Ok so technically I am a few days late for Follow Friday, I got a really good reason though, I was waiting for Saturday. Yesterday I got the amazing blessing to meet real life in person the fantastic Tara McPherson!!
I heard about her Cotton Candy Machine Pop Up shop from Jeff Bertrand, who heard about it from Abby Coppage- and we all pretty seriously geeky out. Gushing even :)
I arrived about 30 mins way early to Fond Object on MacGavock in Nashville because I was so excited. It was pretty funny for my daughter who just smiled and shook her head at me while we browsed and I shifted nervously from foot to foot. Hey, you just don't go to college and a major portion of your life following this fantastic artist and drooling over all their creations without getting excited to meet them 'in the live'. After the shop was set up inside the funky vintage and record store, the first few folks who had arrived crowded around Tara and were gifted these amazing little prints of "The Water Nebula"!
The first fans got this epic little The Water Nebula print! Its on a thick watercolour paper, beautifully rich, very sweet.
Tara was great, down to earth and kind. It struck me how odd it must be to be famous- I did well not to gush or say anything too weird but my introverted self thought of how odd it would be if the tables were turned. I would probably want a screen that I stuck my hand out of to sign work and would be completely overwhelmed to pose for photos with strangers! To us, she is no stranger of course as we have watched her artwork skyrocket- how bizarrely weird and neat must it be to have all these folks asking for photos and signatures?
Tara personalized it for me - Check out her store for your own copy here
I got up the courage to give her the tiny Matryoshka doll I made for her that morning and bought an incredible giclee of the "Sword Swallower" . This print is so beautiful in person, rich and matte with her signature colours- no photo can do it justice. It makes me really think about how to frame it because I def want to protect it- but I hate to cover any of the texture with shiny glass! As well I got a 8'x8' of "The Day's Eye - Lily", one of these fantastic eyeball flowers she makes.
It was very hard to choose between her eye flowers! The Day's Eye - Lily by Tara McPherson
SO yeah, normally cool, calm, collected me (snort) geeked out! I hope Tara enjoyed Nashville and comes to visit again!!
There are a few more places and stops on The Cotton Candy Machine tour! Check out the info here on the shop blog!
And if for some strange reason your not already following her, fix that nonsense right away!
www.TaraMcpherson.com
Tara's site contains mature content. All artwork © Tara McPherson 2002-2016.
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook