Garlic Festival this weekend - Carp Farmers' Market

Carpe Allium - (seize the garlic)
24"x36" acrylic on canvas

All things garlic is the focal point of the Carp Farmers' Market this weekend. To get in the spirit I've painted four garlic-themed paintings of which this is one. Garlic paintings are a challenge.

Here's some more info from their website (click here to go there)
CARP FARMERS' MARKET

Garlic Festival 2010

We're very pleased to present our 11th annual edition of the Garlic Festival, featuring more garlic in one place than you can imagine. Fresh garlic bulbs, garlic braids and decorations, garlic concoctions, garlic braiding demonstrations, garlic cooking demonstrations, a garlic contest, garlic tasting, and wonderful garlic aromas.

The Festival will be held for two days:

* Sat Aug 14th 8 am to 3 pm
* Sun Aug 15th 10 am to 3 pm

100 vendors, FREE ADMISSION and lots of free parking.

on the eve of Urban Art 2010

I'm not at Carp Market this weekend so I won't have to stop and let the geese pass this Saturday like I did last week.


Instead I'll be out marking spots for artists and getting booths set up and wondering where item X is and did I remember to bring it?

I don't know where the time is going but it seems I'm always busy or thinking about what I have to do next. I'm either saving my energy for the "next big thing I have to do" (I usually do this by watching AC360 podcasts. Ever since I dropped the cable tv to save money last December I've missed Anderson Cooper the most.)

I'm on the eve of one of my bigger yearly events, namely Urban Art @ Minto Park. This year it's 5 years old and my 2nd time organizing it with my good friend and fellow artist Tim Hunt. We had far fewer breakfast meetings this year than last. A testament to how busy Tim was too.

So I had one stand out day this week. I was interviewed by Michael Bhardwaj for In Town and Out a local CBC Radio One program every Saturday morning from 6am to 9am composed of information and interviews concerning events happening in our area over the weekend. I was so happy to be able to get the word out about Urban Art and to get an opportunity to talk about the community Post-It Note event which will happen during Urban Art tomorrow.

Basically Ottawa is a town with a lot of office culture. What more familiar format than the post-it note can you have when you are used to office spaces? In the park I will set up a pseudo office and I am inviting the public to write a thought, an idea, a grocery list, a to do reminder, a pet peeve on a post it and to put it up for all to see. I hope I get so many post it notes that all the surfaces are covered. And, for those who want to tell me a secret, I'll have my Top Secret File available in the filing cabinet, so you can leave something hidden if you want.

Really I am wondering what's on the mind of the people in Ottawa. What are you thinking about?

After the show I'll gather the notes up and make them into some kind of art piece. I did this before, when I bound secrets anonymously dropped into a ballot box for me into a book form called a flag book. Each secret was glued against the spine and then the book flies open in a great dramatic gesture, one flap lying atop the next all the way down. I'm not sure if the post-its will become a book. I have to wait and see what I get. But that's the fun for me. It's out of my hands.
Great.

The other thing that made my interview day a very auspicious occasion was the fact that I caught the double-decker OC Transpo bus both ways. What are the odds of that?



View from the front at the top
I also spent a few days postering with Tim this week. Between us we put up 230 posters in the downtown core. Someone always takes most of them down during the week - I've seen city workers and private citizens do this - but hopefully some remain and hopefully all the other artists have done their share as well. Now all we can do is hope for good weather, and if we don't get, to go on with the show anyway.





See you tomorrow.

Carp Easter Market - temperature 31C!

I woke up on Saturday and saw this sign of spring. This little bird was about all that said "spring" that day. The bright neon red sun that rose in my rear view mirror as I headed west to Carp looked more like one of the glorious mid-summer sunsets I have seen sitting on my favourite rock at Britannia Beach than an early spring morning sunrise.

It was spectacular.

No pics as I was driving with both hands.

The crowds were happy as they walked the market site. The summery weather made everyone relaxed and at ease, unless you started thinking about how weird it was but never mind that!

Let's enjoy the day for what it is. It could have just as easily been a snowstorm, or freezing rain. The market vendors were mostly in the agricultural hall, a few signed on to be outdoors (they really threw the dice and got lucky!) and a few of us, (myself included), were in the market building's rotunda.


Long shadows of a bright summer sun in early spring. Sandals. No socks.




Main gate to the site of the Carp Farmers' Market





Mural painted on the side of the agricultural building commemorating the Carp Fair, held every September.







