Art, Wood and the Fair

Today it was Tabitha’s turn at the County Fair judging.

It was a hot day here in the nation’s tender midsection, just the sort of day to make you dread having to sit in an unairconditioned metal Quonset hut for hours waiting for a judge to look over what you brought.  On the plus side, however, it did help dry the paint on Tabitha’s artwork faster.

Of course she was putting the finishing touches on it this morning.  Don’t be silly.  Even if we hadn’t just spent the last month away from home, this would still have been true.  She’s my daughter, after all.

Tabitha exhibits in two categories this year – drawing and painting (which she was enthusiastic about), and woodworking (which she forgot completely that she had signed up for and which thus came as something of a surprise back in the late spring).  But she rallied and came up with a few good ideas for each category, and today was the day to bring them in.

She brought in her walking stick for woodworking.

And she brought in her pencil drawing, mixed media work, and acrylic paint work.

Fortunately, the lines for these things are nowhere near the level of insanity that the photography lines are, and the judging was fast.  Almost instantaneous, in the case of the woodworking.

In the end, Tabitha came away with a white ribbon for her walking stick (judging was quite stringent in this category, and we saw very few blues) and three red ribbons for her other art.

This means that we are essentially done with the hard part of the fair this year, and can simply sit back and enjoy it.  Or enjoy it as much as possible given the blast furnace that the summer has become.

Good work, Tabitha.  I’m proud of you.