Had a wonderful time this past weekend at Bellevue Festival of Arts-AMAZING!

This past Sunday Mike and I snuck away from the house for a little time to ourselves. (Thanks Devon for watching Grandma and the boys)   We headed for the Bellevue Festival of Arts.  It's a huge art festival that is held every year in Bellevue Washington, it takes up many streets around the mall and the Art Museum. It's one of my favorite places to go in the summer. Usually we take the boys but they start to get bored about an hour into it( kids can only look for so long).  This year Mike and I decided to go on our own so we could take it all in.  We spent over 3 hours walking around looking at all the booths. Let me tell you, there was colorful, beauty, inspiring, whimsy and even a little creepy everywhere you looked.  So many artist, so many booths!  There were, jewelry makers, oil painters, collage, metal works and the list goes on. Something for everyone.

It was so much fun looking at all the art with Mike. When we take the boys Mike is focused on trying to entertain them and rarely gets to looks at anything. This time he was along side of me walking through the crowds of people, entering into other worlds every time we stepped into an artists booth.
I even discovered a little something new about Mike and his taste in art. While I go for whimsy and maybe a little creepy, he usually goes for the more traditional type of art like landscapes etc's but this time he seemed to love the geometric shapes and bright pops of color.  I think it that 80's boy in him he loves pretty much everything about the 80's.   It was fun to have him show me something he liked, it's usually the other way around.  I especially loved having 100 percent of my husbands attention!
Talking about art, looking at art and just spending time with each other was just what I needed. I feel very blessed that I was lucky enough to marry someone who can enjoy something that I love even if he isn't into like I am and really engage in it.  I am lucky to have married my best friend!

Every year we go to the fair we let the boys pick out a new print to buy.   The boys made sure to remind us to bring them home a new print even if they were not going to be there to pick it out. Matthew has found a new interest in Hippo's (why? he say's they are funny looking and he likes their name) so when we saw the print called, "Hippopopulous" a water color creation by Enid Groves of Seattle we had to get it.  For Jackson, we found one of our favorite artist from the fair Noelle Dass.  www.noelledas.com  Noelle's art is whimsical, vibrant and fun.  A few years back we bought the boys tee-shirts from Noelle.  Jackson loves her piece called, "Must...Get..Ball!" He wears that tee-shirt all of the time.  So this year we decided to buy him the print.

In our journey around the fair I found an amazing and very friendly jewelry artist Lauri from spinglassbeads.com.  Her work was so beautiful that I had to have a necklace.  I love it and I am excited to wear an original piece from her. Lauri makes her art by spinning glass canes by hand over an oxygen-infused torch. Anything made with a torch is so cool I had to have one! Here is a picture of my necklace.

After buying the necklace we continued exploring the festival.  This year I also purchased a print from one of my favorite artist Juli Adams.   www.juliadams.com   Juli's art is whimsical colorful and intriguing.  I love her characters and how she brings them to life. Her medium is oil paint.  I really want to try it someday, I just love how vibrant the colors are.

While a lot of the artists are quiet and don't say a lot there were a few artist that their personalities stood out just as amazing as their art work.  Brian McGuffey was so nice to talk to. He told me all about his process with his art, how he gets it to look that way it does etc. It was amazing to listen to him describe how he creates such beautiful pieces. Someday I am going to buy something of his!  Check out his work at www.brianmcguffey.com.  It's amazing, so many layers! I couldn't stop looking at it.
Another stand out artist that we met was Paul Nzalamba. nzalamba-artworks.com. Paul is such a great story teller not only with words but in his art too.  Paul told us the stories behind some of his works and Mike and I were entranced.  Paul is one of East Africa's most respected batik masters. His work is amazing.  Someday I will own one of his prints too!
Both Brian and Paul were such a pleasure to talk to and their passion and amazing spirits shine so bright you can't help to want to take home something they have created.

Lisa Telling Kattenbraker another batik artist was there too. I didn't get to meet her but every year I love to go by her booth and look at her amazing art.  www.lisauntitled.com

A couple other artists that I want to mention is Justin Hillgrove of Imps and Monsters.  www.impsandmonsters.com.  Love, love, love his creatures! Another artists work that I love is Lee White.  www.leewhiteillustration.com Love Lee's whimisical illustrations.  Oh! and one more, these guys are a duo and their work was amazing. Stephen Stum and Jason Hallman of Stallman.  They use paint and canvas as sculpture. You have to check them out amazing stuff.  stallmanstudio.com.

So there you have a little taste of what I found and loved at this years festival.  It's such an amazing (yes, I used the word amazing again!I can't help it, it was truly amazing) experience to be able to walk around for hours looking at different artist, their passion and their creations.  I can't wait till next year.  Maybe instead of looking I will be selling? Hmm you never know.

Happy Creating!