During set-up the sun shone brightly putting everyone in a great mood. Here's the market building with its gorgeous new signage. I was in this location for the Easter market.




My space inside was small and sort of round. I had a minimal display here. My regular market booth will have three walls which will be full of friendly plastic things, paintings and mirrors.

Here is the Carp Farmers' Market calendar for 2010.

We open May 8th for the regular season. The hours are 8am to 1pm every Saturday.



My table top of paintings.




A fine selection of friendly plastic, some old favorites and some new designs. I have re-discovered my medium in getting ready for this show. More on that later.






Entitled "Love" this little painting is my current favorite.

I adore his toothy grin. He is more caressing the boat than crushing it, though, like when a cat licks you and then suddenly sinks his teeth into your flesh, you never really know what this green guy will do.

Saturday April 3rd, 8am to 2pm, Carp Easter Market & my market return :)

Hi. I know I've been a little quiet lately.

Lots of stuff going on. I wrapped up my first two classes for the City of Ottawa: Paint Your Pet's Portrait and Drawing and Painting for Beginners.

I have to say that these classes were a joy and I weekly fell in love with my students and with their bravery! I am not an easy teacher; I challenge my students but there is no way you are going to dedicate 10 weeks of evenings over the course of a winter to dabble here and there. I do hope they continue to pursue their art. every one of them had something special going on in their work. And on a personal note I discovered that I can teach. It's something I'd been wondering so good for me too.

Lately I've been making things, (market things), as I will be re-joining the warm and inviting Carp Market fold officially on Saturday April 3rd, 2010 for the Carp Farmers' Market Easter Market.

We start at 8am and go until 2pm. It's going to be some wild weather, and I'm not talking snowstorm more like sunburn weather. They're calling for 27C and that's so odd I don't even know what to add to that.
I'll just let the facts stand without comment.
And how you some pictures tomorrow when the event is over.

So if you are looking for something to do on a summery Easter weekend, drop by the Carp Farmers' Market and say hello. I'd appreciate it.

End of Term - One More to Go

Franklin - As seen on the last day of my fall 2008 term.

I've never had a name for this guy and it just came to me, Franklin. So here's to Franklin in all his glory, braving the wint'ry weather on the last day of class for me in the year 2008.

As hard as this weather seems, my term was harder. I worked very hard and produced many things. I think I did good.

And besides school projects I submitted to a few "call for artists" for charity fundraisers and I managed to get my AMACO friendly plastic challenge off in time, did two craft shows and submitted work to the school's Christmas show and sale as well as make an edition of 6 etchings for the Year of the Ox exhibition at Proof Gallery in Toronto. I also joined the Nanowrimo "write a novel in a month" challenge (this means write 50,000 words) and while I had to stop by the end of the first week at 5,000 words, with a real story just beginning, my 3 other cohorts completed their word counts. Here's to Karen and Tim and Mike! Salut! I was drowning in 3 seas of work: school, ceramic studio duties and my business. Just barely stayed afloat.

At the end of all this I am burnt out.

And now, with all this time on my hands, I can't go nowheres anyway. Our local bus system is at a full stop. They are striking and without a car and without $ I'm not going anywhere. So that's how that is. I hope they return to work soon but don't expect it to happen until after the holidays. Ah well. Time to relax anyway.

Up for Air

I am still up to my ears in school assignments and due dates and deadlines not to mention getting work ready for Carp Farmers' Market Christmas Show this Friday and Saturday, but I wanted to celebrate the fact that I sent off my Friendly Plastic Challenge work today, on the very last day it could be sent.

I was going to post images from what I made but I'm waiting until the 15th when the contest officially closes.

Stay tuned.

New Friendly Plastic Work - Mirrors

Carp Farmers' Market
Out of My Mind booth
My booth looks great here. I had to dismantle the whole thing Saturday afternoon as Carp is having it's Garlic Festival this coming weekend and I won't be there. It's too bad but it conflicts with Strathcona Art in the Park and so someone else will be in my space for the garlic lover's weekend.

Full display boards at last! It only took 10 weeks to do it!

Oh. I still see an empty space... rats.

love this toothy fish

flying dragon and earthbound penguin (sold)

queen bee (sold), baby, moose(sold) and a gold kitty. the usual.

saucy moose (sold)

optimistic kitty

pretty bird (sold) and sheep with good taste

Mish Mash

I had a professor in medieval art history who encouraged us to look up whenever we were out somewhere. She said you'd often end up with wet feet from stepping in puddles, but you'd see things that half the people around you never will.

