In Which Cat and Pete Go out to Play

A few weeks ago, the fella and I attended Mythic Faire, a sort of faerie/steampunk/renaissance sort of convention. After hitting Faeriecon for one night last year and having a great time (and wishing we'd been able to stick around for the entire weekend), we really wanted to experience the sort of camaraderie that only comes with good music, alcohol, and fantastical costumes. Also, any excuse to wear a corset:) We ordered tickets months in advance and kept our fingers and toes crossed that the girl wouldn't come down with anything that week (and she did manage to catch pink eye in the beginning of the week, but we growled it into submission. The eye drops helped a little.). Thus, the girl got a fun weekend with her grandparents, and the man and I got two whole evenings to ourselves! It was a glorious thing.

Hi, my name is Catrina. I am 34 years old and still enjoy playing dress-up.

The first night was more of a steampunk theme. We attended the Time Traveler's Ball, catching the tail end of the lovely SJ Tucker's set and the awesomeness that is Abney Park. How did we not get into them before now? Ever since I've been humming airship shanties. The band themselves were friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoy interacting with fans (also, Jody told me she liked my fascinator:). I'd see them again in a second. Pete was fired up by the proceedings- he's very much into the steampunk ideology, and we're mulling over ideas for a future costume (he was thinking of something the late-16th century admiral Yi Soon Shin would wear if he were a futuristic airship captain). Me? I like the aesthetic, but it's not my favorite genre. We ended the evening chatting with a pleasant fellow over a few drinks.

The next night was the Kelticworlds Masquerade. We missed the opening act, but caught Delhi 2 Dublin. Great energy. They had the crowd jumping. I loved the costumes for this night, and really wish I'd taken pictures. At the very least, I wish we'd gotten pictures of ourselves. Ah well.

Panels! Pete got a great deal out of the ones he attended (the Steampunk Panel and Designing a Renaissance Fair with Don Carson), and I'd thoroughly enjoyed the Drawing Down the Moon art panel with Daniel Merriam, Renae Taylor, Don Maitz, and moderated by Robert Gould. All of the artists were very down to earth and helpful, and the discussion went a long way toward reassuring me that my painting methods were not completely insane. I'd had the opportunity to speak with Daniel Merriam at length after the panel, whose work happens to be a personal favorite. He was very personable and accommodating, elaborating on a question I had asked during the discussion. He noticed my sketchbook and asked about my style and while I really wanted to ask for a critique...I wimped out. Pete was even sitting nearby with his laptop and could have shown him my website, which we'd redone in time for the convention. I was just overwhelmed by self-consciousness, which was silly, as he was genuinely nice. Yes, I am kicking myself now.

Now, there were two big draws to Mythic Faire for me, outside of the kidless weekend with the man and the opportunity to wear a corset: getting inspiration for sketches and connecting with other artists. The former was slightly more successful. I'd had the idea that I would carry around my tarot cards and a sketch book, exchanging a reading for a sitting. This worked once- I attracted the attention of a lovely lady named Hannah(?). Unfortunately the sketch does her no justice, as I'd enjoyed a drink or two by then;)

She was much prettier than this.

For the other readings, I received a guitar pick and a button bearing the legend "Kiss me, I'm Irish." I'd chucked the sketchbook at that point, as it was a pain to lug around the entire night. The rest are just drabbles.









The last one I'm using in a new picture, so you'll see her again.

The high point out of the whole thing was catching up with our brilliant friend Ben, whom we hadn't seen in a million years. We forced him to watch Korean historical drama, because that's how we roll. Also, we have his sketches:

The burly guy cracks me up, as does the grouchy wizard heading off the paper.

So we had a great time. If we can swing it, we'll try to make it to Faeriecon, and maybe I'll actually get up the courage to exchange business cards with people and draw a bit more.