My “cool-down” from the 10-Miler yesterday was an afternoon walking around the Bayou City Art Festival. My legs felt (and continue to feel) surprisingly good. Only minor soreness. I was much more sore on Friday and Saturday after playing catcher Thursday night.
The Art Fesitval was much better than last year, when Jose and I headed downtown after a weekend of rain to find that 75% of the artists had packed up and gone home. This year everyone was still there, despite some drizzle. It took us about two hours to cover the whole site. After that we had dinner at Cafe Adobe, where we sat outside but were driven back in by a sudden but intense downpour. We were under an awning, but it leaked, and I didn’t want to eat beans that had gotten all watery from being dripped on. It was an interesting meal.
Things I bought:
- A small flower vase/stand from Meyer Wood Designs (the one pictured at top left). It is really neat. I tried to find a single flower for sale at Randall’s last night to put in it, but all they had was bouquets. Full disclosure: I snapped a single small flower off a large mum sitting outside the store. No one will notice! And I wanted a flower for my vase!
- A matted 5×7 of this photo from Big World Photo. Because it made me laugh a lot. All of her photos were of little figurines doing funny things. Jose bought this one because he said every time he looked at it, he heard the sounds of a construction site in his head.
- A gnome-be-gone Superman from Sugarpost, similar to this one, but with a cape and able to hang from the ceiling. I’ve seen this guy’s work in the Uncommon Goods catalog and like it.
Things I would’ve seriously considered buying if I had unlimited amounts of money:
- One of Sean Fitzgerald’s photographs. He had some gorgeous shots of mountains, deserts, and even Patagonia.
- One of Jennifer Cavan’s pastels — particularly the ones with starry night skies. The intense colors were awesome.
- Something from the Pressed Leaf Botanical Art booth. It was amazing to see what they made with all natural components like leaves and berries. I particularly liked Cropped Maples and Aspen Ridge.
- One of Michael McKee’s awesome pastels. I would’ve had a very hard time picking just one. I liked Aspen Dream #17 (can you tell I like aspen trees?) and his mountain scenes, but I also liked the red and orange New Mexico-inspired scenes.
- A painting from Geoffrey Harris. His work is inspired by 1950s era toys and games, and I love the style and subject matter — rockets, planes, robots, and other technology.
Honorable mention for sheer interestingness: Tardy Sculpture, which features sculptures made out of scrap metal and other random parts.
I came home wanting to quit my job and become an artist. C’est la vie.
