I love fall. Sure, the beach & sundresses & cold iced tea are all wonderful things, but there’s something about this time of year when the weather begins to turn cooler that feels like home to me.

I’m a hermit at heart, so crisp fall weather, warm cozy sweaters & hot cups of coffee in my studio go together swimmingly. I don’t feel guilty about staying inside & painting away the afternoon like I sometimes do in the summer. When you live in the Pacific Northwest, there’s an odd pressure when the sun shines to get outside! Do something active!!! It feels positively criminal to sit inside at my desk when I could be playing tennis or biking the sea wall or…I don’t know…doing yoga atop a kayak.

Fortunately, my dogs drag me outside at least 3 times per day for walks – rain or shine. While walking through the park today I noticed the trees dropping these large reddish brown nuts. I’m not sure what kind of trees they are, but between the inky black crows and the bushy-tailed squirrels flitting among the branches, the nuts fell every few seconds making the loveliest thwunk sound. It was a dense, rich sound & sometimes you could see a little flutter of movement as one landed in a pile of yellowing leaves.

Beautiful.

It has been so sunny & lovely in Vancouver the last few days that it hardly feels like September at all, though the huge influx of cars lining my neighborhood streets & the number of people interrupting my morning walk with the puppies alerted me to the fact that school is back in session. Even though I’m self-employed & my school days (at least full time) are far behind me, I still feel that end of summer panic set in – like I need to get my money’s worth before the leaves fall. I know this is silly. It’s also sort of tragic to reduce summertime fun to a checklist of activities to be crossed off rather than enjoyed. Nevertheless, I was a wee bit proud that I set aside work in favor of a couple of beach visits plus one very chilly swim in the ocean this past weekend.

photo credit: Tourism Vancouver

Looking at my calendar for September, I think stocking up on coffee may be in order. 3 more outdoor markets, Bloom in Fort Langley, Portobello West at the end of the month plus the very last class I need to complete my certificate in Fine Art Techniques from Emily Carr University. It’s only an 8 week class & covers the business aspects of art, so I think it will be interesting, if a little less fun than painting class.

Next up – Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesday, Sept 7th (2-7pm) then the West End Farmers Market on Saturday, September 10th (9-2pm). More info about all the Vancouver Farmers Markets can be found on their official website.

Happy September to you!

This summer is just zooming by! We’ve had such a beautiful August & I’ve been making an effort to take advantage of every last bit of it. Between setting up to sell my work at the outdoor markets every weekend (& doing prep work all week to make sure I have plenty of things to sell!), it’s been a busy, but happy month. There’s really nothing better than getting to sit outside all afternoon & meet people who have never seen my work before. Vancouver gets plenty of tourists, so it’s even more exciting to know that people are bringing back my prints & necklaces as souvenirs! So much fun.

So while I haven’t been too keen on sitting inside on my computer & updating my…ahem…blog, I have been doing lots of this:

And plenty of hanging on my new balcony with the puppies:

And though my studio is feeling pretty toasty these days, possibly better suited for working at night, I’ve been doing a bit of painting too:

These guys are being a bit tight-lipped, so I’m not sure what their names are yet. As soon as I figure that out, I’ll add them to my shop.

It’s been a pretty dismal summer over here in the Pacific Northwest, which hasn’t left me much to blog about. Vancouver has been cool, almost like spring instead of summer. We’ve had only a handful of what I’d consider hot days & only one of those has been on a weekend. For the first time in 29 years, it rained during Folk Fest.

I know I shouldn’t complain when the rest of the country is experiencing crazy heat waves, the kind of crazy heat that actually kills people, so…yeah. It’s been quiet ’round here.

That’s not to say that I haven’t been busy! I’m still hauling my stuff out to all of these events, trying to stay dry & bringing things to work on so I don’t get too bored, but it’s tough when your income is directly influenced by the weather. When it rains, you can expect less than half the normal turnout to an outdoor event. Obviously that’s going to take quite a chunk out of my earnings!

Hopefully summer is finally here to stay as I gear up for some very long hours (9am – 11pm! yikes!) at the White Rock Spirit of the Sea Festival this weekend. I’ll be at booth #59 along the west beach promenade. They’ve got lots of activities planned plus fireworks & a candlelight lantern procession. Let’s just hope we don’t get rained on!