May Day

Lots going on around town today.

I hit a couple of plant sales - first, the Master Gardeners in Edgemont Park, then the one at Van Vleck. Astonishingly I came away from both empty-handed, though I was tempted by a Chinese fringe tree (too exotic, I decided) and might have succumbed to a tree peony had the good ones not already been tagged and set aside. One thing good: I've come to the realization that I've finally reached a point where I don't actually need any more plants; if I find a bare space I can easily just dig up and move something around from another place.

Mostly I hung out at Art in the Park, an annual juried show held for the first time on the grounds of the Art Museum.

It's always a big draw for families and kids. There was juggling, face painting, tie-dying, beading, hatmaking and more.

Music, of course. And food.

But for me, the art was the main draw. Many of the exhibitors had come from quite a distance, and had put considerable effort and expense into their displays. Particular favorites for me were:

William McCarthy who does exquisite landscapes completely from memory and imagination. He showed me the tiny sketchbook he uses for the little black and white thumbnails that he uses as points of departure.

Linda Adato, a printmaker who makes beautiful and highly detailed colored etchings, many of which are quite small. She often combines multiple plates on a single page.

Deborah Colter, who creates mostly geometric abstract mixed media paintings and collages.

Claire Malloy, who showed some lovely pastels done on rice paper.

Donna Grande, also a pastel artist, who has a great color sense.

Carol Schepps, a fabric artist who makes gorgeous quilts and wall hangings. My favorites were the various "suns" - concentric fabric circles machine-appliqued to larger background squares.

It was a special pleasure to talk with all of these artists about their work and their techniques. They all have easy-to-find websites that are worth looking at.

It wasn't until I was ready to leave that I realized that the end-of-the-year show from the pastel classes had been hung in another part of the museum. That's mine, there, in the center. I griped about having to go to the quite considerable expense of framing something that I deemed less than perfect. Still, I'm pleased to have been asked to include a piece. So - ta-da!!!