Third Annual Cass Area Artists Summer Show

I missed last year’s version of the Summer Show because I was busy riding in horse shows that weekend. This year offered no conflicting dates, which made me very happy because I got this opportunity to fly with my newly-won mesh display panels. You may remember my test run setup from my last post, complete with digitally enhanced grass. Here’s the real thing.

The booth set up and ready to go, this time with actual green grass

And here’s what it looked like pretty much all day long.

The state of affairs most of the day, with a pretty constant stream of visitors

What was oh-so-rewarding was the consistency of positive comments from everyone who came in. The top left painting and the back wall center one were the top vote-getters in the “favorites” category. And almost everyone stated uncategorically that they absolutely l-o-v-e-d the colors. Many visitors live on a nearby lake (Diamond Lake) and had the same idea: these paintings would be perfect in a lake home. Another repeated comment focused on how different my approach is to what is commonly thought of as a water lily scene. Many visitors thought that these large paintings were watercolors; they certainly give that impression. People were amazed to discover they were oil paintings and even more interested to learn how I did it. It’s hard to convey just how rewarding it is to hear these totally unsolicited comments. My work can sit in a gallery for weeks, but I’m not there to hear any viewers’ thoughts. This is the kind of encouragement that pushes an artist to the next adventure. Which in my case, may be a commission to paint one of those lake houses for its owner. She gave me her name, phone number and email and told me in no uncertain terms that if I had not heard from her in the next week I must contact her. Now that’s a switch from all of the well-meaning people who promise to contact me…and never get around to it. The plan is to take her pontoon boat out on the lake early in the morning so we can see how the sunrise plays out against her house.

We couldn’t have asked for a nicer summer day for this show. Not too hot, not too windy…I’ll just let some photos do the illustrating for me.

Perfect day for an art fair

Sun or shade…

One of our Cass Area Artists members, Neil Benham, makes unique bowls of all sizes and shapes out of found wood. My favorite is anything he makes out of box elder, because the wood often has reddish stripes in it and he cuts and turns it to incorporate the stripes into interesting patterns. One he had at the show had a kind of starburst effect that began at the bottom and spread out as it went up the inside of the bowl. Another favorite is one he sometimes makes out of wood everyone else would think is defective–he leaves the bark on where there is a natural hole in the wood and after the bowl is turned it has lovely hollowed out shapes bordered by bark.

Neil Benham with some of his astounding turned wood items

Lin Pollard does digital art, some of which is so complex I can’t even describe it. Just think of a mandela that looks a whole lot like an extremely detailed kaleidoscope. She also does some digitally enhanced landscapes.

Lin Pollard makes a sale

And of course there had to be some horses at this show, too.  The one you can see in the gold frame in the photo below is by Robert Williams, and the one at the right edge of the photo in the wood frame is by Tom Rose. Roz Marcyan’s horse portraits are on the other side of the black display panel, so we can’t see them in this photo. But, I mention her because Roz is almost 90 years old, still drives a pickup truck and still is painting away…

Roz Marcyan, seated in the center

Finally, as proof that my artwork is universally loved, I offer this photo of an unidentified insect who landed on one of my painted lily pads and refused to leave. It was there for a good 15 minutes or so. I tried to coax it into flight by gently blowing on it, but it was having none of it. I resorted to loosening its grip by sliding a piece of paper under it, and it zipped away, probably cursing me under its breath for the unwarranted eviction.

Little lost bug