Apr. 30th, 2023 at 9:08 PM
Bovey Tracey Green Man Festival 2023
Before I moved to Bovey Tracey last year, while we were still living with the Reeve family in Widecombe, Stuart and I made a trip to the town to see the Green Man Festival. It was pretty amazing and I took lots of photos and made a drawing (which you can see here!). This year I was a bona fide Bovey resident and, not only that, but had a studio right on the high street where the festival all happens!
But I wasn't quite sure how to get involved with the festival, should I apply for a stall or something? Fortunately Susan Bradshaw and Jon Arnold at the Bovey Paradiso studios sorted it all out for me, and let Stuart and me set up a table right next to their booth outside the front door. My co-author Philip Reeve came along to help, and we got to meet lots of people, sold lots of cards and signed quite a few books! Here we are, signing a book for a little boy named Jacob, and I drew his portrait into the book, too. His grandmother sent me a photo from back home, where he'd carefully copied out my picture of him. (Nice work, Jacob!)
Photo by Katie Law
One family that we'd met at the Gnash Comics event in Ashburton even brought us illustrated eggs from their own hens! That's never happened to me before, I was very chuffed. (I ate some of them for breakfast this morning and they were tasty!)
I did a small print run of Devon-themed cards, just for the festival. Here's the picture on the Green Man card. It was fun seeing people spot themselves in it; a group of ladies were especially moved, they'd gone through a lot that year and said it meant a lot to them to see themselves in the picture like that. (Which meant a lot to me to hear.)
Philip, Stuart and I were so busy with running the table that I didn't get any chances to take photos of the wider festival, but here's one with some top-notch hat action.
And here's a snapshot with Jon Arnold, who run the art gallery at the Paradiso and has been so supportive, along with the rest of the Paradiso team. Thank you, Paradiso! And everyone who stopped by yesterday!
But I wasn't quite sure how to get involved with the festival, should I apply for a stall or something? Fortunately Susan Bradshaw and Jon Arnold at the Bovey Paradiso studios sorted it all out for me, and let Stuart and me set up a table right next to their booth outside the front door. My co-author Philip Reeve came along to help, and we got to meet lots of people, sold lots of cards and signed quite a few books! Here we are, signing a book for a little boy named Jacob, and I drew his portrait into the book, too. His grandmother sent me a photo from back home, where he'd carefully copied out my picture of him. (Nice work, Jacob!)
Photo by Katie Law
One family that we'd met at the Gnash Comics event in Ashburton even brought us illustrated eggs from their own hens! That's never happened to me before, I was very chuffed. (I ate some of them for breakfast this morning and they were tasty!)
I did a small print run of Devon-themed cards, just for the festival. Here's the picture on the Green Man card. It was fun seeing people spot themselves in it; a group of ladies were especially moved, they'd gone through a lot that year and said it meant a lot to them to see themselves in the picture like that. (Which meant a lot to me to hear.)
Philip, Stuart and I were so busy with running the table that I didn't get any chances to take photos of the wider festival, but here's one with some top-notch hat action.
And here's a snapshot with Jon Arnold, who run the art gallery at the Paradiso and has been so supportive, along with the rest of the Paradiso team. Thank you, Paradiso! And everyone who stopped by yesterday!