Well, it looks like this drawing could use a little help from Photoshop as it’s very washed out.     So, you may see this again soon and a little darker.   I’ve taken a little license to add a little purple to what were really very blue flowers…hence the name “Big Blue” and I love the name “Sea Holly”!.  I used my favoriet sketching method…draw with ink pens (flairs), then work it over with brush and water.  I usually try to warm up with some sketches before jumping into a pastel or watercolor and I’ve been absent lately  visiting the Art Festival, etc. Maybe on to pastel tomorrrow!

On Tuesday, July 28th, I went to my favorite art venue, the Laguna Beach Art Festival.  This is a wonderful  open air event that includes 3 separate art venues spaced along Laguna Canyon Road, each with restaurants, food booths, demonstrations, hundreds of paintings, sculpture, jewelry, pottery, photography and clothing.  The oldest of the venues, the Festival of Arts, was originally held on the streets of this little beach town.    Today, its beautiful location is permanent.  Not only is the art at this location juried, but you have to live within a certain distance of Laguna to qualify for entry.  The grounds holding the art booths are attached to a theater that shows well-known art work produced  in the evenings on stage with live actors called the Pageant of the Masters.  The top photo is  the entrance to that theater.

A short distance along the canyon road are two more venues, Art-A-Fair (juried, but not limited to local artists) and the Sawdust Festival (not juried, but artists must live in Laguna Beach).  Although photographing the art is not allowed in any of the venues, you can take general shots and I see that I got a pretty good shot of a booth at the Festival venue.   As you can see, the lighting is wonderful and all booth areas are covered, so the July and August sun is held somewhat at bay.    I hope I can go down again before the end of August.  In the meantime, it’s back to my own art!

It is always an over-whelming experience for me to drink in the amount of art on display each year.  Talking with the artists is a plus, as most can be found at their booths on the weekends.  Since I was there during the week there were fewer artists, but no real crowds, so I could get wonderful views of everything in the booths.