I hung my paintings at the Beehive Hair Lounge this morning and have to admit I was tickled to see so many of them hung together. Well, not together exactly…more scattered around the salon, but up! On the walls! Yay!

I’m participating in The Drift this weekend, which means that artists & businesses are teaming up all along Main Street in Vancouver to display some rad local art. The official kick off happens October 2nd & 3rd, with artist talks & open studios & all sorts of good stuff, but if you’re busy this weekend, don’t fret – my paintings will be on display until October 15th. If you’re a local, please do pop by & take a peek. You’ll find the Beehive at 4385 Main St (@ 28th). Also on the same block? My favorite indie music shop.

With all the prepping for markets this month, I didn’t have as much time as I would’ve liked to paint new work, but I did create something special just for my particular temporary gallery space. Here’s a snapshot of me finishing it up (& my messy studio space):

I usually sketch ideas loosely before I start a painting & I always find it interesting to see how the final painting turns out. Sometimes it’s very similar, sometimes it takes on a complete life of its own (or her own, in this case):

One of the nicest things about today was the little helper I had as I was hanging my work. The salon owner’s little boy, Eli, very very carefully helped me hammer nails into the walls & pick out spots to hang each one. He’s only 4, but he’s already an art critic. When I showed him this little pig painting he said, “I don’t like the pig. It’s stupid.”

After I’d stopped laughing (seriously – how could you not crack up??) I explained that while art is totally subjective & he was certainly entitled to his opinion, he may want to consider holding off until the artist is out of earshot.

Wouldn’t it be funny if he grows up to be an art critic or curator? Ah, I knew him when. *grin*

Ahhhhh! That’s me breathing a long sigh of relief now that last weekend’s markets are behind me. I had a fabulous time both at I Heart Crafts on Saturday & then Portobello West on Sunday, but that’s a lot of goody hauling back & forth in 2 days! My mister had to work, so I was left to my own puny devices to haul my wares & table displays in & out of the car, plus no one to bring me a mid-afternoon coffee. The horror!

Fortunately I was surrounded by some fabulous people all weekend who kept my spirits high. I feel so lucky to have such sweet customers. Everyone who stopped by my table had something nice to say & it reminded me again how incredibly lucky I am to get to make art for a living. Thank you!

The other vendors at the shows were fantastic too & it was very cool to see so many familiar faces. Now that I’ve got quite a few local shows under my belt, it’s neat to feel like I’m part of that crafty community now. There were plenty of new faces too with some incredible talent, but I don’t want this post to get insanely long &” shout out”-laden, so I’ll just stick with my immediate booth buddies: Amanda from ebbandflo, Katty from Lucky Troll, Christy from Bueno Style & a big thank you to Poppy a.k.a Groovy Glass Girl who sold me these fab earrings:

Why yes those are tiny bicycles on my earrings! Thank you for noticing!

Speaking of awesome earrings (& necklaces & bracelets…), my table was set up next to Jill from Crass & Sugar at Portobello West & I was quite happy to drool over her beautiful jewelry all afternoon. Such a talented lady & an absolutely sweetheart to boot. I really love these bamboo earrings:

Felt Natural earrings from Crass and Sugar

Ye olde magnet & Scrabble tile pendant factory won’t be resting long because I do have another arket in October (the 25th to be precise – Portobello West again), but it’s a very nice thing to have nothing but painting & art touring planned for this weekend. More about that in a minute!

I had the strangest day yesterday & it fit in quite nicely with the book I currently have checked out of the library: Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. It started with finding a snail in the middle of my backyard, his shell shattered on the concrete path. I’m guessing a sea gull must have dropped him & without his protective little home, he wasn’t looking long for this world baking in the hot sun. I scooped him up & placed him in a shady part of the garden, doused him with some water & then sat in awe watching his weird little tentacles-horns feeling all around him. It may have had something to do with me being hopped up on cold meds, but I think I could’ve sat there all afternoon & watched him, just like I would have done when I was a kid.

