Western Art Week: Friends

One thing I love about doing art shows is the opportunity to see friends and to make friends. It's great speaking with people I don't know and getting to hear stories from them if we have the time to chat. But to see a familiar face in the crowd is like wrapping yourself up in a warm blanket!

There was one instance when I had been sitting for several minutes, drawing or writing something, and I looked up to make sure I wasn't ignoring anyone and I saw my friend and fellow MTWS member extraordinaire Margo Voermans walking toward me. I leaped off my chair and had a wonderful time catching up with her. She is going to be teaching a watercolor workshop in Missoula April 17 & 18 on abstract techniques. It sounds like it will be a fun spring workshop.

I also saw other people I've met before in Whitefish/Kalispell and also saw another MTWS board member. My friend Alger was in town for work to attend a conference. He owns a company on the east side of Glacier called Blackfeet Outfitters and gives guided fishing and hunting trips and jeep tours. He was such a nice friend and bought Amanda and I dinner from Chili's. Alger, you rock!

Amanda and Alger

However, the crown jewel of this post (and reason why I wrote it) is Amanda. She spent part of her vacation hanging out with me at Western Art Week. She helped me set up and take down the booth, watched my booth while I went to the bathroom or ate lunch/dinner, and shopped with me on the few chances I had. Gosh! She even made me lunch every day. She is a tremendous friend and I couldn't have done Western Art Week without her. Several summers ago she lived in Browning, MT while working at East Glacier. We took alternative way to Browning on the way home through a small town called Heart Butte. Driving from Heart Butte to Browning provided some incredible views...rolling hills with the sharp peaks of Glacier majestically rising behind. I sure enjoyed that little detour.

The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival

Gosh, It has been awhile since I've had the time to do a post!

I just got home from my LONG drive across the nation (north to south at least) and what an adventure it turned out to be! I went to the Woodlands (Houston area), Texas for an art festival. The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. It was SO COOL! My fabulous friend Melissa came with me for most of the trip!

But, before I begin my review, I must first tell you about my drive down. As luck would have it I had another crazy car experience. (remember the exciting adventure from my art festival to Logan, Utah?) Well, I was alerted to a leak in my oil coolant line just before my departure. I was told that if I just filled up those fluids that were leaking almost everytime I gased up, I'd be A-ok. So I went to the Laramie, WY walmart to buy some fluid, after spending the night in the fabulous college town, and as luck would have it they were completely sold out of ONLY the type oil I needed! Melissa & I then spent a good while looking for an auto parts store but had no luck locating it due to a LOT of construction so I pulled into the Laramie Chevy dealership. I bought some oil and they were going to make sure I was putting it in the right spot and when I popped my hood, they immediately knew I needed help. They could smell that my engine had already overheated (from driving around in town for 20 min) and saw some signs that showed my engine needed a little TLC. The service department was able to get me right in and were able to replace my water pump (which had gone bad) and my oil coolant line in a couple of hours! Thank heavens everything worked out the way that it did....I can only imagine the frustration & despair I would've had if my engine overheated and given out in the middle of nowhere on a two laned highway. Yikes! So a HUGE shout out to my angels at Laramie GM Auto Center. You saved the day and the road trip!

It was so neat watching the landscape change through the trip! Here are some photos!

The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival was AWESOME. There were SO many amazing and talented artists. I was fortunate to meet some and make friends! I was next to a great Printmaker, Mel Fleck from Taylorsville, KY. He does these fantastic works with egyptian hieroglyphs. Across from me was Mixed Media Artist Laura Junge from Chicago, IL. Just down from me was oil painter Charlene Marsh from Nashville, IN. The weather mostly cooperated all weekend (a little rain on Sunday). Everyone that helped with the festival was SO nice. Plus, I was able to meet a lot of wonderful people...including Kim Shirley! Yup, I got to meet another Kim Shirley on this planet. How cool is that? Here we are!!!

I really really hope that I get to go back next year. Here are some pictures from my area. There were over 200 booths of amazing artists...I wish I would've taken some pictures of the rest of the event grounds. Oh well! The park area will have to do.

I'm so glad I was able to go to this art festival and to travel through 7 states (ID, UT, WY, CO, OK, TX, NM). It was a great and epic road trip! Next time, I'm going to allow a little more time so I can stop and REALLY visit some nifty sites such as Billy the Kid's Grave, The 4 Corners, Mesa Verde, and other awesome stops along the way!

But as cool as it is to go new places, there really is no place like home!

A Rambling Sort of Post

Whew! It has been awhile since I've been able to do a post. This might be a long one....

So first is my SUPER EXCITING NEWS!

I'm going to do an art fair in TEXAS! Yup, I was accepted to one in The Woodlands and decided to go for it. I'm going to drive 4000 miles (round trip) but I figure if I'm unable to recoup my expenses, it'll make one heck of a road trip! I've never been to Texas and am very excited to go visit.

The show is the Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. It will be April 12th & 13th, 2014. I'm very excited but nervous too. The drive will be close to 30 hours one way (I google mapped, it's 2001 miles from Whitefish). So! If ANY of you fabulous followers, art lovers, horse lovers, and friends are in the area, please stop by and say hi! So, Those of you from that area in Texas, what is the weather like? Windy? Cold? Warm? Hot already? Do you recommend any cool places to visit? Eat at? AGH! I'm so excited

I've been working on a commission and I finished it. But I'm not happy with the result. I go back to it every few days and just sit in front of it and stare. It doesn't have that it-thing and I'm not happy with it. So, I've started over and in a different direction to too. I just hope my patient client isn't getting annoyed with me! As always, I'm not just working on one piece. (I often have several pieces in different stages going at the same time). I was able to finish one over the long weekend...partly because my epic plans of snowshoeing/hiking/running were foiled by an unexpected eye infection. Apparently my eyes don't like old contacts >:( So, I hid in my dark den of an apartment with all the shades/curtains drawn and kept the lights on low and finished this piece. I'm thinking I'm going to go back and punch it up a bit with a few more darks but am SO happy with how it turned out. This is one of those pieces that I based 98% off the photograph. It was just so awesome I couldn't think of much to change. *photo taken by nature photographer, rulon gardner*

Caught My Attention, 30x22

The last little bit is I participated in the Holiday Food & Gift Festival in Billings, MT a couple of weeks ago. I was able to see some friends and make some new ones! The best part is I was able to spend some time with my fabulous parents and my Grandma. I haven't seen them for several months so it was a great way to spend the weekend with them. Lots of fun...Although, my car decided it needed a new battery. 2013 was not my year with traveling to art festivals. Lets hope I won't have any issues with driving to the Texas show next year!!!!