Ann Arbor Art Fair Stroll: Shadow Play, Barking Dogs, Anything's a Toy

Call him Vincent and buy his paintings

What to do when you'd happily pass the days as a large scale figure painter, but the market isn't aligned?  One answer: Edward Vincent Wood III's hand shadow series, a playful exercise allowing him to paint extremely realistic hands with defiantly unrealistic shadows. His love of capturing the subtleties of flesh is evident in his large- and small- scale oil paintings. His painting practice extends 16 years, though he had natural drawing aptitude from childhood. Give him a friendly welcome him to his first year at the Ann Arbor Art Fair (the Original on East Washington, near Hill Auditorium, booth A146). 

Just a few doors down, Kent Ambler returns with his fantastic woodblock prints. I still love the textural quality to his work -- he's always improvising with new tools to create different marks. I visited some favorites from last year like "Crow in the Snow" -- they still appeal. I asked for background on a newer dog portrait ("Mug Shot of a Serial Barker"): "Oh, yeah," he says, "that's a new dog I got in December. The local shelter had a photo from above, so he looked like a dachshund mix; but when I got there he was long-legged and actually a hound mix, but I took him anyway. He barks ALL the TIME, howls, too --" What's his name? Mr. Whipple Was that the name he came with? Nah, they were calling him 'Roman' or some such. (booth A154)

Elsewhere in the Original, Katie Musolff won a well deserved Award of Excellence, as her River Journal watercolors continue to fly off the booth walls

Verrusio

Connie Verrusio returned with her found and upcycled metal jewelry. I bought a surprisingly comfortable bangle fashioned from a carpenter's ruler, which I thought I could actually wear around Oyo. More accurately, it is a bracelet she can wear around me, as she pointed to it the moment she saw it and repeated the word "Off" until I surrendered. She is content to play with her sorting cups, with the bracelet bouncing around her arm. On North U.

enviable business card

Busking Bonus:

Guitar-yoga double play!