Gallery Road Trip

Some of my work on display at Gallery on Gore, Perth

Oh, Autumn!  You have bewitched me again.  
Today I set out on a one hour road trip to the town of Perth, Ontario for a visit to Gallery on Gore with the purpose of delivering new paintings.  


Usually I listen to CBC talk radio as I drive along, but this morning was sunny, bright and so spectacular, I wanted to be right in the moment and soak it all in.  Switch off that blathering radio and be mindful!
Canadian shield granite outcroppings among the myriad of fall color, luscious. I ended up taking a detour because of roadworks, but never mind, I traveled down roads never explored before.  I'm glad I could enjoy it today; I heard lake effects snow might be in the forecast for the weekend! ugh.

Johanne, hanging some of my work

Gallery on Gore is a lovely little gallery on the main street of Perth, Ontario.  Gallery owners Johanne and Kevin are professional and enthusiastic about the art, which is such a great feeling for an artist. I also think it's a super important quality when it comes to selling art.  So many people are intimidated entering galleries,they need to feel welcomed when they do.  No problem at Gallery on Gore, it's a friendly little place!
I was happy when they chose 8 of my paintings to restock their inventory of my work.

There used to be an empty storefront next to them when they first opened a few years ago, but now the Perth Picture Framing shop has moved in...perfect neighbor, I'd say!

Sunday things

Such a nice break in the weather yesterday, the warmer temps beckoned me outside. Great day to attend the Fat Goose Craft Fair, held in Grant hall at Queens university.  That is "Purling J's Roving Yarn Co" red truck parked outside the door.   Such a cool idea for a business...Roving J's truck is a walk in yarn shop!  Did I tell you I am learning to knit socks? so excited about that!  I'm already working on the toe of my first one! Hopefully by the time I knit the second one I'll be a little quicker.
It was a joy to have a gander around the craft fair and take in the incredibly beautiful, innovative work of many local craftspeople.  I purchased several Christmas presents!

A great day too for outdoor jobs.  Dave got up on the ladder, replacing an 8 foot roof flashing strip that blew off in the high winds last week. yay Dave!  He also painted 2 adirondack chairs. oooh... time for me to get some jobs done too!  I removed the pumpkins from the garden and winterized my roses.  

Inside the delapidated old relic of a barn, I retrieved my stored easels. Did I tell you it's creepy in there? It is. I'm sure a million bats live there not to mention racoons and other critters of the shadows. It seemed a better place than the garage to store them  when I first put them in there, but they were pretty filthy when I got them outside, covered in cobwebs and who knows what else. A broom, spray cleaner,  long handled scrubber and I went to work. After a rinse and a stand to dry in the weak afternoon sunshine they are actually usable now.  

Here is one of them put to use holding a painting currently in progress;  one from the 'Ride' theme I began last year, which I know I'm not done with yet.  In a way having a theme or an idea to work through is kind of comforting; it eliminates the dreaded "What will I paint?" question. And it's interesting for me to see how the paintings develop through a theme.

the rest of the easels are now in my studio storage, which should make them way easier to retrieve when I need them for the open house at Marga's on Dec. 7th.  Here's the invite for that!  You're invited!

my lil book

A couple of years ago I created a small picture book with text that welcomes the reader to our little city of Kingston.  The images I selected to illustrate it came from several years of me painting in and around the Kingston area.  It took me a long while to find the words to fit the images; the paintings were after all the catalyst for the book.  It took even longer to sort out a version that agreed with me aesthetically, that was also possible for my pocketbook when it came to self-publishing it.  The book is an 8x8 soft cover, 20 pages in colour.  It was a fun project, and it's nice to have a record of the paintings in print, a compact memento that fits easily on a shelf.  It's rather old news but the new news is that this week I posted the book on my website so folks can purchase online.  
Wedding preps are in full swing around here, this Saturday is the big weekend!