inspiring.
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