Everything is just beautiful at the Sawdust Festival! I have been going since a boyfriend took me when I was 18, the boyfriend is now married to someone else, and I am 35 and still going back to the Sawdust Festival by myself or with whoever wants to join me!
This past Saturday I went by myself! It was a fantastic day in the canyon! I decided to go a little later this year, I usually go in the morning, but this year I decided to go in the evening. I think that was a much better decision! The weather was PERFECT! A nice cool 70 degrees, sweet smelling ocean breeze! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect setting! So I paid my entrance fee of $8.50, and step inside the entrance of this fantastic world of art!
Let me tell you this place is Magical! Lanes and paths of art and crafts and works of otherworldly goods of all kinds! Wood works, Glass Blown pieces of Art, Clothing made of Felt, Silk, and Cotton; Jewelry of ALL kinds! Fairies hiding all over the place! Be on the look out for sneaky little sprites, they might catch a ride in your pocket if you're not careful!
My first stop was a newcomer to the festival this year, he takes surfboards he finds on Craigs List and epoxy's them! He lays this amazing epoxy all over them and gives them this amazing finish! They are just BEAUTIFUL! I had a great conversation with him and wish him the best of luck! His name is Jason Rate, stop by his booth and look at his beautiful Surfboards!
My next stop was Jude Taylor-Darlin, the thing that stopped me at her booth was she had these Beautiful mermaid drawings! I love Mermaids! And she drew these with Pen! She is AMAZING! I bought two prints, one Mermaid and one Sea Dragon! I love them!!!! She was soooo sweet and kind! From there I kind of just wandered around looking at everything for a little while. I enjoy looking at all the different kinds of art people create!
My sisters birthday is coming up in August, so I did want to see if I could find something for her. I found this lovely booth that had wine stoppers and door knobs made out of blown glass! They are just so whimsical and fantastic! I was really entranced by them! The glass blower is Alex Fritz, he was actually not in the booth at first, I was talking to his wife while he was gone. She was super nice! I have forgotten her name at the moment, but she was super friendly and we had a great time talking about all the different wine stoppers! My sister doesn't drink a lot of wine, but they were just SOOO cute! My sister LOVES tree frogs and some of the wine stoppers had these amazing tree frogs on them! They were so fun and interesting! I just couldn't get away from how cute they were! I wanted to get one for my sister, but just wasn't sure if she would get any use out of it......by this time Alex had come back to the booth and he had a little something he hadn't put out on display! He had a pen with a glass blown TREE FROG on top!!!! It was PERFECT!!!!! My sister just became last year, so this was the most perfect gift EVER!!!! She is going to LOVE IT!!!!! I couldn't have asked for a more perfect present!!!! Thank you Alex! You made my day!
After my wonderful stop with Alex and his beautiful wife, I met Gavin Heath the glass blower extraordinaire! His booth is all the way is the back left corner of the festival, I believe that is where is booth has been for the many years he has been there. He is South African and we talked for a long time! He has been ALL over the world! He is a true Surfer! Before coming to the festival that morning he had gotten up at 5 to go surfing! That's commitment! LOL! I loved talking to him! He has some beautiful glass blown art, African animals, tide pools, hearts! Just fantastic stuff! He even teaches classes if you are interested in learning how to blow your own glass!
The next artist I met was a Viking! Really! I felt like I landed at the Renaissance Faire! He had a leather kilt on and everything, with long flowing hair! He is a silversmith, who specializes in Turquoise. I've seen his booth before and stopped by before, but never had a chance to talk to him. I got a chance to talk to him this time, maybe he was just being nice, who knows, but it was fun being flirted with! LOL! This would be Greg Thornes booth! I bought myself a purple and turquoise ring. I love it! And the man who sold it to me wasn't too bad himself! All these people are what make the festival what it is!
At this point I was getting a little tired and realizing maybe I shouldn't spend too much more money, so I decided to wander around for a little bit more and maybe head home. Well my wandering led me to Michael Phillips booth. I had been to this booth before in the past. To be exact I had been there the previous summer with my sister that had just passed away. She absolutely LOVED his artwork. He does Super Hero and Cartoon art, but it is Fantastic, I love it too. We both bought some last summer. When I walked into his booth on Saturday, he was just walking out and said "I'll be right back, if you need me my number is right there, just text me." I walked into the booth and stood in the middle of it. I did not realize how powerful being in there that would be. Remembering how delighted my sister was by his art, how happy she was to buy something for her kids, even now typing this my hands are shaking. My heart was breaking all over again in this booth, because of all the lost things. Its so strange how sudden an emotion can take hold. How it can strike you from nowhere. And then I wasn't alone in the booth anymore. A couple kids came in, and they were so cute and kind of messy, just looking at the pictures, and ignoring me, like kids do. Their dad came a couple seconds later, and they started pointing out characters they recognized together, and that broke my spell of sorrow, it brought me out of my depth of despair. So I left the little family to marvel at Michael Phillips art.
I was walking up another pathway when I was passing a booth and a kind voice calls out, and I don't exactly remember what she said, but her art was photographs of the Berlin wall, the street art on the Berlin wall, and it was taken only weeks ago! This woman had taken these photographs herself! They were AMAZING! Her name is Debra Conkey. What happened with her wasn't so much about her art though. It was our conversation. And that is what I really love about the Sawdust Festival, the people care. Debra and I had a great conversation! She talked to me for a while and made me feel great about something I had had a bad day about the day before. She told me, you're making the right decision for you and that is all that matters. It felt great to be told that! She is a professor at a college and she told me that a lot of people don't have the courage to make that choice, to make the choice to be happy over money. She told that even though we had just met she was proud of me. To be told that felt fantastic! She made me feel like someone validated what I had been doing! Thank you Debra!
It had been a wonderful adventure and I will definitely be back for more during the summer! Most likely with other adventurers! I look forward to seeing all my new friends!
If you get the chance to go to the Sawdust Festival, I highly recommend it! They also have a Winter Festival, it usually starts in November and runs through December. It has great Christmas presents! There is great food, music, art! Tons of things to do and see!!!
Rebecca
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