Back in my Happy Place

…after three years

You might think that my ‘happy’ place would be my studio and you would be right but on Wednesday I returned to baking bread at Montgomery’s Inn after a three year hiatus, due to COVID. Three of us were back from the original group and one other staff member spent the morning prepping dough, heating up the outdoor oven and shaping the dough.

This week and next week we’re preparing bread, not to sell but as a trial run for the big event in two weeks when the Farmers’ Market goes back outside. Routines and procedures slowly came back to us as we went through the process. A few times we asked what some pieces of equipment were used for and we had to search the inn for some crucial items. When we couldn’t find them we put them on the list to purchase. Back in the winter the inn had a flood so we think that some things were thrown away.

In the end we successfully baked 30 loaves of bread that we gave away this week to the staff and some of the vendors at the market. We had a fun day and I think that all of us found our ‘happy’ place once again. Can you tell from my selfie?

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One Day Left

…for my solo art show, The Joy of Making

It’s been a crazy two weeks and my show will be coming to an end on Saturday, May 13, 2023. I’ve loved every minute of it and thoroughly enjoyed speaking to my family, friends, fellow artists and total strangers who came to see the show. I’m sorry that I missed some of them because I couldn’t be there every day but I tried to get to the gallery if I knew someone was coming for a visit.

As of today, I sold 9 paintings, 81 photo cards and two rock weavings. Love those red dots. Yesterday I added two more paintings to the wall. I had every intention on adding one more painting when I put up the show but I ended up making two more. One is called Crazy Quilt, 8″x10″, framed mixed media and the larger one is called Nothing Goes to Waste, 11″x14″ framed, mixed media.

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Love Those Red Dots

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Thursday Trios – Only One Day Late This Time

…my art has become all consuming

There are only two days left to my art show so things on my blog should be somewhat back to normal after this weekend. Normal? What is that? Here are a few trios for this week’s challenge.

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A trio of my paintings at the gallery – two of these are sold
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Update on My Solo Show – The Joy of Making

…after a very successful opening reception

For some reason I have no photos of me at this show, unlike last year. More importantly though I have lots of photos of the actual room and how the art is displayed. Last week, on Tuesday, my husband and I made our way to the Womens’ Art of Canada building where two galleries are housed. I was in the smaller room, The Ruth Upjohn Gallery and in the larger gallery, Dignam Gallery, the Photography Show was being set up.

The actual hanging procedure of my art went reasonably well. The only thing left to do was have the labels made and placed next to the corresponding piece of art. Unfortunately the making of the labels was a bit more complicated than in previous years so the actual labels didn’t go up until the second day of the show. None the less, everything was ready to go for the opening reception on Saturday.

On the actual day, all my worries of driving there through the city and finding a parking spot were for naught. My neighbour, Mary, came with us and kindly volunteered to help set up the food and wine and serve during the show. She was a huge help.

The actual reception was hugely successful. More than 20 of my friends and family showed up and then the artists from the show next door and their guests made their way into my show throughout the day. The photography show was also part of the Scotia Bank Contact Show which had numerous venues throughout the city so there were a lot of people from the public who also attended the show.

At the end of the day I had sold seven paintings, two rock weavings and over 40 photo cards. The show runs till this Saturday so there may be a few more sales before all is said and done.

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Thursday Trios – Four Days Late

…apologies to all my followers who participate in Thursday Trios

Even though I have always said you can post your trios on any day of the week I’ve always felt that as the host of this challenge I should make every attempt to post my contribution on Thursday. It has been a crazy week. Not only was I super busy installing my art show but I ended up going to two concerts, a reception and a dinner all on the same day which just happened to be Thursday. On Friday I was back at the gallery waiting to meet family members but due to a mix up they didn’t show. They came the next day, Saturday, when I had my official opening reception. A wonderful day that I will talk more about in another post. On Sunday when I did try to post on my blog my photos weren’t transferring over to my computer, my Facebook page had changed and it took me ages to get it back to where I wanted it and I had loads of laundry that I needed to do.

Anyway, I also had to go out and find some trios on Sunday so my contribution this week consists of spring flowers.

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If you have any trios to share please copy my link and paste it into your post. I’ll be sure to leave a comment, even if it takes a few days longer.

Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge – Enliven

…thanks to Sue W and GC for hosting weekly promptshttps://weeklyprompts.com/2023/04/29/weekly-prompts-weekend-challenge-enliven/

I feel enlivened with all the new growth after winter and even with the rain because I know that with it comes more growth and lush greens and colours. Walking also enlivens me, rain or shine.

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Rock Weaving

…a little distraction from painting

While scrolling through my Instagram account I came across a weaver from the UK that weaves on rocks and wood cutoffs. I was intrigued so I made a point of looking for interesting pieces of rock and slate along the beaches that I frequently pass on my walks. This idea came from Sarah Ward Podleszny over at Lark and Bower but I’ve since discovered that there are numerous other artist around the world that do this kind of weaving as well. Here are my first three pieces. I think I could become addicted.

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More Work in my Needle and Thread Series

…two more small pieces and two larger ones

A while back I told you about wanting to honour my past with art that reflected my family’s influence on my Joy of Making. My great great aunt and her family on my mother’s side used to own a very successful business where they made and sold ladies leather gloves in the early 1900s, in Germany. Old photos of my great, great grandparents clearly depicted how important fashion was to them and of course looking one’s best at all times.

My mother taught me how to hand sew, make clothes, embroider and knit. Later in life I worked for a needlecraft company in my spare time and taught other women the art of needle crafting, like cross-stitch and needlepoint and I worked at the community school teaching people how to knit.

The following works are collage and mixed media with some hand stitching or implied hand stitching.

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“Stitched With Love”, 8″x10″ matted and framed
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“A Stitch in Time…”, 11″x14″ matted and framed
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“Tante Paula, 1910″,11″x14″ matted and framed
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“Brocade”, 8″x10″ matted and framed