September Art Fair @ Mellwood

This weekend was the first annual September Art Fair @ Mellwood, a former meat packaging facility that has been transformed into shops, small restaurants and artists' studios. One of my favorite art fairs was the Ursuline Art Fair sponsored by the Ursuline Sisters. They gave up their sponsorship so I'm glad Mellwood took over. It was a nice venue, not quite the gently rolling hills of the Ursuline Campus but a nice mix of fine art and crafts. I was shopping for a stained glass piece to hang in my kitchen where the old refrigerator used to be. It looks like an empty space where a refrigerator was housed. Hanging some art in the space above an old kitchen cabinet that was Jim's mom's will be a nice way to fill in the blank area between it and the cabinet that was above the refrigerator.
But, alas, no stained glass piece that fit the bill. But, there were plenty of art to look at. I was completely taken with these encaustic altered books, and had I felt rich and been rich, I'd had given in for sure. They were spectacular! This is the artist's website. His name is Ray Papka. I didn't get to meet him as he was taking a short break when we came by. This pictures, as always, don't do the art justice.
The bottom photo was of a "pocket book" and had added to the top the metal frame, snap closure and metal chain handle from a vintage pocketbook. Clever.
The other art I loved is the marbled paper paintings. Paper marbling taken to another level where a picture is painted with the floating paint and picked up on the paper. They are truly spectacular! She has some lovely marbled paper note cards but the ones that are scenes, like this under water one and flowers, are special. I'm sorry I didn't pick up this artist's card. She was a regular at the Ursuline Fair. My husband gave me a hand bound book of hers for Christmas one year.
I did buy some soap and bar shampoo and a gift for my DIL for her birthday. I'll post that in October after the big day.