The weather was beautiful, the beer was local, and the crowds were furry. Asheville is really such a fabulously liberal town.... I've never seen so many dogs accompany their owners out on the town. This past weekend Jim Dear, Fry, Sprout, Grandmama and I made our way across the Smokies to visit the opening of ZaPow. After driving all day, delivering a couple more pieces to the gallery, and finding the cabin we were renting for the weekend, Jim Dear and I speed showered and were still an hour late getting back for the opening. We needn't have sweated - folks in Asheville like to party late. A large crowd filled the gallery, people and pets listened to tunes of a local punk-a-billy band, drank some microbrews and even bought a few of my prints. Well, the people did most of the drinking and the buying. I talked to several local folks and other artists, including Daryl Slaton, whose work was hanging near mine. His work was lovely, with lots of color and details. Several of the attendees commented on how our work complemented each other. Hopefully ZaPow will be a success for both of us.
Besides ZaPow we also visited Carl Sandburg's house in nearby Flat Rock, NC. Besides using this leafy mountain retreat to write, the Sandburgs' also raised prize goats .....which, happily, are still there.
A Return to Sketchiness....
Life, and the dwindling pages of a sketchbook, has - as usual - interrupted my daily sketchings but i do have this to share. After completing my portfolio facelift in color, i've decided to do a few black and white pieces. These will be done for an older audience, think tween chapter books. I'm really looking forward to not worrying about color and just focusing on tone which is what I think brings out the drama in a piece anyway. Here's a scaly character and his feathered friend... or is it his lunch?
