Last weekend had us jumping

Last weekend really had us jumping with ArtWalk Openings in Creston and Riondel.
Friday night, June 18 was the Creston Opening at Amanda Miller's Coffee Creek Cafe'.

At the same time as our ArtWalk Opening Brandy Dyer's "Bite Me'' show of lovely bright fruits done in pastels was opening at Buffalo Trails just up the street. We had had such a very long spell of wet and cold weather and last Friday evening was lovely and folks had a great time walking back and forth on the street between the two shows.

I made Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake for both openings and the real, intensely chocolate "scratch cakes" were enjoyed by all.

James had hung new work at Coffee Creek and Peter Bodley entertained us with his wonderful classical guitar.

Sunday, June 20, was the Eastshore Opening at Bob's Bar & Grill in Riondel. The Riondel Art Club is again showing their work at Bob's this summer and we were entertained by East Wind, the wind section of the community band.
Riondel seems such a nice little community and we enjoy seeing the things they accomplish. The opening was well attended mostly by the ladies as the men were occupied with their annual Father's Day Golf Game.

And what would an ArtWalk Opening be without a speech? I call it "Brains on Paper" because my mind goes pretty well completely blank without the paper.

 

The Creston Valley & Eastshore ArtWalk runs from June 18 - Sept 6 and goes from Yahk, BC through the Creston Valley and along Kootenay Lake to Crawford Bay, Kootenay Bay, and Riondel.

Brochures listing venues and with a map of the route are available at the Chamber of Commerce Visitor's Center in Creston and at the many venues along the way.

James and I will need to be staying closer to home as  for regular gallery hours as well as for those who don't read when the hours are and arrive anyway. Today we had a brother and sister arrive and she will be taking one of my birdhouses home with her to Ottawa, Ontario.

That I should be so well traveled....

James' show

Signature piece for show - 24 in X 32 in.

Circles and squares 1 - 24 in X 32 in.

Circles and squares 2 - 24 in x 32 in.

More paintings from James' show

Circles and squares 3 - 24 in X 32 in.

Circles and squares 4 - 30 in X 40 in.

Circles and squares 5 - 16 in X 16 in.

Great time at the opening and on with life.

James' opening last Saturday was a great success: lots of folks and lots of good eats if I do say so myself.
The show will continue to hang at Kingfisher Used Books until April 30.
Another great show, this of photography by Peter McLennan, is on at our library.Our weather is typical March: sun and wind, rain, and a chill, and snow squalls blowing across the valley but not amounting to anything.
My snow drops are still just awfully pleased with themselves and I have a few crocuses popping into bloom.
Tomorrow I go and meet with a young fellow at the library to see if we can figure why no one can see the art work on our web page nor can I get in there to add anything new or change any of the "blather." I live in hope.

New show by James

Well, January and February have fled. Of course February was graced with 2 weeks of Olympics - what joy and what a great excuse to sit and knit! Now on with life.
Here it is March already, my oldest cousin turned 70 today, and James has a new show going in to Kingfisher Used Books on Friday with an opening on Sat. The show will hang until the end of April.
We really must whack the studio/gallery into order out here as he has much more and varied new work to show. This show is to an un-named theme.
Meanwhile there are hints that James will help me by cutting some parts for me and taking apart a drawer pull display that I have had quite the time with. If he can do that I may even get some bird houses done for this spring. We shall see. I've always done all the parts cutting but I'm so short the dust is always in my face and I hate that particular part. I don't intend to have houses all over the Kootenays but some on hand here and a couple local spots would be OK. I always give one to the local Rotary Auction. They do a lot of good both here and away.
Yesterday the sun shone and the snow drops were alive with honey bees, as were the compost piles and, as we get the old coffee grounds from Joe, at Kingfisher Used Books, last night I bet there were a whole bunch of bees on a caffeine high.
Yesterday I bought the most beautiful book I have ever seen.
It is "Landsdowne's Birds of the Forest" with paintings by JF Landsdowne and text by John A Livingston.
I bought it at Kingfisher. I had it set aside while I decided which books of mine to sell to help pay for it. It was $32.00, but new would have been much, much more expensive. While some books are referred to as coffee table books this is a desk or big table book: too big to hold in your lap and look at. It is the combining of Landsdowne's "Eastern Woodland Birds" and "Northern Woodland Birds" and would have been easier read in it's 2 parts but I so love it. For each bird there is a page with preliminary pencil sketches of it, then the next 2 facing pages are the writing and a lovely colour painting. The sketches are more exciting to me from an artistic perspective than the finished illustrations.
James acquainted me with a lovely blog full of inspiration the other night.
It is: http://donnawatsonart.blogspot.com/2010/01/inner-stillness.html#links
Tomorrow I meet with a young fellow at the Creston Public Library to help me see where our web page has fallen off the rails. As it sits tonight no one, including me, can get at it to see the art work and I would also like to change some of its features and "blather."
I am still knitting many, many toques. I had to stop last year when I developed a trigger thumb and had to have surgery but now I am using softer yarns for some things and have taught myself to loom knit left handed - gotta get all those sparks firing in the brain.
I read that the huge Chilean earthquake has actually caused the earth to shift about 3 inches on its axis and shortened the day by a couple nano seconds. I don't really think I need a shorter day.
Mailings are going out for this year's ArtWalk: our 15th. Harry Miller has come on board and will be doing a lot of the foot work. He has coordinated the Christmas Craft Fairs for the Arts Council these last few years and done a very good job and this seems a fit for him. I think I can't retire from it yet as I'm still the "computer person."
This was a grayer day. We will see what kind of spring we get.