Art Fest

Sunday I visited the Cottonwood Art Festival in Richardson.   The Festival is always colorful and pleasantly crowded.  Artists' booths are scattered through the park - some in the sun, some in the shade of tall trees - along with bands, food wagons, and a shady outdoor cafe.  There are children and ducks (a fun combination) by the bridge over the pond; kids' crafts; more food; mobiles spinning in the breeze; and more booths filled with fascinating art...  This is one of the best shows around, with a very high standard of work.

Lots of photography this year.  Goldsmith Jo Jennings had her usual booth near the entry, though I noticed (due to the price of gold I'd guess) her work features more stones/ less gold than in other years.  The ceramic alligator-head sculptor wasn't there, but the fantastical-painters couple were, with a wonderful ceramic bust of... a conquistador?  if his helmet were to become a Spanish galleon, that is.

My favorite booth this year belonged to Stephen Dickerson, an artist working on wood panels with acrylic and colored pencil, which creates lovely complex color and a linear quality I like.  I bought a small incised panel with a pair of fish - one with a large, sapient eye.  (The painting below has similar fish, though none with that thoughtful eye.)  There was a large panel with an egret like this but, in the distance, a house on thin marsh-y green-y stilts which I'd love to own.

image courtesy of Stephen Dickerson's website

Cottonwood Art Festival happens twice a year - try to catch it next Fall!