Fernando - and the Eastern Shore Artisans Trail

Fernando

Oil on canvas, 12x12

commission

If you're in Wachapreague on Saturday, April 5, please come to the Island House for a day of fun and fund-raising to help establish the Eastern Shore Artisan Trail.

The Island House will donate a portion of the day's receipts to the effort, and artists and artisans in town - myself included - are donating work for an auction and silent auction.

The silent auction runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; the live auction takes place at 8 p.m., after a social hour that starts at 7 p.m.

Artists and artisans from Wachapreague and beyond have donated work for the event, which is part of the effort to make the Eastern Shore part of the Artisan Trail Network.

The network is part of the Artisans Center of Virginia, which was incorporated in 2000, as a way to serve the state's artisan community by providing funding and economic opportunities to the states craftspeople and artisans. You can read more about the program here.

So while the Artisans Center doesn't really include artists (though I think it should), an Artisans Trail along the Eastern Shore is bound to benefit those of us who make art, as opposed to craft, just by drawing attention to the bounty of creativity and talent that's here on the Eastern Shore.

I am donating a pet portrait to the effort, so if you've been thinking that you might like a portrait of your pet, here's a way to get one, and help a good cause, as well! These paintings sell for $350; bidding will start, I believe, at $200, so you might even have a chance to get one below cost.

Here's a poster of the event:

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I WON'T BE able to be at the Artisan Trail event, because I will be in historic Pendleton, South Carolina for the Spring Jubilee, my first show of the season here in the east. That show takes place April 5-6.

I'll be staying down in South Carolina for the week after the show, as the following weekend finds me in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the 4 Bridges Art Festival, April 11-13.

My show schedule to date is up on the blog now, with my booth numbers if I know them. I'm planning on fewer shows this summer than last, though at this point, the schedule looks pretty full.

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Peter and I took a drive to Exmore and Willis Wharf on Saturday, just to get out - I realized that, apart from one trip to CVS, I haven't left the house since I got back from Arizona! I asked him to stop so I could to take a photo of the scene below, and when I got out of the car, these geese started honking and honking, creating a ruckus like I've never heard. And they are as silly-looking in life as in this photo.

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Dog of the Day

It's Smokey, a little blurry, but happy and full of life as ever.