I did manage to pull myself away & buckled down to get some work done (hello shiny new magnets ready for the markets this weekend!). When I stepped out on the porch with the puppies for our evening constitutional, I got a second helping of nature – a skunk was wandering across my neighbor’s front lawn. With my 2 little dogs, this might not have been a problem, since I was able to quickly turn & stuff them back inside the house. Unfortunately I was also watching my friend Julie’s dog – this lovely golden ball of fur:

He saw the skunk before I did & tore off after it, ripping the leash right out of my usually tightly-gripped hand. He got sprayed so badly he was in complete agony, rolling around on the grass in my front yard. I spent the rest of the night hosing him down, shampooing him with a mixture of baking soda & peroxide & dog shampoo (thank you internets!) & trying not to barf. The smell that close up? Horrrrrribble. It smelled so bad, in fact, that my knight in shining armor wouldn’t get anywhere near the backyard when I sent him to the store for more peroxide. He would come as far as the side of the house, but stopped a full 10 feet from our back gate & wouldn’t budge. My hero! haha

Fortunately the peroxide/baking soda combo neutralizes the smell A LOT better than the old tomato juice trick & we’re all feeling much better today, though I can still smell it on my hands. And now probably my keyboard. Maybe having a cold isn’t such a bad thing right now!

One of my favorite things that happened this summer was discovering Buntzen Lake, about 30 minutes outside Vancouver. It’s a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains, but is (surprisingly) not that cold. Definitely a lot warmer than the ocean & much warmer than a lot of the Alberta lakes I attempted to not only swim but wakeboard in. And the best part? There’s a dedicated leash-free section just for dogs!

Taking the puppies down to the beach is a regular activity for me & the mister, but we never go on in the water ourselves. The pug looks longingly at the other (big) dogs who swim way far out to fetch tennis balls & sticks while he stays close to the shore, never daring to go deeper than his belly. I figured all this would change if I could swim *with* him, doling out gentle encouragement & a wee bit of force. And it did! He swam like a champ & we got it all on video:

The next time we went out I was determined to get Kiero, otherwise known as The White Dog, to swim too. She’s part Chihuahua & with a snout that actually sticks out of the water (unlike the pug) so I figured she’d be golden. I’ll let you be the judge:

She was less than impressed with me, but I won her back by taking her out on the little blow up boat. She snuggled in my lap, dry as a bone, soaking up the summer sun. OK, she still doesn’t look very impressed in this photo, but who can blame her? Nobody likes having their picture taken in their swim suit.

My first fall craft show is coming up! Check out the I Heart Crafts website for more details or you can RSVP on the Facebook group.

Saturday Sept 26th, 2009
11 am to 4 pm
WISE Hall 1882 Adanac St (at Victoria Dr)
Vancouver, BC

The hive is cranking up productivity again & pushing the unpacking/organizing/settling to the backburner so I can prep for the upcoming craft show season. The fall & winter months are chock full of crafty goodness & I’m expecting January will be a welcome frosty lull after many back to back weekends of working art fairs & craft shows. Don’t get me wrong – I love getting out of the studio, away from my computer & meeting my customers face to face. I love being able to chat with other vendors & do a little shopping myself. But prepping for these shows is always a little stressful since I have no clue what will sell & my solution, so far, has been: bring it all!

Here’s a peek at my current crafty TO DO list:

• Make 100 Scrabble tile pendants & matching necklaces.
• Make magnets in 2 different sizes of all my most popular paintings. (How many? Lots.)
• Put together a print display with several copies of each print. (sign each print, insert into eco-friendly biodegradable bag along with backing board, print & cut little bio sheet to go with each one, try to keep the pug out of the area etc.)
• Hand-punch rounded corners on my postcard packs, group into sets of 4 or 10, count out envelopes & bag. Don’t forget to print more labels!
• Make more coffee.

Since I never know precisely what’s going to sell, I try to make sure I have several of everything which makes for a lot of time in the Cagey Bee Production Hive. I do like this kind of work & I love seeing the end results – the little treasures I create, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t rather be painting or sketching or coming up with new ideas. My ideal work day would be painting or other creative time in the morning, then settling in for crafty busy work in the evening since most of it I can do while hanging out with my family. I can hear all about the boy’s day at school while I’m trimming magnets with an X-acto knife or watch a movie with the mister while I make necklaces. As long as they don’t mind me leaving the lights on, that is.

And with that, I’m off to track down a magnet supplier so I can get back to work! Hope you’re having an awesome day.