Carp Market birds

dipsy doodle on top of blow up ice cream

City wildlife

dog in a well worn bag at Ottawa Market

big big eyes

My backyard

these smell 100x better than they look and they look good

a riot of growth

KittyX : no longer an outdoor kitty .

Day After the Weekend Before

Art in the Park in the Glebe is over for another year. This year? HOT. We went from 18C on Wednesday to 21 Thursday to 29 Friday and 31's Saturday and Sunday for the show. There wasn't any time for any of us Northerners to acclimatize to the hot, hazy and humid conditions. Summer is here. And as I discovered when I unpacked the car a few minutes ago, summer stayed with us overnight and we're in for another day, same as before. There was one Art In the Park where the humidex got to 46, (we reached 39 and 41 this weekend) and then it rained, and then it was like a steam bath. So, this weekend could have been worse weather-wise. The severe thunder and lightning never materialized and we had a fantastic spot with shade in the morning, then a bit of sun, then shade again. Very enjoyable.

The show was big.
Here's an overview of all the tent-tops looking down into the park.
You can't see them all in this shot... There were as many booths behind me.














This was my tent and my view looking out.














Every year it grows. Many Ottawans had a glazed over look. A show this size and this interesting is unexpected in this city, especially in a city park. Couple that with hot hazy and humid and many people were just overwhelmed, looking for the tent where they can get a cold drink and take a breather before heading off to see "what else is here", and trying not to miss a row of booths in the meandering booth layout. There were a lot of first-time visitors this year. It's a good sign of a healthy show.

The mix of things is changing. Used to be almost all paintings at one time. Now many types of art are represented. For me this is the show that really grounds me in my life as someone who goes out there and sells their work. It kicks off my season and I saw many people who I may only see once a year and that's always good.

This guy is only at this show. But I see him every year. What you can't get from the pictures is he has a musical soundtrack with him. Some medieval music for the knight and some marching song for the Mountie getup.
He came as a medieval knight on Saturday.
And a Mountie on Sunday.


Since we were beside a food tent, I saw him without the horse for the first time ever. He was bathed in sweat. As we all suspected, his costume is really hot.

If you didn't get there this year there are two more Art's in the Park coming up: In Minto Park across from Jack Purcell in mid July and Strathcona Park in mid August. The Glebe Art in the Park was the first one and is by far the biggest. Come and support the new ones too. Meanwhile see you at the farmers' markets...

First I got ready for my markets and now I'm getting ready for shows...

Since I last wrote I started the Carp Market. As usual I was pressed for time and had to do a massive push to get things done. Here's a shot of a container of friendly plastic characters, fresh from the oven, trimmed and ready for their pins to be glued to their backs and then mounted onto cards and titled. lots of steps to get one jewellery piece ready for the market. This bucket held 90 characters that I made over a week. Here's a shot of what 90 looks like.



I'll show what a few look like close up finished and on their display cards a lady a lady bug
a bird and a mermaid.

Don't you love the luscious full colours of this stuff? I do. Love it. So shiny.



And where do these little lovelies live? Here. This is the craft building on the Carp Agricultural fairgrounds. I took this during setup the day before market started for this season. And here's an interior shot of my Carp Farmers Market booth as I set up for the season.No pins on my boards yet. But I do have my sign, completely made of friendly plastic, up.



Meanwhile Ottawa market is in full swing. The crowds are large and enthusiastic.

Everyone is happy to be out and catching up with each other and how we survived the winter this year. We are all so relieved to finally experience the good weather.

Somehow Mobius Tim and I re-configured our shared booth at the Ottawa Farmers' Market. I say somehow cause we have tried to do this for two years now and with the simple change of two tables, one to the front and one made smaller at the back, the whole space has opened up. And it takes us about 20 minutes less to set up and take down.
We're thrilled.




And this is a shot of the Ottawa River as I drove back from the Sunday market yesterday. The sun was perfect reflecting off the water. It was our first truly summer day.

Nice.

And, oh look! So shiny....



Now to get ready for Art in the Park in the Glebe a week from this Saturday. Lots on the go. Lots. More on this later.

Here's something new I made for the Glebe show... but I've had to bring it out already at the market due to my work being popular right now (thanks everyone)... enjoy!

The Big Bet 24" x 24" acrylic on canvas

... yes those are the keys to a BMW on the line...