After the Festival: Gratitude and Gathering Light
- Loveday Funck
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
The tents are folded, my Kia is half-unloaded, and there’s still a faint shimmer of salt air in my hair from Ocean Springs. The Peter Anderson Festival is behind me for another year, but the glow of it lingers: the laughter of fellow artists, the hum of live music drifting through the streets, and the kind faces who stopped by my booth to share a story, a smile, or simply to look a little longer.
There’s a special kind of magic in those weekends. They’re long and messy and full of small miracles: Vietnamese coffee at dawn, a perfectly timed breeze, a stranger who becomes a friend over a shared love of foxes or folklore. Every conversation reminds me why I do this, why I keep creating, printing, packing, and traveling. Art is the thread that ties us all together, and I felt that so deeply in Ocean Springs.
Two moments, in particular, have stayed with me.
The first was a man who paused before my booth, studied the walls of surreal collages, and said with a grin, “I love your work. I’ll be back to stare at it some more after the mushrooms kick in.” I told him I hoped the experience would be transcendent, and honestly, I hope it was.
The second was a lovely woman who left with three books and three framed art pieces. As I wrapped her purchases, she said warmly, “You really need to make bookmarks.” And she’s right. There’s something delightful about the idea of tiny windows into my worlds, tucked between the pages of someone’s favorite story. (So yes, bookmarks are coming.)
I’m endlessly grateful to the Peter Anderson Arts & Crafts Festival team and volunteers for hosting such a beautiful event, and to everyone who stopped by my booth, adopted a print, or shared a kind word. You filled the weekend with joy and made every early morning worth it.
As the season rolls forward, I’m already packing up again, next stop, the Three Rivers Festival in Covington. I’ll have new prints, mystery scrolls, and a few fresh surprises waiting there, but the heart of it remains the same: stories told in color and collage, stitched together by the people who pause to see them.
Thank you for helping me keep this traveling storyteller’s light burning.
Until next time, keep a bit of wonder tucked in your pocket. ✨
🦊 Meet Renard Blackwood: The Fox That Walks Like a Man
Between festivals and studio days, I live in two worlds: the one of sunlight and salt air, and the one that exists behind the veil of Tongue of the Serpent. Each week, I like to introduce one of its wanderers.
This time, it’s Renard Blackwood, the silver fox who walks the boundary between charm and ruin.
Renard was born into a carnival family where every member carries an animal spirit in their bloodline. His uncle Leo was a lion, his sister Doe lived up to her name, and Renard… well, he was always the fox. Clever, restless, and far too curious for his own good.
He left the carnival years ago, chasing freedom and bargains that glimmered like promises. Now, he’s part of the Krewe of the Morningstar, a man who knows how to smile through his own unraveling. There’s a touch of magic in everything he does, but it’s the kind that always costs something.
In Tongue of the Serpent, Renard’s story is about consequences, the deals we make, the selves we shed, and the pasts that always find a way to catch up. His charm is his armor, but beneath it lives the echo of the fox that still watches from the darkened woods.
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