I have arrived home from an amazing weekend at Clunes Booktown Festival.

We were all so lucky. It rained Friday and Monday (not great for the organisers setting up the marquees, food stalls, etc) but the Saturday and Sunday had clear skies and not much breeze. Perfect weather to throw on an extra layer and wander and explore the streets full of books and listen to author talks.

My stall was in Wesley College (the Old Bluestone building), a block from town. There were seven other stallholders in this building.

I had great plans to take a lot of photos of the interior of our building, full of people, but I forgot.

Louise my good friend, was my trusty helper (table stylist, luggage hauler) for the weekend.

I did not get onto the main street very often, but when I did it had a wonderful vibe.

I had so many interesting chats with stall visitors, including some Instagram followers who came to see me!!!!

There was a steady stream of people throughout the weekend. We talked to people about books (of course), art, watercolor pencils, travel, and sandwiches to name a few topics.

There were people who returned from last year to tell me they had bought one of my books last year! The Annual Booktown Festival attracts locals, from Melbourne, and interstate. Hello to my Queensland friends for their special trip down to visit and to the Adelaide visitors I spoke to.

It was fascinating to hear why someone was purchasing a specific book. The drawing sometime had a personal memory for the person of a time or place in their life. Some were to be given as gifts, framed.

My sketching opportunities were at the opening and closing events for the Stallholders and Volunteers. It was lovely to meet other people involved in the weekend. I sketched when the speeches were on. They were unknown times, so when the speeches ended, everyone moved!

We arrived on the train (two hours from Melbourne) with four large suitcases. We departed from Clunes with three suitcases, selling a quarter of my stock. Very happy.

The plan was to leave the empty suitcase behind, but we filled it with books (for me to draw in for next year) and other purchases from the lovely shops at Clunes.

All of my drawn in books that did not sell will be gradually added to my ETSY online store