My mister & I have been enjoying feeling like kids again as we ran around the PNE, Vancouver’s version of a county fair. Mini Donuts, ridiculously expensive lemonade, the Super Dogs – so much fun & so much nostalgia, even though we didn’t grow up here. I think every city has some version of the fair & all of our favorites were there.

Aside from digesting 9000 calories, as an adult I have to say wandering around & enjoying the shows was more my speed than riding rides. I watched a horseshoe demonstration where I stood with my jaw dropped as a lady pounded nails into a horse’s hoof. Even though both my parents grew up on farms, I’d never seen this done before & was SURE the horse was going to kick the hammer lady at any moment!

There must be farming in my blood, however, because now that Vancouver has passed the urban chicken by-law, I’m pretty stoked to get a little coop for our backyard. You can keep up to 4 chickens & apparently they lay roughly 6 eggs per week. How cool would that be?

I loved the Indian Runner ducks too. These guys need their own painting, I’m pretty sure.

Since I hadn’t been on a roller coaster in at least 3 years, we decided to splurge on the ride passes. What I didn’t take into account was:

a) I’m old.

b) It was already 5:30pm by the time we started riding rides.

c) The lines were really really long.

A $40 ride pass only amounted to 8 rides for us because the lines were long & (see point A), we’re old. After 3 or 4, we were ready for a break. And honestly, if we hadn’t spent the money on the passes, probably would’ve been quite content to quit right there. The historic wooden roller coaster? Kicked my ass. Not only did it scare the crap out of me, it felt really dangerous to fly out of my seat & left me with a huge bruise across my thigh. I do not understand the appeal.

My favorite ride was a new one – Crazy Beach Party. Looking at the cheesy artwork as we queued was entertaining, the ride was smooth & gave your stomach a little flip, but never in that “I AM GOING TO DIE!!!!” sort of way. Loved it.

Speaking of art, I was delighted to see Emily Carr University had put together an exhibition of container art. Each artist was given a truck container to do with as they saw fit & though some were definitely more successful than others, it was amazing to see art included at all. Tens of thousands of people who would probably never set foot in an art gallery were exposed to contemporary art being created by local artists. Awesome.

I don’t want to be too critical here, but I will say this – when you have a container & free range to make an art installation that thousands of people are going to walk through, the most successful exhibits are ones that are specifically designed for that space. There were a few that seemed to take their existing work & slap it up on the walls, creating a very small, cramped, badly lit gallery. Not very interesting, not the best way to display your art & totally uninspired.

The best thing I saw? Kids’ reactions to the art. I expected them to run into each one, check it out & run on to the next one, kid-style. That was definitely happening, but I was amazed at  how many little dudes really stopped in their tracks & LOOKED. Pondered. Tried to figure out what was going on or what the point was. I saw lots of kids being dragged away by bored moms & that made me really happy. (Well, not happy that the moms were bored, but taking kids to the fair looks like a fucking nightmare, so I can’t blame them for wanting to leave their brains in Managerial Safety Mode.)

What made me less happy? Seeing the display of essentially free art prints being given away with a donation of $1 or $2 to some charity. Thank you for devaluing my entire profession, assholes!

Was the art terrible? Of course. Was it still insulting to see my life’s work be given away as a free gift when donating less than bus fare? Absofuckinglutely.

(Note: Yes, I’m swearing a lot this blog post. I’m still *that* annoyed.)

Part of why this annoys me is the way artists are constantly called on to donate work to fundraiser auctions & the like. Once you donate something, be it an original or a print, the barrage of requests begins to snowball. I’ve spoken to several other artists who have had the same experience & none of us are considered “well known”. I’m sure lots of other industries get similar requests & yes, I’m happy to support the charities that I believe in, but at some point it’s just not feasible. Also, please do not patronize me with the adage, “But it’ll be great exposure for your work!” Great! Tell my landlord I’ll be paying rent this month with “exposure”. I’m sure that’s totally cool.

By a long shot, the most ridiculous fundraiser for which I’ve been asked to donate something was this: a lowly gaming company was in desperate need of funds to re-do their patio, where I presume the employees hang out. Quick! In the time it takes you to read this sentence, a struggling computer programmer may have to sit outside & smoke on a patio with cracks in it! CRACKS!!! Please donate now.

Um. No.

