Beautiful weeken in the area

Sometimes I think we all have this thought that we have to drive hundreds of miles to have a good time. Or we must pay lots of money to be entertained so that we can admit to all our friends that it was a great experience. But then there is the truth. Sometimes all you have to do is drive a couple miles down the road to a community Art and Music Festival to find something new, interesting, and inspiring. Or an hour drive outside of the big city will find you in a garden filled with beautiful flowers and art to make you laugh. True! Since I got back from Milwaukee's Bead and Button show, I haven't had two days off in a row at work. So I've had a work schedule where I'll have one day off, work three, one day off, work four all in that order or any other combination of off/on days. It is hard to get anything done when you sleep most of the day because you are so exhausted, then have the next day to go back to the same grind. I thought I couldn't "recharge" my batteries this way, but this weekend with just Saturday off I was able to have a great time and met some other amazing artist and walk in a lovely garden on a hillside.


Saturday afternoon, I got up early enough for us to make it to the Westerville (Ohio) Art and Music festival. It is literally only 2 miles from my house. We walked among the stalls looking at the usual stands from jewelry (which I rarely look at), wooden vessels, paintings (about 50% of most art shows), to funky clothes. Two stands caught my attention. In one was an elderly woman who was making bowls and other items from pine needles. Her fingers were all gnarled up, but there she was weaving those pine needles into lovely patterns. I stopped and spoke with her about keeping those finger nimble. She laughed and agreed that it was the only thing that kept her from being crippled (hello! that is why I bead so much). I was tempted to buy a bowl from her, but nothing didn't caught my attention. I also stopped & said hello to a wood worker who use to be a pathologist over at Riverside when I was doing the H-1 User group. I see him at all the festivals and show and I enjoy talking to him about what he's been doing new. There was another tent that I traveled into as I thought the images were just amazing. I looked around then as usual, I walked on. I think I only got 100 feet from her tent, when I turned around and went back. I was intrigued with her images of women. They all had elongated limbs and were posed in amazing positions. We struck up a conversation, and I just KNEW I had to have one of her pieces to put in my studio. Her name is Kate Morgan. She did photography and now is doing image designs. She said that she gets her inspiration from the times she was a swimmer. Watching people in the water gave her idea for how to pose her human subjects, but with photograph she couldn't get a real person do those poses...so she got into drawing and image transfers. She has really inspired me to making dolls that aren't traditional posed. Oh thank you Kate!



Sunday morning we decided to head down to Hocking Hills in south eastern Ohio to attend the LilyFest. LilyFest is a sort of homemade festival started by this woman who just wanted to share her love of gardening to others in her lovely home situated in the hills. It has grown and is a haven for arts, gardeners, and a group of Vikings who set up camp every year. Oh, and it is all about the day lilys which are in full bloom here in Ohio. Years ago, I saw a painting in one of the gallery booths there by Joseph A. Greene. I feel in love with Joe's paintings. He has a humorous look at the world that just tickles my funny bone. This year I bought one of his pieces that is his view of Alice in Wonderland. He also has thrown in a little blurb about Humpty Dumpty in this painting. I would love to actually met Joe someday. I always just miss him at the LilyFest. We also purchased a new lawn ornament for the backyard. Every year we buy one more to go with the original iron lady bug. This year's purchase was a hummingbird post. I think the birds that like to visit our yard really enjoy our sitting post. I know Fiona use to enjoy them too as they were perfect for her version of bird watching.







Well, enough. Hope you enjoy some of these pictures from my one day off in lovely Ohio