The Renaissance Faire!

This is the 51st. year for the Renaissance Pleasure Faire!  It's been held every year since 1962 at a few different Southern California locations.  It's now held at the Santa Fe Dam which offers lake and mountain views.  The fair is a re-enactment of a marketplace in Elizabethan England (1580's).  Over a thousand actors and performers dress as authentically as possible for the period.  Visitors to the fair are encouraged to dress appropriately too, but that's optional.  

One of the plein air groups I go out with has some members with fair connections so we were allowed into the area to paint on a day the fair was closed.  The colorful booths and stages were there, and we had four costumed musicians posing and playing for us.   The weather was beautiful and the setting was really exciting to see.  I painted a watercolor, 8x10" and small gouache, 5x7".  There was a gorgeous Sun/Moon stage that I loved.  Maybe it will be there next year and I can think of how to simplify it for a painting.  Paintings can be donated for a May auction to benefit a scholarship fund.  I'll be donating my two paintings.  I hadn't been to the fair before so I really enjoyed the day in such colorful surroundings.

8x10" watercolor

5x7" gouache

Maybe next year!