by ruralpearl | Oct 6, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
Much thanks to all you friends, folks & family who came out to the Oktoberfest in Atchison, KS, (my hometown) today.
I gotta admit, as much as I love autumn and cooler temps, I’m a pretty big wimp when it comes down to being out in it when the temps drop to coat-requirement levels. And it was that and even more today (unseasonably frigid).. so I spent most of it looking like this:
Thankfully, I had a warm home to look forward to once the festival was over.. and a really good pal to hang with.
And then I found this, ’cause you know.. sometimes you just gotta drop out:
by ruralpearl | Oct 5, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
I’ll be heading to Atchison tomorrow for the Oktoberfest on Saturday.. and in my usual down to the last minute fare, I’ve still got lots of matting & bagging to do.. Prints & cards waiting on my coffee table for the dark morning hours to roll around and tea drinking, matting & bagging to resume. Pressed leaf collection searching for a purpose..
FYI, I received word from Collector Art Shop in Berkeley, CA, that they received my “large shipment” and much of it is already on the floor. So, if you happen to be in that area, drop by – I sent lots of new prints and cards that have just recently made their debut around here. 2950 College Ave.
by ruralpearl | Sep 23, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
I headed out dark and early Saturday morning for the Aaron Douglas Art Fair which went well. Thanks to you folks that came out! The weather was beautiful although I was pretty chilly at certain points of sun hiding behind the tree over me. Beats the summer heat. Autumn is the best. Speaking of which, yesterday was the first day of Autumn, so happy Autumn. The changing season is conjuring up some images in my head for new works. Looking forward to getting back to the cutting table.
After the art fair, I ate a late dinner (sadly, my first meal of the day yesterday) at the newly redesigned Esquina in Lawrence. The vegetable frittata and salad totally rocked. Go eat there, local yokals.
Today I headed to Kansas City to hit up the Plaza Art Fair and see a bunch of exhibiting friends that I’ve met over all my travels to different art shows. Before doing that, I delivered my large “Midnight Garden” paper cutting to it’s new owner in KC. This is my favorite paper cutting that I’ve been taking around with me lately, so I was glad to see it go to a good, appreciative home. Before I delivered that, I was killing some time wandering around the Westport area and accidently happened upon an antique store and picked up a few knick-knacks, including these groovy little Holt Howard salt & pepper shakers. Seriously love antique stores… I’ve been known to spend entire days perusing them. Plotting some autumn antiquing adventures.
Thanks again to all you folks and friends that graced me with your presence this weekend. Ending it in a quiet room with a cup of mint & chamomile tea. Til next time..
by ruralpearl | Sep 20, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
I’ll be doing my thang this Saturday, Sept. 22, at the 7th Annual Aaron Douglas Art Fair at 12th & Lane in Topeka, KS. It runs from 10am- 5pm. I’ve got lots of new prints & cards plus seven originals that I haven’t displayed yet that were part of the Grimm Brothers 200th Anniversary Exhibit at the Buell Children’s Museum in Pueblo, CO, for the last six months.
It’s been a long day of non-stop print making.. still going at it with a very early morning full of matting and bagging and framing and packing and whatever else ahead. New prints available include (only offered at Art Westport so far): Moon Dweller, Good Things Billowing Into The Night, Big Moon, Owl At Dusk & Night Bird.
Hope to see you there. It should be beautiful weather wise.
by ruralpearl | Sep 14, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
Despite Friday’s rain during the three day Art Westport, it was a great show with beautiful weather for the rest of the weekend. Thanks so much to all of you who came out and supported! I’ve got lots of work to do to prepare for my next shows.. There were approximately 140 artists there, and three prizes were awarded: Best of Show, 2nd Place, and 3rd Place. I was very honored (and very surprised) to be awarded 2nd Place. I actually got a chance to walk around to about 70% of the show before it started on Saturday, and there was some really great art there.. so, even more of an honor to be recognized amongst the artists that I saw. Hope to see y’all again next year!
by ruralpearl | Sep 8, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
Friday was the first day of my 3 day show at Art Westport in Kansas City. I got there at 2pm to set up (show started at 5), and at 2:15, rain started to pour, so I sat in my car (err, took a nap in my car) until about 4:30 when it ended.. The rain made way for a beautiful but chilly evening. Of course, by the time I was totally set up, the show was halfway over, but it was a great night anyway. My first sale was my “Night Class” paper cutting which is one of my favorites that I had made for the Topeka Public Library exhibit — so happy to see it go to a good home. Parting with my own artwork was an idea that took me awhile to grasp when I first started doing these shows, but it’s pretty amazing to see people excited about having it in their own homes. Another long Saturday ahead with open hours from 10am – 9pm.
by ruralpearl | Sep 6, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
Just a couple more boxes to throw in (still printing and matting.. always last minute in my world) and I’m ready to go to my first art fair of the fall. Art Westport runs Friday from 5pm – 9pm, Saturday from 10am – 9pm and Sunday from 11am – 5pm. Although rain is forecasted for Friday, looks like it might happen earlier in the day.. and then sunny with cooler temps (low 80s) for the rest of the weekend. That is what I like to hear… I’m taking my fleece jacket.
by ruralpearl | Aug 8, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
(Please forgive me for unloading these “had to be there” stories.. I’m putting them here partially to remember, myself..)
