Can you smell the lavender? The Willamette Valley Lavender Festival was celebrated this weekend all across the Willamette Valley with fields upon fields of blooming lavender. One of the main events was held at the Chehalem Valley Cultural Center so we made sure to stop by on Saturday morning to check it out.

All sorts of vender booths were set up outside of the cultural center and you could find lavender in just about every single item!

Some of my favorite things were these beautiful wreaths, each one was unique and I loved the variation in materials. I also was scouting out some ideas for my own lavender wreath making class…stay tuned for an upcoming blog post to see how my wreath turned out!

Beautiful lavender soaps.

These wall pockets were especially fun and I saw several people purchase them…it’s a great way to display some freshly picked lavender.

And of course, bunches and bunches of lavender! I’m sure you can just imagine the smell, nothing mellows me out like the smell of fresh lavender.

I also really enjoyed talking to the gentleman who put together this essential oil extractor. I put a little dab of the lavender oil on the inside of my wrist, it’s the perfect perfume!

Inside the cultural center ballroom, we were treated to an entire gallery of lavender inspired art. The Plein Air Art Show was part of the Lavender Festival and hosted over 80 artist, both amateurs and professionals, who went around to the local lavender farms and painted scenes out in the fields. As guest to the art show we were invited to vote on our favorite professional piece and our favorite amateur piece. I’m guessing we looked at over 200 original pieces of artwork all created within the last two weeks across the Willamette Valley.

I took a few pictures of artwork that we really liked…it should be no surprise that these beehives were a favorite! Save the bees!

This painting received The Renaissance Man’s vote for best amateur painting. The art was done by Regina Atwood and it’s called “The Hills Are Alive.” The artwork was done using oil and was painted while at the Mountainside Lavender Farm in Hillsboro.

Who doesn’t love an old truck in a lavender field?

This was my winner for the professional division! Something about the symmetry in this photo just pulled me down the row of lavender and had me wanting to go visit that beautiful house. This painting was done by Karen Whitworth and titled “Just Beyond.” The medium used was oil and the painting was done at Lavender Lake Farms in Independence, Oregon.

My winner in the amateur division was a piece called “Tis time…to gather” done by Roberta Mathews. She used water color and did her painting at Mountainside Lavender Farm in Hillsboro.

We didn’t end up purchasing any art, but we certainly enjoyed seeing the lavender fields through the eyes of artists! I applaud each and everyone of them for being part of the festival!