Last weekend was the inaugural First Sunday Arts Festival of 2012. This festival is held in downtown Annapolis on the first Sunday of each month from May through October. Despite living in the area for almost 3 years now, I had no idea this festival existed! I heard about it through my Aunt, who had a booth there.

The first photo is her newer work – water colors. I really love the look of the watercolor coast line with the stenciled light houses. The second photo is older work (early 2000s). These are all stenciled scenes on wood. My Aunt and grandmother used to be pretty popular on the craft show circuit with their stenciled baskets, wall art, light switch covers – you name it, they stained and stenciled it.

Anyways, after visiting with my aunt, Jeremy and I checked out some of the other local artisans. Our first purchase was of this print of a pencil drawing:The artist is a Spanish man named Julio Martinez San Jose, who is in his eighties. The woman selling his work said that it was the first time the artist has ever shown/sold his work. Many of his pieces have a political or social message. This piece is “Handover”. Here is the description that came with the print:

Clinton succeeded the father of George Bush, who passed problems along to Clinton, such as Somalia which looks like an open mouth. The figures are cut-outs. At the end of a campaign, the politicians have become cut-outs to please the electorate. Referring to this drawing, San Jose says, “We don’t have revolutions. We have freedom of choice and every four years we elect one out of the two.”

In this close-up you can see the political cut-outs. I really like the caricatures of the former presidents and first ladies. Naturally, it was zombie George Bush that won me over. There is so much detail in this print. I know that it will grab the attention of our house guests.

The second piece of artwork we bought was this Turkish tile design painting on canvas. The artist is an old Turkish woman. Most of the paintings are recreations of tile patterns from palaces and mosques. A few of the pieces are original patterns. Naturally, it was the red and turquoise/teal combo that drew us to her booth. We chose this pattern because of the shade of blue, and the afford-ability ($40). Of course, the painting we really liked was $120. Maybe another time.

One booth was selling vintage jewelry, mostly from estate sales. They had a large collection of brooches, clip-on earrings, and cuff-links, as well as necklaces. I chose the long necklace featured above – although I am not convinced it is vintage (it says 1928 on the chain)

Jeremy selected two sets of cuff-links (both by Swank). He also got the tie clip that matches the silver set. There were many wild cuff-links to choose from, but these are in the best condition (too many animal heads missing one eye). I like the cuff-links with the crest. Reminds me of Queen or Ferrari. Now all he needs is a shirt with French cuffs…

For Jeremy’s mom, we picked up this sail boat from Sea Art. The boat is made from driftwood found on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. Each piece of drift wood is labeled with where it was found. We chose this boat, with the plain canvas sails, to go in the beach themed bathroom at Jeremy’s parents’ house. I also like how they wrapped up the boat in a plastic bag for us.

There were lots of other booths that we checked out but didn’t make any purchases:

• E-clipse – jewelry made from car parts and Swarovski crystals
• SK Stained Glass – mostly window hangings, but they had some neat candle holders
• Simply Plated – new and old candlesticks and plates, combining them to create simple, elegant, upcycled cake plates, many adorned with fanciful objects
• Fire Robin Farm Pottery – the pottery is food, microwave and dishwasher safe

Jeremy and I liked these turn of the century ceiling tiles. Most of the tiles were painted bright and wild colors. On the right is one of the tiles that has been transformed into a mirror. We were tempted to get a black damask-like one for the dining room.

I am sad that so few vendors have websites for me to share with you! If you are interested in my Aunt’s work, please let me know! Otherwise, just come by the festival some time this summer. Hopefully we will have more cool finds to share.