Art on Main – I Hate Self-Control

Hooray for weather that was better than expected…again!  I can’t believe that I’ve gotten so lucky twice this month, and for two art festivals at that. In early October, I attended Utica Square’s Art on the Square and the dreary, cloud filled sky stopped pouring rain down on us here in Tulsa and allowed the sun to shine on through to make for gorgeous outdoor shopping.  The very next Saturday, I was treated to the same taste of loveliness as the predicted rain skirted right over us, and we were left with a picturesque blue sky with fluffy white clouds and plenty of sunshine for Jenks, Oklahoma’s Art on Main.

Each year Jenks closes down the heart of Main Street and fills it with local artists, wineries, and music.  It is the perfect opportunity to browse the booths as well as the unique shops that Jenks has to offer, and this year was no exception.  My Mom and one of my dear friends went with me to do a little bit of shopping, and to try and contain my desire to own all the pretty things for my house.  (I’m running out of wall space as it is.)  With a perfect day, a great parking place, and even better company we set out to explore.  The first booth we saw was my church, St. James Presbyterian Church, they were set up for painting miniature pumpkins.  (Budding artists can paint a pumpkin and then head off to the bouncy castle while they wait for the paint to dry.)  It gave me a chance to catch up with friends that I hadn’t seen in way too long too.

I did pick up two new pieces by Josh Stout that I am absolutely in love with (See the pictures?  Aren’t they gorgeous?), and my friend bought me an early birthday present that I was drooling over.  All in all I contained my spending, and whether they realized it or not, those ladies did me a great service in going with me.  Just knowing that I’d told them that I had to be good helped me resist purchasing just about everything that Mr. Stout had in his booth as well as at least four other paintings and drawings.  The simple fact that I didn’t bring cash and a potter didn’t take cards kept me from purchasing another piece.  (I took it for a sign, because sometimes you’ve got to work with what you’ve got.)  It was with a happy heart that I headed home to decide where this month’s new collection would hang.  That’s when I ran into problems.

As I’m pondering the question of where these amazing pieces from Art on the Square and Art on Main will go, I realized that I need to have them all framed.  That’s six pieces that need to be framed.  Then I realized that I actually have another five at home that I’ve needed to get framed from Art on the Square last year, and I haven’t gotten around to it.  Then I also remembered the two that have been needing custom frames and mats…Oh my, Zigler’s Art & Frame is going to love me!  My home is already filled with great art, and that is another twelve pieces to find space to display.  My mother suggested a rotation, but obviously this is unacceptable, then I have to choose what is coming down.

Each piece on my walls holds a special memory or a reminder of something that I can’t put into a closet to store.  A photograph of the Metro stop in Paris my friends and I took each day we were there, a painting of a bridge over the Seine that we stopped near to have lunch, a series of pen and ink drawings of London purchased on a childhood trip, Arabic blessing purchased in Jordan during a layover on the way back to our home in Saudi Arabia, birthday shopping excursions…how do I take one of those down?  How do I take down the lovely gifts that I’ve received, especially when friends and family have done a fantastic job in choosing exactly what I’d love?  (Plus, I’m lazy.  The chances of me going back through and actually rotating art?  Slim to none!)  There’s nothing for it.  It is all coming down and getting rearranged.  If anything is coming down they are my own pieces that I’ve painted or drawn…okay, they’re probably not coming down either.

Anybody have any good suggestions on how to create an art wall?  Art walls?  Maybe I should just get a bigger house.  I just don’t want to choose!!!!

‘Til next time,

Jessica

P.S. Don’t forget to about the Be Kind…Win Stuff Contest!  It is going on until November 11th.  Just fill in the email form at the bottom of this page with an act of kindness that you’ve done for someone and you’re entered into a drawing to win an autographed copy of Discovering Joye by Jim Stovall!

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• Art on the Square A.K.A. An Exercise in Self-Control (ilovegeekology101.wordpress.com)