Monthly Archives: August 2023

Doings

Seasons

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The clock is ticking down on summer, yet it is still summertime, except in our friendly local shops.

The pre-season has already started (who cares?), but it isn’t actually football season until next week. But in case one can’t wait, there are things to purchase that declares one’s allegiance to local-ish teams.

Halloween is just around the corner, if by corner, one means two months from now. The candy already on display is being guarded by this dragon, protecting it from summertime camping gear.

And still these puny seasons pale before the juggernaut that is the Christmas season. These expensive holiday decorations are harbingers of the season to come. Fortunately the creeping plague of Christmas music has not yet started (but it will be here sooner than one likes).

This is the true symbol of summer, the backyard barbeque. Pictured here is my brother’s attempt to turn hamburgers into charcoal. But there is no easy way to merchandise this symbol, so I have provided an image.

Enjoy the last bits of summer!

Town

Farmer’s Market

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One of the great pleasures of summer is going to an open-air farmer’s market. Sunshine, blue skies, and fresh produce, with finding a parking place the only negative. The locations change from time to time, but this one in a city park has been around for a while.

Oh yeah, it’s located in a funky older part of town (it’s gentrified, but not too much).

This tent features pickles of various sorts that are made by actual farmers from south of here. They are delicious and I have some in the refrigerator right now.

I’m not sure if sprouting seeds counts as farming, but one can also purchase such things here.

Yeah, I guess he would be considered a farmer of sorts. One can also find persons selling fancy dog biscuits, soap, juice drinks, pasta, crafts and other sorts of miscellaneous items.

But surely the best reason to go over to the market is this! Fresh from the tree and grown on the other side of the mountains these are fabulously delicious. The season will soon be over and I will have to wait an entire year for this succulent treat. (Note: store peaches look exactly like this, but they are a fraud, and do not taste the same.) So enjoy the bounty of summer while it lasts, and I will eat a peach just for you.

Art, Doings

Art Day

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There is a local (maybe it’s everywhere?) tradition of having the first Friday of the month as an “art day”. Galleries stay open late, sometimes they have drinks and nibbles (always guaranteed to bring in folks) and various art shows have openings. And on this day, there was one at the local museum, so there I was. There are the superstars of art, they rake in the bucks for the least doodle, the 1% of the 1%. Then there is everybody else.

I was standing in line to get my drink (no nibbles) and looked up at the Chihuly overhead. This museum has three such pieces. I would rank him as a superstar of art because he not only sells pieces, he doesn’t even make these himself. Individual bits are made by the assistants, and the artist directs how they are put together (pretty sweet deal). However, today’s artist is a local.

So besides creating art for the wall, he also creates practical art in these decorated skateboard decks. Perhaps they will be more interesting once they have seen use, or maybe they will remain pristine.

This artist is versatile, if you don’t want to wreck your skateboard, you can have a full size version of the art.

The artist was there with a bunch of friends and we chatted for a bit. He had also made an art vending machine, instead of bubble gum one could get a tiny Xeroxed ‘zine for 50 cents. And there were embroidered ball caps for $40. I wished him lots of sales (and I took home a ‘zine).

Besides art there was also music. Mostly the groups around town that I have heard play oldies, but these guys were playing original (at least I thought it was original) music described as “alternative and neo soul” to an invisible crowd.

Art is about ultimately about inspiration and creation, and this takes a variety of forms, independent of money. Sometimes it even can be found right outside our windows.

Art

Fair Art

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Every year I make at least one piece of art for a juried show. The first show that I ever entered was a local quilt show. I had made a piece that I really liked, and those judges hated every thing about it, even the back. I was encouraged by a friend to enter it in this juried show. I was accepted and got a really great hang space, and I have been entering this show ever since.

So this was the original idea for one piece. I started it in a workshop where everyone else was making self portraits. This idea is interesting, but too complicated, I was going for super simple.

This is more better, but it needed to have another house for the sake of symmetry (oh curse the need for symmetry. I was sick of it at this point).

So this is how it ended up. Am I happy with it? Not exactly, the background is boring and the lines could be stronger, but it took a lot of effort to quilt around each bit, so it’s done.

And this was the second piece. I had wanted to do a portrait of the elusive blue heron for a while. I often see them flying around at dusk and I have never been able to photograph one, I just have to enjoy it in the moment. So these were sample backgrounds.

I started off trying for realism, but that seemed rather dull, so things did get a bit abstract.

This is how it ended up, and of course I would like to change bits, and add more. But, the deadline for submission was up, so off it went. And to my good fortune both pieces were juried in, so that’s the end of anxiety and second-guessing until next year (or perhaps sooner).

Art, Town

Art Fair

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So there is an organization that sponsors art fairs in the region, and whoever they are, decided that our city needed one too. It was a lovely, hot summer day, and I had decided that I needed a bit of culture, so there I was (also, it was a free event, my favorite kind). It was held on the grounds of a private school, which was built as a replica of the Trianon (nothing pretentious in that, is there?).

The fair was itself consisted of a series of white tents, each holding a hopeful artist and their wares waiting for some interest from prospective buyers. (I was not there to buy, I don’t even have any wall space left to hang things.) Many of the folks were slowly strolling along the grounds of this school, as the artists sat in the shade and watched us pass.

The art is original, in that it is painted by hand, but I suspect that if these paintings were sold a similar version would take it’s place.

There was a lovely green lawn between the rows of booths set up along the paths, and this dog was there enjoying chasing a frisbee, oblivious to the goings-on.

I must say that the class of 1990 cheesed out in their parting gift to the school (really? a rock plus a sign). I at least, did not find it especially inspirational, however, art is in the eye of the beholder. So perhaps this was a perfect piece for a hot day, strolling amongst the works on offer.