Monday, February 19, 2007

Steppin' Out

Amidst our weekend visitors, Bruce and I managed to steal a bit of time for ourselves to go support the 19th Annual Sarasota Festival of the Arts. Yup, we braved the bone chilling winds and temperatures to walk around the art booths. I am so glad we did! Not only did I get some much appreciated alone time with my husband, but we saw some wonderful art work. What I seemed to be most drawn to out of all the work was the whimsical and the witty... bright colors and a sense of joy and humor about the work.

Something that instantly made me giggle was this little guy (yes, he came home with me!)


He just looked like my artist muse/frog fairy begging to come home with me! I keep wanting to call him Wilbert, but I'm not sure yet... What do you think? The artist's name is Mary-Ann Collins, and she is based out of Raleigh, NC. The brightly colored, glow-in-the-dark frogs, lizards, blowfish and various bugs were just too fun to pass without going and saying hi! My mood was instantaneously 150% better. And I wasn't in a bad mood to begin with!

The second booth that I just couldn't resist was the Wonderful Wacky Women! If you go check out Suzy Toronto's fabulous work, you'll understand why. I just "had to" buy two of her "Wacky Women" for my girlfriends.

They are called "She who Has Arrived' and "She who Seeks a Better Way". All of these amazing women come with stories that make them even more fabulous. Suzy's work reminds me a bit of Brian Andreas' Story People. The styles are different, but the spirit is the same. Both inspire me to have more whimsy in my life. And both make me want to be creative myself. It's an on-going call of a tiny voice somewhere deep within me that is steadily getting louder...

8 comments:

kunzang said...

I totally appreciate the comment re whimsy, being a capricorn who can take life too seriously!
If you were to title yourself as a wonderful wacky woman, what would it be, "She who........?

Bobealia... said...

Love it!
I love the storypeople too, thanks for sharing this.

kenju said...

Imagine finding a Raleigh-based artist on here! I collect frogs, so I will have to look her up and see about getting one. That one is very cute and a definite mood-lifter!

Tia said...

What a great question, Kunzang...

Hmmmmmm..... my immediate, uncensored reply is "She Who Yearns to Dance".

Not sure what that means, exactly... I'm not a dancer. Possibly it's about having joy, moving lightly, being joy. "Joy" seems to be my "task" right now. Isn't that a silly contradiction?....

Glad you all enjoy Wilbert! =)

Catherine said...

I think Wilbert is a perfect name for your frog. I have quite a few frogs here - both ceramic ones, and real ones that chirrup every night (they are Australian brown tree frogs apparently). Nothing as cute as Wilbert though!

Anonymous said...

How tickled I was to see your posts pop in my bloglines feed!! ;)....Wilbert seems to suit the little fella ;)

Stephen Newton said...

Love your frog, also a powerful protector and spirit cleanser. Glad you wandered out and immersed yourself. I'm feeling better each day and back at work. You are loved.

longspider said...

Great post, Tia! Fun, whimsical, joyful.