A New Assortment of Greeting Cards

A clear gift box contains a collection of 7 horse portraits on cards with envelopes. Similar portraits, then in black and white, made up the first series of watercolors that I remember painting. They were inspired by Blutke's  Lipizzaner portraits in charcoal but I used black Pelican Deckfarben, diluted to make them transparent.

2011 4th Avenue Winter Street Fair in Tucson - looking back

It was a great show - I was too busy to leave my booth for three days - so all my people watching was done from there.

 

Contrasts abounded - especially on the sidelines outside the main show. That's Tucson!

2011 4th Avenue Winter Street Fair

Street Vendor, Watercolor

It starts tomorrow! My Booth is # 618!

From Friday Dec. 9 to Sunday Dec. 11 hundreds of art and crafts booth will line 4th Avenue in downtown Tucson. While the jury for us, the artists, is as tough as at Tempe, businesses along 4th Avenue are allowed to have their own booths, so there will be some retail. In addition, scab shows in private lots add more eclectic choices. 

Musicians are roaming along the sidewalks, there are performances on several stages and lots of food in side streets. For me one of the most fun things to do (besides selling lots of paintings) is people watching!

Did I forget to mention dog watching? This guy is actually a working dog....

2011 Tempe Festival of the Arts on Mill Avenue

This Friday, the Tempe Winter Festival of the Arts begins. Over the last decade, this show has developed from a street festival with a lot of imports and resale into a great art and crafts festival  with eclectic but mostly high-end articles made nearly exclusively by the attendant artists. 
There is great, often loud life music, performers and food (usually out of reach for us who have to stay with our booths).
The public enthusiastically turns out in great numbers and many people spend a whole day or more among over 400 booths. Most customers come for years, report how their last purchases look in their homes, let us know when their walls are full...
While set-up and take-down may be a nightmare for many artists, this show is professionally organized by a staff that cares and makes us 'old-timers' feel like family.
So I should be happy that my van is loaded and I'm ready to drive to Tempe and set up my tent (at night) to be ready for a great weekend - except that the weather forecast of rain, wind, and low temps makes me feel that I'd rather sit at home at the fire place or even at the University Insect Collection in my often too cozy office.
Oh, well, the people of Tempe have surprised us before with record attendance and sales during rainy shows.

The pics are from last December. My booth is the one with the round top and paintings