Print for Tomato Art Fest

A summer tomato. Picked straight off the plant; the aroma of freshness filling your senses; your teeth breaking through the outer skin; droplets of juice cascading around your tongue. Such is one of life’s sweet pleasures.

Few things compare to the versatility of this vegetable for salads, ketchup, dips, and snacks. Yet somehow, it doesn’t garner the praise and attention it so deservedly earns. Someone needs to push everything else aside and put tomatoes front and center to make the rest of us take notice. Well, ten years ago, the owners of Art and Invention Gallery set out to do just that.

Quoting from their website, “The Tomato Art Fest was founded by Meg and Bret MacFadyen. In 2003, their gallery hosted an art show celebrating the tomato. The Tomato Art Fest proved so popular that it immediately turned into an annual, signature event for the hip, urban neighborhood of East Nashville.”

An instant success! The Tomato Art Fest has grown beyond just art. Now you can find vendors, food trucks, face painters, dogs dressed up as tomatoes and families. It’s a fun day for everyone centered around the tomato.

This will be my first time to participate in this event. I received my acceptance letter this week and went into a whirl of activity painting the print below.  It’s posted to my Etsy shop and a framed piece will be shown in the Art and Invention Gallery in East Nashville on the day of the event. If you want to participate just contact Meg at meg@artandinvention.com by July 27th and she’ll give you all the juicy details.

The event is all day August 10th and everyone is invited. So grab some summer goodness and have a fun-filled ‘tomato-y’ day!

***To stay up-to-date on this story and other updates, subscribe to my blog in the upper right corner of the screen.***