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I finished up my tiny painting for The Pocket Show tonight & it felt incredibly good to dust off my paintbrushes. This summer has been filled with plenty of work, but it’s been either the locket-making, market sort or packaging orders/off to the post office kind. This is precisely why I enjoy signing up for group art shows. There’s often a theme & there’s always a deadline, which means I get to put painting at the top of my TO DO list. Hopefully one day my life will be structured in such a way that creating art always comes first. A lovely dream!

On to the show! The Pocket Show is a HUGE group of artists (close to 100) exhibiting some very tiny art – nothing larger than 4″ x 4″, to be precise. I have a bunch of ideas sketched out in my sketchbook (thank goodness! one does start to worry when it’s been a while…), but the small size restriction meant saving some of my ideas for larger canvases. Since I planned to work on a 4″ x 4″ wood block, I decided to go with a more illustrative style & really enjoyed drawing on the wood in detail. I will often do a vague sketch, but then go over all of the lines with paint, completely obscuring them. I’m quite pleased with the way my girl turned out & hope she’ll fit right in at the show.

Only Dates Men With Beards
graphite, acrylic on wood
4″ x 4″ x 1.5″

For more details or to RSVP for the show’s opening, check out the Facebook event page.

The Pocket Show
156 West Hastings (@ Cambie)

Opening night:
Sunday, September 5th ~ 7:00pm to midnight

Show runs until Sept 18th

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The lovely Christi of Bueno Style did her best Vanna White impression as we checked out the shoes at the Fluevog exhibit at the Museum of Vancouver.

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Here’s me all dolled up with somewhere to go:

I wore a dress I snagged at the Swap O Rama a few months ago, which was a smidge too tight (OK…I could barely breathe), but I lurvvvvved it so much that I had to wear it. I was also sporting the new shoes I treated myself to as a reward for working such crazy hours this summer – my first pair of the much coveted Fluevogs:

So cute! And SO comfortable!!!

Now I’m trying to balance work (catching up with orders, stocking up on supplies, figuring out which fall & Christmas shows I want to do…) with getting some family time and relaxation in before summer is over. A trip to see my parents is in order, which serves as a holiday too since they live right on the ocean. Lucky ducks!

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I have 2 paintings in the group show Dirty Pop which takes place tomorrow night at Box Studios. The artist list has some of my favorite names on it, so I know it will be a fun night. You can RSVP on the Facebook event page here.

BOX STUDIOS + FRANKLIN ROOM

by Rheanna Fancypants

by Kristen Ferma

Click here to see the other pieces or place a bid!

See you on Saturday!

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In light of how little time I have left this summer, I’m really glad that I decided to take 4 out of the 6 days I had in between markets last week to head down to Washington & visit with friends. It was a lot of travel time (stupid border line ups & stupider ferries booked solid) for only 2 days of relaxation, but I’m glad we did it. Highlights:

Since the clock is still ticking on summer, I’m making a list of the things I really want to do before we’re back to raincoats & rubber boots:

• ride rides at the PNE
• swim in the Stanley Park pool (overlooking the ocean – awesome!)
• take the dogs to the leash free swimming area of Buntzen Lake
• eat yummy food stuffs at Richmond Night Market
• ride my bike along the sea wall to Go Fish – one of the best spots for fish & chips in Vancouver
• have at least one lazy summer day where I do nothing but read, doodle in my sketchbook & drink iced tea (or sangria)

That makes for a couple of very busy weeks & since I still have a boatload of work to do, I’m thinking a lot of iced coffees may be in my future. Which is just fine. I can sleep in October.

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Me & the white dog at the beach. Yes, she’s still afraid of cameras.

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Rest assured I will be back in the saddle soon enough because I’ve got my last market of the summer coming up this Sunday, August 15th. I’ll be at Artful Sundays on Commercial Drive from noon until 5pm. Check out the Britannia Community Centre website for more info.

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I’m back at Harmony Arts Fest this weekend (Friday 4 to 8 pm, Sat & Sun 10 am to 8 pm), which means I’ve been a busy bee trying to re-stock the Cagey table with goodies after a wonderfully busy few days. It is such a beautiful spot along the water in West Vancouver.

I got to listen to great music all day, meet some lovely customers & fellow vendors, do a little shopping of my own plus strategize about how I’m going to become friends with people who own boats. Spending the day by the shore was nice, but I was a little envious of all the folks launching their boats into the water for the day. Got room for one more?

Highlight of the festival so far: overhearing 2 wee ones argue over which one of my paintings was “the awesomest.” Nope, not a bad way to spend a sunny afternoon at all! hehe

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