Balancing Act

It was a holiday weekend here in the States - I love sleeping in on a Monday!  So I got lots of good art time in - working on my own, plus going to the Sausalito Art Festival on Sunday.

First my own art - I started quite a few things, but only finished a couple of them  This one I call Balancing Act, for obvious reasons.. Something we've all gotten very experienced at, I think...

Layers of old papers, stencil and wax, and a little lace, plus this cool old metal piece from the inside of an old sifter that I disemboweled... Not often you see the words "lace" and "disemboweled" in the same sentence, huh??

This piece of wood I got at a really cool place in San Francisco where companies donate excess materials, samples, supplies etc., then the money from their sale goes to a charity. I was determined to do something with it, but kept coming up blank.  It was tricky because of the slats, and I finally decided on a chandelier for some reason. I spent too much time working on it really, trying to get the shading and highlights right. This picture came out terrible, but I still don't love it.  Ah well, probably not a bad thing to have something to offer that's lighter and girlier than my usual!

 The Sausalito Art Festival - was wonderful, my head was spinning with sensory overload by the time we left. I didn't take pictures, but I decided to list the links of a few of my favorites that I saw this year, in case anyone is interested in seeing some new art...there were some great mixed media ones I hadn't seen before...

Cathy Rose  She is why I started going to this festival - her art blows me away. It's heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, she's amazing.

Sandy Young - Beautiful mixed media incorporating glass, I've never seen anything like it before.

Irena Siwek - Unbelievable drawings

Betsy Youngquist - Mind-boggling creations that her husband carves then she covers with beads. For the faces she uses broken old doll faces.  The Octopus which you can see on her website took her 3 months.