Revel Art time

Every October, there is a festival that comes to Shreveport.  It is the Red River Revel.  It is one of, in not, the best festivals that Shreveport facilitates.  They bring in music from all over, big names and some great local acts too.  This year the headliners were the Band Perry, Steel Magnolias, and Sister Hazel.  Now I'm not saying big as in Dave Matthews or anything, but not bad for an outdoor show with a $10 ticket.

But more than just the musical entertainment, they have food booths with some quite tasty fare.  You have you choice of the standard sausuage on a stick, meat pies, and funnel cakes.  Then you have my favorites.  Muffaleta pizza, crab cakes over shrimp and eggplant jambalaya with a cream sauce, and dipped cheese cake on a stick.  Thrown in roasted corn and you almost have a balanced meal.

Both the music and the food is reason enough to go to the revel.  However, Eliz and I really like to go for the art booths.  There have been artist from as far off as the Jewerly Makers of Whitefish, MT to the painters of Downtown Shreveport.  This year there is a large local presence, but they have brought in some goodies from Utah, Texas, and other far reaching places.

Last year Eliz and I purchased a couple pieces of art.  Our first piece was a painting of poppies in trees.  Eliz actually had the artist paint this one specifically for her.  She loved the painting but wanted red flowers instead of blue ones, which the original had.  So we gave the artist, Monica Fallini, MF Fine Art a sum of money in return for a promise she would mail it to us when it was done.  It took a few months, but it finally showed up on our door step and we have been quite happy with it.

The other piece we purchased was from a very popular artist in this regions.  Her name is Candice Alexander.  She is known for her interpretations of Flur-de-Lis.  She has one for all types of professions and situations.  Personally I think the Flur-De-Lis is EVERYWHERE and the novelty has worn off for me.  Eliz found a wonder print of a tree, actually two trees intertwined, that she really, really liked.  So we got this one too. When we told her we wanted it, she informed us she needed it for a show and couldn't let us have it just yet.  But, she said she would mail it it us.  So we paid her too, and ended up leaving the Revel with a lot less cash and nothing to show for it.  Fortunately, everyone was true to their word and we recieved our art like little presents, just went the newness of buying had worn off.  So we were able to get excited all over again.

This years Revel, although a little smaller, was good too.  We spent last night getting a piece of Pizza, Corn, and cold Abita and browsing the booths.  The jewelry was interesting, I guess, but Eliz said the greatest thing..."I have enough jewelry for now."  So that was wonder!  We looked at the art booths and nothing really spoke to us again this year, except for one.  Monica Fallini was back with some great new pieces.  She even branched out to mix media on some of her artwork.  What Eliz and I really like about her is the Texture of the poppies and the colors she uses.  We looked at her booth, thought for a while, then walked away.  We walked the rest of the booths and found ourselves pulled back to her booth.  This time with consideration of places, we walked away with two new paintings!  I guess we are not official collectors of Monica Fallini, not that I have any problem with that.  Here are the newest Paintings.

For the Kitchen

In the Living Room

But, in God's fun way of keeping things even, we found out yesterday we have  gas leak in our pipes.  The City Man came out, took good look, and found a leak in a pipe that is pushing 80 years old.  The joys of owning an old house.  So, he took our meter, which means no hot-water or heat ( thank goodness it's still a Louisiana Fall) and told us to call a plumber.  The plumber charges a $350 fee just to come out and test the line, not to mention the labor or parts needed for the repair.  And in true plumber fashion, he's late. This reminds me of a show theme song..."You take the good, you take the bad and then you have The Facts of Life, The Facts of Life..."  A positive attitude is easier typed than believed.