Laguna Art-A-Fair

Every summer Laguna Beach devotes the season to celebrating fine art.  This event is now in its 50th year and going strong so how could I miss out on the fun?  A friend and I once again tootled down to Orange County to visit the Art-A-Fair Fine Art Festival.  We weren’t disappointed.

I always promise myself that I won’t get carried away and buy a lot of things; I won’t be swayed by all the lovely pieces I see.  The artists each have a booth and display their art under a canopy.  You may see all kinds of art: sculpture, oil or watercolor paintings, mixed media, photography, and jewelry.  I’m sure I’m missing something but I think you get the idea.  I always seem to see several things I like.

This trip was no exception.  One of the first booths we stopped at was that of Laura Seeley.  I really liked the colors and playful quality of her work.  Yes, I made my first purchase of the day at her booth.

I wish I could have afforded a a large original painting, but I did get a lovely hand-embellished panel!  My friend and I enjoyed chatting with her.  One day we’ll take a ride and visit her studio in Dana Point.

We wandered throughout the festival checking out all the booths and having a marvelous time.  These pieces aren’t to be taken lightly.  Some are very dear, with price tags in the thousands of dollars.  Obviously I didn’t pick up many of those, although I did see several I liked!

We had lunch at Tivoli Too!, the restaurant that’s right in the same area as the fair.  Now isn’t that convenient?

After lunch we wandered a bit more and then decided to head for home. We caught the free trolley back to the parking lot.  I believe there is another trolley that travels between  the lot and downtown Laguna.  That tells me that parking is a problem down by the beach.  One of these days I’ll explore that but not this day.  We were trying to beat the rush hour traffic!

The festival runs through the summer, June 24-August 28, so it’s almost over.  Once you purchase a ticket for Art-A-Fair it’s good for the entire season.   If you want to see the fair this year you had better hurry!