Monday, May 23, 2011

A Purply Kind of Day



It has been a semi-sunny semi-rainy May long weekend.  You can tell it has rained today. 

I have this succulent on my patio table, bought at the Toronto Botanical Garden plant sale last week.  I have no idea what it is called or how it grows or anything, but the form and colour caught my eye. I haven't found a suitable pot for it yet - one that compliments the colour of the leaves - a purpley colour as you can see.


I also have a big glazed pot full of chives on the deck.  The chives live year round in the pot.  I just cut them back in the fall and pull a green plastic garbage bag over everything and tuck the ends underneath the pot.  They start to grow very early in the spring due to the southern exposure and the micro-climate generated by the plastic.  I have to be quick about getting plastic off before the chives get too tall or they are all bent and crumpled in a Hunchback of Notre Dame sort of manner.

I often forget to cut the flowers.  I have never remembered to snip the flowers while they are still buds.  I understand they are good in salads.  Some year I'll remember in time.  But today I did remember and cut a bunch and found a great little vase for them.

This is a hand painted thrifted vase bought years ago. The maker's mark is a curved Czecho-slovakia around a little vase with a lid on it.  In the middle of the vase is a W.  And the painter's initials are E.R.B.  I like the chive flowers in it.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Swept Away Linocut Print



My second print of a black and white windswept tree, done in 2005.  Compared to my current trees, this one is very dense and black, with most of the detail around the edges.  Available for sale here.

Monday, May 09, 2011

Windswept Tree


This is the print that got me started on black and white windswept trees back in 2004.  I think it is a great subject and one that I keep on returning to.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Barns Art Market

I have been accepted into the Barns Art Market, a new art venue in Toronto, located at the Artscape Wychwood Barns, a former TTC streetcar repair facility. It is now a community centre heavily into arts and culture.  It is the home of the Green Barns Farmer's Market which runs year round and this year Artscape has added an artist's street one Saturday a month running through the summer. My dates are:

June 18    
July 16
August 20

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

2011 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition

I will be participating in the2011 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition taking place on July 8, 9 and 10 at Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall.  It is the 50th anniversary of this show, as the image above attests to!  The granddaddy of outdoor shows in Toronto, to be sure and juried to boot.

There are so many outdoor shows in Toronto now.  The calendar is pretty crowded and I wonder if there are really enough quality artists and craftspeople to go around without making the shows a bit repetitive for the people who attend.  Here is a partial list:

Riverdale Art Walk - 1 weekend in June
Barns Art Market - 6 dates May to October
Distillery Art Market - weekends April to October
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition - 1 weekend in July
Sunnyside Beach Juried Art Show and Sale - 1 to 2 weekends over the summer
Cabbagetown Arts Festival -1 weekend in September
Queen West Art Crawl - 1 weekend in September
Junction Arts Festival - 1 weekend in September
St. Clair Artwalk - 1 weekend in September

Well it looks as if there is a gap in August!

The extent of the list does show a maturity in the grass roots arts life in this city.  A huge leap forward from 50 years ago