When I travel for shows, I try as much as possible to avoid fast food. I’ve turned into a steamed-vegetable-fruit-and-nut-ivore. It’s good to feel light in this hot, hot weather. I digress. While I was in Colorado, I ate at some pretty awesome restaurants: himalayan, indian, thai, vegetarian, italian, mexican (I’d travel the globe just to eat, seriously).. Although most dinners or lunches or what-have-you were fairly uneventful (and on the other hand, one or two, memorable as ever..), I came away with some laughs at some others. I was eating at a himalayan restaurant in Estes Park, and this couple, who I was basically sharing a table with (it was VERY crowded & busy and there were lots of folks complaining about their wait…. I say, be patient, ye! The food cometh.. Nothing good comes fast), were really dissecting the menu, deciding over and over what they were going to order. When the Nepalese waiter, who was in a rush, came over to take their order, the woman basically sequestered him with questions about Nepal, how to pronounce and write words in Nepalese, what material his clothes were made of, etc. (She was going to travel to Nepal in the fall, and subsequently began asking me about my own clothing because, coincidentally, I was wearing a shirt made in Nepal). Her husband began ordering his food, out of seeming frustration of her interrogation, and she broke in with more questions, and it turned into this battle of who-can-talk-the-loudest. The waiter was very kind and fielded it all. (I chuckled inside when the husband asked the wife to shut-up already..).
Second story: I picked up my mom at the Denver airport and headed to Boulder for my final show where we were greeted with possibly the most awful hotel room I’ve ever stayed in. Picture this: brass bed frames (like those kind I had on my daybed in the 80s), bad wood panel walls, swinger lamps, bed canopies, red carpet. I’m not exactly sure how I got into that mess (thanks hotels.com), but I did. So, to redeem ourselves, we hit up this fancy-shmancy Italian restaurant down the road for hors d’oeuvres and ended up having us a five-star meal (she had king crab legs, I had the house salad and a few Bombay Sapphires –had to drown out those brass bed frames).. Since we were sitting close to the front doors, which were open, it might be expected to have to shoo away a few flies. They’re annoying for sure, but hey man.. you know, we all inhabit this place and we’re all driven toward finding happiness, right? This couple (err, the husband) at the table next to us could not contain their frustration, and I could not contain my giggling, constantly turning away so that they wouldn’t see me. The man was really getting sick of this one fly that kept buzzing around, and I heard him complain about it a couple times to the waitress who kindly apologized but said she couldn’t help it with the doors open (which were letting in a pleasant breeze). So, he promptly started feverishly chopping away at the fly (in the air and on the table) with his knife while his wife begged him to quit. I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually hit the fly, but he did knock a dish or two on the floor. Disastrous! But really, perhaps you had to be there.. til next time.
by ruralpearl | Aug 6, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
See you there.
by ruralpearl | Jul 23, 2012 | Art Fairs & Art Travels
My Sunday at the arts fest started out with finding this little bird in a flower bed next to my tent. It looked like he was injured — he wasn’t flying, his heart was pounding, and at first he had one leg up in the air (who knows!). I figured if there was anywhere that has services for injured birds, it would be Boulder, so I tried to do some contacting but wasn’t very successful on an early Sunday morning. Within an hour, however, I saw another bird show up and they both hopped out of the flower bed and eventually flew away, so maybe he just hit the tree or something and was in shock and needed some good bird-word to get him going. Whatever… it’s a great story in my head.
All in all, the festival was great, and I’m coming home with a much lighter load than I started with. Thanks so much to all you folks who stopped by – thank you for your purchases, your kind comments, your conversation, etc. Thank you to the weather gods who kept the rain to the west. It was a good time all around.
I’m not totally sure I’m ready to go home yet – I love being out here wherever ‘out here’ is. But it’s nice to have a comfortable place to go home to, for which I’m always thankful. In a few short hours, I’ll be hitting the dusty east-bound trail toward some major heat and drought and reality. Lots of online orders & new retail store stock to get together and ship out this week, plus several commissions and a ton of emails to respond to (sorry if I owe you one – I promise I’ve read yours and I’ll get back asap). Also some major house organizing to do since I sort of tore it up getting ready for these last few shows. And it’ll be good to get myself back out in my running sneakers since I didn’t do much of that in the last few weeks. I also started reading an interesting book a couple days ago called Nature Mysticism by J. Edward Mercer which was written in the early 1900s, so I’m hoping to make some time to plow into that as well. Plus, a little respite from it all with a short, tentative camping/ kayaking/ geode & artifact hunting trip with some adventurous women-folk in a week or so which should yield some new photos & stories.
This has been a really memorable trip that went by way too fast.. Til next time..
