Kentuck

While many of you were at Rhinebeck (yes, I am a little bit jealous!), I made my annual trek to the Kentuck Festival in Northport, Alabama. My friend Sandra and I left for the airport at 6am Friday for our 8am flight, anticipating lots of art finds, turnip greens, purple hull peas, and warm weather. One of those things was not to be. When we landed, the flight attendant cheerily announced the outside temperature to be 42 degrees! Not what we had in mind. (It is usually in the 80 degree range for the festival; the big weather dilemma is not usually temperature, but precipitation. Oh, and it rained all of Saturday night, so while it did warm up in Sunday, there was mud puddle navigation and the occasional slog through a pile of wet mulch to contend with.)

Sandra eating fried pork rinds.

Every year Sandra and I choose the first big purchase for the following year. At the end of last year's festival, we chose painter Patsy Blake as this year's first stop. Here is the painting that will hang over the mantel in the first floor living room:

Some of her work reminds me of Edward Hopper's use of shadow, although the subject matter is very different.

I also purchased several pairs of earrings (and a future Christmas gift that cannot be divulged here) from Nancy at Conceits. I debated long and hard and did purchase a second painting from Bethanne Hill. (She was my "first purchase artist" last year.) It is a small painting of a bottle tree. I've also decided to start a small face jug collection. (I should have done that years ago when I first started going down to the festival.) This one came from potter Jerry Brown. Paper artist Katy Dement's work kept calling our names. We stopped by three times and made purchases each time! We bought candle hurricanes, light boxes (mine has these marvelous mermaids devised from old corset ads and drawn tails), and lampshades. All are made from handmade paper, dried leaves and flowers, and are coated in sweet-smelling beeswax. (That's the draw for me--I love beeswax!)

The lampshade has hydrangea flowers and a big hydrangea leaf on the other side.

Despite the weather issues, a good time was had by all. My friend SA, who is the Executive Director, did a great job as always. Here she is wearing a marvelous straw witch's hat from Best in Show winner Ignatius:

This festival is a marvelous little gem and I am so fortunate to be able to enjoy it every year. So, while I really wanted to go to Rhinebeck, Kentuck, at least for the time being, owns the third weekend in October for me!