A Few of my favorite artists at the Melbourne Art Fest today!

by Kathy Garvey

I just spent the morning at the Melbourne Art Fest in downtown Melbourne and there are so many wonderful artists for this juried show that the work is almost overwhelming. Even so, there were six artists whose work I found so wonderful and their attitude so engaging that I asked if I could photograph them with their work to post here. If you weren't able to get to the show,  I'm adding links where possible to their work so you can see more.

The first really fun artist and her work that I encountered was Andy Striewski of Fort Pierce, Florida. Andy's work, which she terms "architectural constructions" is so fun to look at. She gathers odds and ends, assembles them into wonderful three dimensional objects, paints them with layers and layers of paint and the end result is fascinating for me. Unfortunately, Andy does not have a web site for me to link you to.

 Next, I encountered Janet Searfoss. Janet does batiks - with an enormous amount of exquisite detail in them. And Janet was so much fun to talk to about her work. She engages with everyone who enters the booth and was just delightful. She and her husband, Harold, came all the way from Greenville, South Carolina. She was so cute posing in front of one of her handsome owl batiks in a way that almost looked like she was sprouting wings. Janet has a beautiful website explaining her process and showing a beautiful gallery of her work. Click here to visit it.

 I was captivated by Peggy Engsberg Furlin's very graphic watercolors on canvas. The colors - all very soft washes of browns, greens and mauves - and sense of design really appealed to me and she was also very easy to talk with about her work. You can see more of Peggy's works and learn more about her by clicking on this link.

 I was thrilled to see Joyce McAdams at this show. I had encountered her work at the Cocoa Beach Art Festival last year and was entranced by her mixture of beautifully painted papers and fabrics. It's always fun to browse the booth of an artist whose work you love. Joyce has a beautiful website that's a must visit by clicking on this link. You will be totally inspired as I am.

An artist whose work I hadn't encountered before really caught my eye. This is Patrick Pierson of Palm Beach, Florida and he's a skilled painter with fun surreal topics. I was also impressed with how he talked about his work with visitors to his booth. Patrick has a lot of his work online and you can start by visiting his work at www.planetzootopia.com. I highly recommend it. Such fun you are going to have if you visit!

 Last but not least, I found Bob Osborne. Absolutely loved his very graphic watercolors and the beautiful textures in them. Bob is from Amelia Island, Florida and many of his topics are fish and birds - but oh what delightful fish and birds! I'm linking you directly to his giclee gallery that has a good view of his works I love. From there you can see his other beautiful fish paintings. Click here.

There were at least 40 other artists whose work I just think is wonderful but I chose these six not only because I find their work extremely well executed and graphically beautiful, but because they were so engaged with the customers visiting their booths. I love that. I always leave an art show thrilled with the beautiful work I've encountered and very glad that I am not the one standing in a booth all day. I couldn't do it. It takes a truly talented person to get into a juried show; it takes a truly marvelous personality to successfully work a juried show. These six artists were top on my list and I appreciated their willingness to pose for a picture while they were in the middle of such a busy day. If I've provided a link, I hope you will check out their web sites. They are all worth a visit.