Wild Arts Walk/Quick Draw 2013: Follow-Up

Artwork by Randall Compton/Dan Kennedy (+ bonus Feral Warning from Laura Nutter)

Quick follow-up to the previous weekend's event, and a special thanks to The Significant Otter for watching the table, a big thanks to all the folks who stopped by to say hi and score some original artwork and share some laughs, and also all the many many artists of awesome talent out lining the trails with some incredible artwork.
I loaded up the truck with the table, a chair, and a storage bin of tshirts plus a couple boxes of books, and packed along a portfolio of sample works along with the usual demo supplies and miscellaneous materials. A hat-tip to the crew of volunteers who had everything already in place for all the participants - that was an unexpected bonus and made for a easy setup.



Doggone it: While setting up the table there was unfortunately some schmuck out with his dog which was not only unleashed but quite obviously not under any sort of verbal command whatsoever: I admonished him that it was after migration and birds at the refuge are nesting etc. but got a harrumph in response. Bookending the event there was a more comical interlude with a dog running pell-mell down the path... trailing a foldup chair on the other end of the leash. Several other folks tried to catch him as he streaked along past everyone's table and through/around members of the public out wandering around the event. When I reached out to try and stop him at the very last minute he looked a wee bit too excited to risk any hand contact, but after taking out one of the poles supporting my tent he slowed down long enough for me to stomp on the chair and bring his brief bout of freedom to an abrupt end. The owner soon came charging along and the impending collapse of the tent made for a good opportunity to pack up the show.

What with temperatures well into the eighties we were most fortunate to have a spot tucked off under some trees - and a bonus breeze helped to beat back the swarm of mosquitoes itching for a fight after the first hatching of the season. There was also a steady haze of pollen blanketing the ground and coating everything upon it, and the air was at times glowing with a translucent, dusty haze of gold. Either that or I had drank way too much coffee again. It was great to see some familiar faces and make  some new friends and fans alike. Even got to part with a few pieces of original art, sign some books and unload inventory. Did I mention free lunch? There was a bag of munchies and a rotating wagon with an urn of lemonade that just made the afternoon a perfect picnic. Even got to sneak in a few more washes on the backlog of inked panels put aside for interludes such as this: I always maintain that I'd just be back at the cabin doing the same exact thing anyways, doesn't make all that much of a difference to do it outside in public somewhere else.

Betsey Bear/Randall Compton/Carol Wilbur

Some of the folks attending were: Randall Compton,  Betsy Bear, Carol Wilbur, Laura Nutter (also recent winner of the 2013 Interior Mayor's Award) Brianna Reagan, and many others both in the field, on the trail and up on "stage."

Double-hitter & trounced with twenty minutes to spare... both panels penciled, inked, washed and framed well under the hour-long limit: while practice most definitely did not make for perfection in this particular instance, at least it put the fun in fundraising, as everybody had a great time gathered together for a good cause.

Image via Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival

Mr. Brian Rogers, the Chancellor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (and incidentally also of the indomitable Mustache fame) auctioned off the items from the half-dozen Quick Draw participants: one final extra-big thanks to the bidders on these two pieces which raised over several hundred dollars for the Friends of Creamer’s Field! Plus the winning bidder not only took a couple handsome pieces home - already framed and ready to hang - but one of the caption lines (for the Sandhill Cranes/Binocular panel) was also inked in with someone's name, and it should run in the newspaper as a Nuggets some time over the next coupla weeks - I'll post it when it prints. In the meantime, what a wonderful event full of so many inspiring examples of what makes the Interior creative community so special: supporting each other and in turn supporting a fantastic Fairbanks resource.