Laguna Beach's Sawdust Festival

Us artists are really an interesting breed.  We love to create art and show off our art.  We like to sell it even more.  But sheesh, take a picture and they come unglued.  As if a photo can even replace the real deal.  I don't get it, but then again I'm not in the no-photo mindset. This placard or similar WAS ALL OVER THE PLACE at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach yesterday.

I'd have some pics of the niftiness that is the Sawdust Festival but honestly its not worth ruffling feathers to make a point.

What is the Sawdust Festival?  ITs a gathering of 200 artists that live in Laguna Beach, and only from there that sell their art from tiny, often 4X6 spaces within a square block area.  They charge admission.  ITS hugely popular and traffic in and out of Laguna Canyon is a challenge.  I'd suggest a xanax before you make the drive but you really need your wits about you with that traffic.

Parking is a bigger challenge, lots charge as much as $20 for a part day close to the event.  There are some cheaper lots, $7day, and metered parking 25cents/10 minutes around the Sawdust Festival.  Generally the cheaper the rate the farther you have to hike to get there.

Buy your tickets online and save yourself the hassle of a line there.  Its not free, but if you can't spare $7.25 a head I know you can't afford the art in there that can costs in the thousands of dollars.

Once in its sensory overload.  Its all quality art and fine crafts.  Not a piece of crap in the place.  Prices start from uber affordable note cards at a couple of bucks each to the aforementioned thousands for original paintings, sculptures and furniture.  I even walked away with ideas for future art projects so it was an afternoon well spent.

Palm Springs Art Museum...gem in the desert

If you follow my other blogs, you know that my time of late has been devoted to commercial stuff punctuated with a lot of family emergencies that have really interfered with my fine art pursuits and blogging in general.  It hasn't stopped me from getting out and enjoying art and doing some fun stuff.

On the 12th the lovely Mrs and I celebrated our 24th Anniversary and we did it without kids for a few days R and R in Palm Springs and the desert.  Love it out there.  We go every year, and not always alone, but always have a wonderful time.

This trip we paid a visit to the Palm Springs Art Museum as we've heard its a really nice place and they had a Picasso and impressionists exhibit.  The latter as you recall influences some of my arty stuff at times.  The exhibit was small, but beautifully curated and focused.  Even had one of his minotaur line drawings that I remembered from my college Art History days...that's going back a while.

They also have a very lively set of permanent collections that they rotate about.  A must see is the sculpture gardens off either the cafeteria or side exhibit hall on the lower levels. Its surprising and awe inspiring.  Some  are bold with color, others are bold with line and form only to carry them.  The blown glass "boulders" among the cactus are just plain fun.

We visited the main campus of the Palm Springs Art Museum.  In digging through their web I learned that they also have a secondary campus located in Palm Desert only a few miles away.  When we next visit the area we will hit the  Palm Desert venue to see what they have new and different.

More pics of our visit from the areas photography were allowed can be found on Flickr in my Palm Springs Art Museum set.

Deets: Palm Springs Art Museum  101 Museum Drive, Palm Springs CA 92262