Autumn Art Fair

Last Sunday, my friend Sally and I headed out to the Autumn Art Fair.  I wanted to go, but didn't want to drive, so I asked Sally if we could take her car.  I didn't call her till Sunday morning, and she wanted to go right away.  We got to Bradley Fair, the parking lot of the upscale shopping center that hosts the annual event, at a little after 11:00 am.  The day started out mild and  beautiful, with overcast skies, but as the day wore on, it got quite hot once the sun showed up. 

Now I have to admit, I like that my friend Julia Dunnit of WOYWW fame, claims I live in a deserted town.  I try my best to keep people out of my photos.  But there were so many people there that day, I couldn't escape them. 

My friend Sally rushed through the show and the only time she stopped was to buy fine jewelry, preferring gold, but she also bought some silver this time, too.

I'll only comment if I think something needs words, but until then, I'll let you peruse these photos on your own time and speed.  BTW, this is less than half of what I took.  Look for more later in the week.

That's my friend Sally in blue walking into the art fair.

You'll be able to tell what caught my eye as we move forward.

I took this one for Bleubeard while Sally stopped (for once) to look at the cat art.  Wish I'd had time to see more of this cute art.

This is the first place Sally bought jewelry.  Instead of standing around waiting on her for what seemed like FOREVER, I wish I'd gone back and gotten photos from booths I had to pass up while she forged ahead.

This was the next place Sally stopped at and the second place she purchased jewelry.

I swear, I thought she was going to buy this set, but decided it looked too much like a wedding and engagement ring.  In the end, she bought one that looked like the wedding band.

Sally spent a lot of time at this booth.  She ended up buying two sets of earrings that were made of dichroic glass.  The sales lady was very, very pushy, and even set her sights on me, even though she saw I wore no jewelry.  She tried to sell me earrings, and I informed her my ears weren't pierced.  When that failed, she tried to sell me a necklace and matching bracelet.  Sally was a much easier sell, though.

Sally had whizzed by all of the previous booths, but I forced her to stop at this one, where I fell in love with the wood fountains.

Unfortunately, the water doesn't show up well in the photos. 

I don't think Sally was interested in this jewelry, but she stopped for a split second, anyway.

I took a photo of these wine stoppers for my friend Halle.

I stopped to take a few photos of this gorgeous blown glass,

then The Keeper of the Plains caught my eye.  It's a symbol of my city.  I stopped to talk to the woman, who told me the Keepers were made of (I think) resin and plaster, and artists from all over the city were going to decorate them.  I asked if all the artists had been chosen, and she said no.  She asked if I was interested and handed me an application form.  The cost per person is $6000.00 to buy one of these Keepers.  And they had to be given to the city after the artist paid for one.  Seems like a rip-off to me.  Anyone want to go in on one with me (grin)?

Of course, Sally was not about to wait around for me.  That became a problem for me, after I had spent so much time waiting for her.  That's one reason why I don't take tours.  I like to travel at my own pace.

I decided since Sally was out of view, I would find her at the next jewelry booth.  It gave me a few minutes to appreciate these old bikes and trikes.

I knew this jewelry would never appeal to Sally, because it was too kitsch (and not fine gold).  But I had to inspect it up close, even though I got no close-up photos.  The necklaces must have weighed 5 lbs each.  They were so heavily laden with jewelry from vintage pieces that had been taken apart and reassembled.

The three photos above are from one of my favorite artists.  His art is all photographed the "old fashioned" way, and was not photoshopped.
 

I finally caught up with Sally, when she bought a bracelet here.  It took her a long time to make up her mind, so of course, I stood and waited.

This was the second time I had seen the Route 66 sign depicted in art that day.

Here, Sally bought another bracelet made of some stone.  The stones were all beautiful and I thought she called them tiger eye, or something similar, but I thought they looked like dichroic glass to me.  I was more interested in the inlaid design on the display case.
More jewelry, but Sally didn't buy any here.

I'm not even halfway through the art fair photos, and will show the remainder on Saturday. 

I hope those of you who are photographers, painters, ceramists, and wood makers enjoyed these photos and may have found bits of inspiration in some of what I saw that day.  And of course, unlike me, I'm sure you found some jewelry to ooh and ahh over, too.  Thanks for taking this trip with me.  I bet you aren't nearly as tired as I was by this time!