![[Lake scene drawing]](http://images.midwestweekend.com/graphics/lake_scene.gif)
When country artists hang an "Open'' sign on their studios, it's time for seasoned shoppers to hit the road.
Around the region, art-studio tours have been springing up, beckoning art patrons into the countryside just as fall leaves change color.
It's the perfect meeting of minds and pocketbooks — shoppers get to chat with the artists, and artists get to sell right out of their studios.
We all know what summer means — days at the beach, boat rides, marshmallow roasts . . . and shopping.
Not at malls but under the little white tents that pop up wherever there's a festival, on the shores of lakes, in parks and on picturesque town squares. That's where the region's most accomplished potters, glass makers, jewelers, painters, weavers and photographers bring out their wares and make themselves available to whoever cares to stop — customers, passersby, admirers.
At Duluth's Park Point Art Fair, Frank Garcia of Duluth cast himself into the last category as he went from one photographer's booth to another, looking enviously at beautifully composed portraits of wildlife, flora and landscapes.