Safety Harbor Arts & Crafts Show, Dec 14, 2014

Here is the much delayed post of the last art festival I attended. Holidays and other activities got in the way of making more posts.

As usual, the festivals held in Safety Harbor stretched down the length of Main St with many tents and booths offering food, apparel, local charities, and various types of artwork. I went walking with phone in hand to capture some of the spots I found the most interesting. I collected cards with info on each artist or vendor, and asked permission before photographing the work.

I had the pleasure of tasting a few samples of beef jerky from a local vendor. Very good stuff, and jerky is one of my favorite things. I recommend it!  –

Redneck Steak – rednecksteak.com

walking crowd

One tent had small mosaics of different sea creatures and other animals. I have read about the making mosaics, and it takes a lot of hard work to do even small pieces, let alone large walls or murals. I really like the brightness and style of these pieces.

Jean & Rick Summers

Phone – 941-493-7667

kylieandfriends2@verizon.net

mosaics2 mosaics1

Karrin Lubisco Melo is an artist who offers beautiful handpainted murals, and “stoneimals” which are lovely. She has a shop over on Etsy. Many of the stone animals are listed there. Note: Images were taken from Etsy page, I didn’t take them. I’m just posting them as examples of the artist’s work.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MeloArtGallery?ref=l2-shopheader-name

turtle rock leopard rock frog rock

Allen & Kelly DeMichele have created gorgeous sculptures from sand, often depicting sea animals and scenes from the beach. Rich in texture and detail, it’s very hard not to be mesmerized by this kind of work.

www.islandsandsculptures.com

seaturtles sand sculptures mural piece seahorse

Jimel Arts – Sierra Studios creates both sea bean jewelry and oil paintings. I talked with the artist about the different paintings and the places they depict, and about traveling there. They definitely look like places you want to be. The paintings are gorgeous and vivid with color and depth. I could stop looking at them.

Email: hd2d3d4d@aol.com

oil painting4 oil paintings3 oil paintings2 oil paintings1

Unfortunately, at this leg in my walk, my phone died on me. So the last few places I couldn’t get any photos. I ask that any readers please visit the artist’s site to view their respective works. It is well worth the clicks!

Mungo Key Designs has an amazing array of artwork. Wall art, cutting boards and coasters are offered in bold colorful wildlife artwork. They are mixed media paintings by artists John Rymer & Kevin Ritter.

http://shop.mungokeydesigns.com/main.sc

metal pelicans

Some metal pelican sculptures on my way out.

desert rose tree

Interesting Desert Rose Tree. Very pretty.

That’s all for now.

Artworks & Photo References

Most of the time, I prefer to use photo references to do my work. It helps me get accurate shadows, light, and overall color scheme of the animals or landscape. There are things I’ve drawn from mental memory or fantasy, but they do require a bit of knowledge in terms of anatomy, and lighting.

 

gotort-fingt2-4

 

 

Pelican Trio 14" x 17" on bristol boardpclose1pclose3

 

 

"Baranoff Oak"baranoffoak4

 

pair seaturtlesgreen_sea_turtle_1pc325686

Now, when I have used photos/images from online sources such as Google search, I may use the pose of the animal, but change the background and/or colors of the animal to avoid full on copying. Remember, if you want a reference for an entire image, I suggest getting either royalty free stock images, or taking photos yourself.

You don’t need a high end camera in order to get decent shots to work from. I personally use a Sony Cyber-shot(DSC-W20) which does a fine job of getting me the images I need. I can’t zoom in from far away and get fine details, but if I can get close enough, I can get what I need.

That’s it for this week.

~ Angela