my artfest adventure in a nut shell

Michelle and I arrived in beautiful Port Townsend late afternoon and took in some sights before our art adventure began.

Artfest took place in Fort Worden State Park.  We were lucky enough to stay right on the grounds with other art-festers in ‘dorm-like’ rooms.

Being new to Artfest, I didn’t come prepared with trades.  I quickly found out that many art-festers make small goodies to trade with other artists and in the end you come home with loads of lovely goodies.  The first dinner was a prime time for trading.

Even though I didn’t have anything to trade, many of the artists insisted that I take one anyways.  Generosity in all areas ruled supreme during Artfest.

These are some the goodies I collected from other artists. 

I thought this bag of colorful yarn was a very sweet idea.  It reads, "Help A Bird Build a Nest – As you take your walk through the woods, leave small yarns along the trail to help a bird build its nest with color and flair.  When you return next year, look in the trees for your colors in the nests along the way.  Or weave your yarns into your won art pieces, to create you own nest to take home with you."

Most of the trades include the art-fester’s name and contact info.  Some even have their own blogs or websites.  Here are some of their links: www.treicdesigns.com, www.uncommonarts.blogspot.com, www.heatherchevreau.blogspot.com

Another discovery of mine was moo cards.  These little guys are about half the size of a business card and you can have different images printed with your contact info on the back.  Here are some of their links: www.tejaesart.blogspot.com, www.eyesaflame.blogspot.com, www.pharmwife.blogspot.com, www.kellyraeroberts.blogspot.com, www.mbshaw.blogspot.com

My first workshop was Shadow Boxing with Bee Shay.  In this class we cut out the middle of stretched canvas and glued layers of tissue and textured objects, then painted and dry brushed it for a faux metallic look.  I found this unique light bulb and stone in the Art Asylum (a room at Artfest filled with loads of various goods they’ve collected throughout the year)

My second workshop (my favorite) was Paper Ruins with Melissa Manley.  In this class we made molds of textured items (I used my flower earrings, rose shaped ring and a string of beads).  We then used our molds with paper clay and created little matchbox shrines.  The one on the left holds a little felted hedgehog that I received as a trade from the talented Kelly Harcus (who came all the way from LONDON to attend Artfest)

My third workshop was Beautiful Paper with Anne Bagby.  These pretty papers were created from many layers of large hand-carved stamps.  The goal was to stamp so many layers that you wouldn’t just see single stamped images but would create an appealing looking pattern. (almost like the scrapbook papers that are available at stores)

Our evenings consisted of camp fires complete with delicious smores…

…late night art journaling with other art-festers (more on that later)…

… trips into town to Elevated Ice Cream with Michelle and our fun roommate Catherine (notice the number of sampling spoons they’ve accumulated – it was hard to decide on just one of their many fabulous flavors)

Needless to say, it was a fun 3 days & 4 nights filled with wild laughter, creative energy and loads of inspiration.  I highly recommend it to any creative soul.