I love seeing new work

I got to the show early yesterday--long story--won't bore you with the details. But the upside was I  got to wander the aisles at the Paradise City Arts Festival in Philadelphia--there was some great new work--at least work I hadn't seen before--that I am now lusting after. Oh no--I'd better earn more money.

Let me show you.


One of my favorites was Leslie Ehrin who does amazing highly textured pictures of Tuscany. She told me that her work is so textured because she first saw it taking a motorcycle trip across Europe.  All the bumps on that bike I guess. Great story and the fields did make me want to touch them. Needless to say I liked the colors. And she is exploring some of the same images I am in my quilts.

Isn't that wonderful--so alive and happy. This is Leslie in her booth.  You can tell she loves what she does. She and her mother also have written a children's book--pretty cool.

Her web address is http://www.LeslieEhrinFineArt.com if you want to see more lovely colors. The book is called Just About a Year: All About Seasons by Leslie and Lois Ehrin.

My next stop was the shellacked painting of Robert Hitzig. He takes wonderful pieces of blistered maple and other wood and then shellacs color on top of them. The shapes again remind me of quilts.
Unfortunately I was too asleep to take a great image but this is one of his pieces I grabbed from his web site since I had to show you the wonderful colors and textures. (Yes, he does know I used his image.)

So simple and yet such wonderful colors and textures. For more info: http://www.roberthitzig.com. Did you know that shellac is made from a bug? Interesting.

In a totally different vein is the cast bronze of Laura Baring-Gold. It is so essential--ancient. Fish traps, children's cloth caps, adzes. Look at this basket:

As you look at it and move every so slightly the slats also seem to resonate.  Then there are the cast pears.

An actual pear cast in bronze. It is worth coming to the fair just to pick it up--unbelievably heavy. Each one is different too. Her web address is http://laura baring-gould.com. Do check it out.

And finally I would be remiss not to write about the stone water sculpture of Louis Pomerantz of Vermont. I confess I had seen this work before--but at this show I am right across from it. He takes wonderfully shaped stones, arranges them and makes them into fountains where the water just flows over the surface. Each one is different and so so soothing. His booth itself is a masterpiece of flowers and rocks and movements.

He warned me that it would be impossible to capture them on the camera--and he was right--you really do need to see them. But I still have to give you some idea what they look like.

This one goes up even higher and the colors are much richer than they look like here. Oh it is marvelous to watch the water flow over them. He didn't give me a web address but his phone number is 1-802-685-3415.  He's up in Vermont but does a number of shows. Again, you have to see them.

So what do you think? Which would you choose?  So many things to see.