On the first Friday of every month a group of downtown Knoxville galleries and merchants participate in "First Friday", with new shows opening up at the galleries, free food (of sorts), and usually some free out-door entertainment. You would have thought that Diahn and I were prisoners on parole when we figured out that we were going to get to leave family obligations behind for a few hours and go to First Friday together last night. Really, it was kind of sad. Two grown women getting all excited about a few hours out in the heat. Pitiful, actually.
Still, we had the BEST time! We wandered and saw some great art, including the most fun exhibit of all at the UT Downtown Gallery -- Shoebox Sculpture -- some small and very interesting / entertaining / thought provoking pieces of work. I'm sure we are both secretly digging up old pieces of small junk and cigar boxes and considering how they could be glued, welded, or otherwise attached together...
When we decided to REALLY eat (not just M&M's and squishy squares of cantaloupe) we settled on Trio Cafe because (1) they had available outdoor seating, (2) they weren't Thai -and-something else fusion food, (3) neither of us had ever eaten there before, and (4) they had salad, which we could draw for this week's EDM challenge.
I have to point out that the salad bowls really were oddly shaped -- round with a slanted rim (kind of like these, only smaller, white plastic, and with much more slant) so that if you turned your bowl JUST SO ... with the high side in the back ... only you could see your salad. You could hide behind the high rim if you wanted, so nobody could see if you dripped salad dressing down your chin or if a long piece of frisee didn't quite make it into your mouth in the one bite you thought you could pull off. (Well, nobody except the well dressed business man sitting at the table BESIDE you, looking on in horrified disgust. Oh well.) At any rate, the salads looked deliciously cool and refreshing in all that heat, so I sketched as fast as I could, and then tucked in before the whole thing wilted.
(How often have I said how much I admire those of you with the discipline and self control to draw your food before you eat it?)
Afterwards we wandered out into the square to philosophize and listen to a little music from a street musician and draw a few people until it finally (all too quickly!) got too dark to see the details. It was a good night. A very good night, indeed.
16 comments:
Love your blog, Linda! It sounds like you and Diahn had a fabulous day....great job on the sketch too ~ :)
SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT TIME, LINDA! AND THE SALAD -- YUMMY BOTH TO EAT AND SO WELL DONE!!!
Linda, you two have way too much fun when you go out sketching!! Great sketches and story.
I am one of those people who ate their tuna salad before I could sketch it.
What fun to hear about your First Friday outing - thanks for sharing. It's still a bit hot in our area for that, so I enjoyed it vicariously.
Linda, you and Diahn are so lucky to have each other to do these things with- what a great time. I wish I could pop over and join you! It sounds like you've been very busy lately - I'd kind of lost touch with your blog, and it's great to find you again. I've been struggling to catch up myself lately! I'm going to try to check back more often - I've been missing way too much...
Lovely sketches and so funny to read! Sounds like you two have a great time whenever you get together - I'd like to join Casey and come too!! :)
I envy the fact that you and Diahn can get together for some sketching and fun. How wonderful for the two of you. Loved your description of eating salad.
Linda, I love your art and writing. You're a great storyteller with a wonderful sense of humor.
The salad looks fabulous! And I'm glad you had so much fun on your day off.
Your post is hilarious and I like the way you pasted things into your sketchbook along with your wonderful drawing. There's nothing like an artists' "date" to make a great evening!
Your journal pages give me encouragement to get back into it. What a great way to remember the day. Nice drawings! I enjoyed browsing through your blog tonight.
Enjoyed your First Friday post as well as the rest of your blog. Especially loved the recent colorful landscape post. I'll be back soon.
OH, it was a good night - and I can't believe I haven't commented before now. This page turned out so great, Linda - even the guy sitting funny that it took you so long to figure out why he looked so strange. LOVE the addition of those marvelous colored pens to the salad - just yummy.
You know - we have way more fun than is generally allowed...
Done any Gandy dancing, yet? :-D
Oh, lucky you to see the shoebox exhibition. I had the catalogue of a previous version from the library and it was so exciting, even just in book form.
what a great sketchbook page!
i envy you artists who can draw food...photos of food can be quite off-putting and unappetizing if not done well...and i'm usually too hungry and too lazy!!
What a great night it sounds like you had. And great sketches came out of it, too. Nice work!
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