Part III - The 20 Minute Art Fair

The morning of August 11th, we awoke and headed down to the lobby of the Fairfield Inn to enjoy the free continental breakfast. Big A and my view of breakfast is completely different. I can do with just some toast and a yogurt. He prefers a more elaborate spread since it is his favorite meal of the day. Their offerings met both of our criteria. I positioned myself to face the food area where I would be guaranteed to be entertained by the majority of the folks 'just out of bed' look. I guess a continental breakfast shouldn't be eaten before you have managed your hair (for those of us who have hair).

The night before, we came up with our game plan for this day. The art fair opened at 10 a.m. We had already scoped out the area for possible parking ideas and we planned on getting there about 9ish and just loitering until 10. We were right on schedule and were surprised to find that the parking garage next to where the art fair was held was nearly empty. The art fair in our neck of the woods is this gigantic, multiple block fiasco that usually requires a shuttle ride. So we pulled in and just sat until it got closer to 10. I enjoyed it because there were a lot of people coming in. The art fair was held in a newish shopping district so it was easy to see who were the workers in the nearby restaurants (the lone person in a small car) and who was an exhibitor at the art fair (a plethora of Chevy vans).

All this time, I was never sure if the artist that I had come to see would actually be there. This was all a crap shoot...that thankfully, for one of the few times in my life, turned out well.

As we were walking down the road of exhibitors, Big A and I were scanning the booths for her. I was doing it because I was nearly wetting myself in anticipation after all this time and Big A because it was an extremely humid morning with an expected high in the mid 90's, no shade along the art fair route and he was anxious to get back home.

About midway through (I think...we never did walk all the way through it), we spotted her. I was in heaven as I browsed through her unframed selections. My nightmare of finding one and not being able to afford it never came true. I found the picture that I wanted in the largest size available (11x16) and since who knows when I will see her next, I bought a few other of her pieces: the Iowa barn and one of a beach scene as a housewarming gift for a friend who loves her work but wasn't there (thankfully when she received the gift, it kept her from being ticked off at me going to see this artist without her plus she's an occasional reader of this blog so now that she has received the gift, I can finish this story).

As I was chatting with her while paying for my purchases, I had mentioned how I had been looking for her at our nearby art fair the last couple of years and decided to come to Chicagoland just on a whim. As a result, she gave me her business card and wrote out her cell phone number where she can be reached more easily than the phone number on the card. I HAVE HER CELL PHONE NUMBER! Thankfully, I have been using some self-restraint and not calling her just to say hi.

After I paid, we headed back to the car for the long trip home. That part is still to come in the fourth and final installment (Parts I and II can be found here and here). Until then, enjoy some scenes from the art fair: