Artfest 2010

I had another fantastic time at Artfest. The festivities started early this year with Donna and I leaving here on Monday. We stayed with our California friends, (the blonde and the other one) at the blonde's timeshare at Discovery Bay. They actually do have names, the blonde is Nancy and the other one is Debbie. We met them five years ago at our first Artfest and have been sharing a house with them at every Artfest since. They are two of the best people you could ever meet. We had a lot of fun exploring (and yes shopping too) the shops in Port Townsend and Poulsbo.

Artfest itself was fantastic as usual. I don't know how Teesha and Tracy manage to pull it off every year. This year was a little different as the band Surrealized played after the opening welcome by Teesha and Tracy. On the Thursday night we were entertained with an Iron Artist competion with most if not all of the instructors participating. It was quite amazing to watch these artists create such wonderful art in such a short time and with the supplies they were given. These creations were donated to the raffle that is held every year to raise money for tips and this year a scholarship. I was lucky enough to actually win one of these pieces of art. I won the bunny made by Stephanie Lee and I absolutely love him. (He will fit in very nicely on the same wall as the creature I made in Elizabeth McGrath's class the first year I attended Artfest).The bonfire was also going on at the same time and for the first time in the five years I have been going to Artfest I wandered down there. Friday night was of course vendor night where I lusted after many beautiful things. I did buy a couple of things and will post those later. Saturday night was Show & Tell where we got to see all the incredible artwork created at Artfest. This is a great opportunity to see the end results of classes you may be considering for another year. We arrived a little late and people were starting to take their art away but we still got to see a lot of awesome art.

I had three wonderful classes with three great teachers. The first class was with Richard Salley where we made a letter opener with copper and faux bone. The faux bone was fun to work with and I do hope to work with it some more. The beautiful bead on the end was a trade from one of my class mates Loretta, from Black Creek.

My second day was with Susan Lenart Kazmer where we played with resins, papers and metals. Unfortunately I did not get my piece finished but I will. When I do I will post a picture in the mean time here is a picture of some resin papers I made in class as well as some bezels I resined and the start of my little book pendant. Susan is a great teacher and I have learned many things from her over the past few years.

My third class was with Julie Haymaker Thompson where I made Steam Punk Lily. This was a fun class with another wonderful teacher. Julie was so energetic throughout the whole day. In this class with played with a few different mediums. We collaged our eggs, we used pewter for our birds and we also sampled with paperclay and faux finishes.

Well I guess that is about it for now. There really is a lot more to say about Artfest, in fact I could go on for days about it. If you get the chance to go, go for it. Artfest is fantastic.