renaissance festival

We spent a lazy day wandering at the renaissance festival yesterday with a Dear One laughing and sharing and munching on treats. The Maryland Renaissance Festival is built permanently in a forested glen, so everything is always the same each year and you always know where to find the honey sellers, coin jewelry makers, the glassblower, mask makers, and all the other vendors who make the event unforgettable. It seems to be the same cast of characters from year to year, the same guy on the high wire begging you to not look up his kilt, and many of the same artisans. It is a familiar event in my life that I appreciate ~ and a rare day of rest.

an arty letter

A good friend asked me to pen a very special letter, which I created yesterday in the studio with music playing and Virginia to keep me company.

art after hours

We had a fantastic turnout at Art After Hours last night and lots of visitors stopped in to tour studios, visit with artists, and even discuss commissions. Everyone got to see the framed peacock thread painting for the first time and all are charmed by the piece and interested in knowing more. Several people gathered purchase information and everyone seems delighted at the pricing.

Lots of visitors came in to sit and chat and I met some wonderful new people as well. It is so good to see people coming back again and again for this event and all the artists enjoyed one-on-one time with interested people who took time out to attend.

I am so proud to be a part of this place.

work on the pedestal continues

The pedestal is coming along nicely and the decoupage will continue to build. I am taking a break to work on a very special letter and will then get back to this project!

a change in the air

The seasonal change is coming once again with the heat of summer sun dissipating and nights feeling cooler and more gentle. I love the seasons and each is my favorite as it arrives. I am stunned to realize that nearly a year has passed since I first took studio space at the art center last December and all the hard work and focus has made the time FLY. At the end of October I will have been here for seven years in the burbs of DC, and all that time ago I never could have imagined the life that would start to build and the Friends and Dear Ones who would come into my life to fill the gaps and hollow places left by others. Fall for me is always a time of introspection and gratitude... and I am looking forward to the seasonal change.

E O S M N A T L 30

So I had an eye appointment yesterday after going the night before to look at new frames with Virginia. Is it just me, or does everyone else stress out about getting the answers right about which view is better each time the lenses flip???? We have a wonderful eye doctor and she is sweet-natured and has a good sense of humor, so it is always nice to check in with her.

As a visual artist my eyes are my tools, and the vision correction is important to help me do my job. I got multi-focals a few years back because of all my vision requirements with muraling, easel painting, studying photos and reading, and all those myriad other tasks that we don't think about visually.

After tweaking a new prescription I will have new glasses in a week or so and I look forward to being able to read fine print better as it seems it gets smaller every year:)

probably the cutest little car in DC

seen at the Zoo