It’s Fall Festival Time!!!

Yes, it is Fall Festival time and that means NEW ART for the house!!!

One of our local autumn traditions is the Oconee Fall Festival. It is an amazing gathering of craftsmen and artisans from the area and an even more amazing gathering of people!! We always see someone that we haven’t seen recently…..this time it was one of our daughter’s friends from High School, and even a couple of quilter’s who have been absent!!

This year was especially wonderful as it was the first event that we have been able to attend since March.

The weather was glorious…..

And my “one-time-per year” Funnel Cake was fried to perfection, crisp and sugary…..

But the star of the day was the art that we purchased!!!

We love the art of Eugene Swain. His paintings are rustic and always have some three dimensional element. This was our pick this year……

We were immediately drawn to the light that comes out of the painting. The outhouse is actual pieces of wood and the door hinges are metal. All of his frames are rustic and the perfect way to showcase his rural scenes.

If we keep attending these shows every year, we will soon be able to put on a gallery show just from our home!!

We met a new artist this year…. Jim Hamilton works on wood in a way that we have never seen before. He first uses a wood-burner to place the design on the wood. Next he adds paint to accent the picture and then covers it with a thick coat of poly-urethane. This pelican called out our name……

….and we welcomed him into our home.

Next we stopped by a woodworker’s booth and, sadly, I didn’t get his name. This bowl had so much character (top and bottom)…..

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He told us that it was White Oak and that this particular, interestingly shaped piece was the first cut off of a fallen stump. We love it!!!

Finally, we had to visit the booth of our neighbor Kathie. She is a wonderful potter, making hand-worked pieces with many having a “pet” flair. In this case, Michael was out for something specific for his morning Espresso habit and he found a cute mug that is perfect for the cooler autumn weather…..

It was so sweet to walk hand-in-hand and enjoy the weather, the company of those surrounding us and this first “rite” of Fall!!