In the news

I've barely done any painting or sketching over the past few weeks, as I've been busy preparing for the inaugural "Christmas in the Country" makers' market yesterday. First, I set up our six-foot folding table in my home-studio with the tablecloth and banner, then slowly assembled all the display racks, my rotating stand for greeting cards, and more. Next, I had to decide which of my small watercolours would be displayed on the table, as there isn’t room to show all of them on such a small surface. The fun part came next, deciding where to position each rack or stand on the table. The rotating card rack goes at either end of the table, so it doesn’t block my view of visitors, then I try to sort the selected display paintings into groupings across the four staggered display racks; animals and birds on one, flowers and plants on another, landscapes, waterscapes.

As you can see, my preferred subjects are the fauna, flora and natural areas that surround me. In fact, most of the small paintings that I offer at these types of artisans’ and artists’ fairs are plein-air watercolours; the 4” x 6” and 5” x 7” formats that I paint outdoors, often off the back of my bicycle when I need to rest during a bike ride. Montréal is an island city, with several nature parks or preserves in my area, so I’m never far from beautiful natural areas and waterfront scenes. One of my two rare diseases can cause fatigue, along with high-impact (severe) chronic pain and other issues with my right hand and arm, so I ride with one hand on the bars – this means I have to stop after every twenty to thirty kilometres to rest, and so that I don’t injure my left arm and shoulder. I’ve turned this into an advantage, by using these breaks to paint, creating 'watercolours on two wheels' (#watercolourson2wheels). Each is painted on 100% cotton watercolour paper, which I mat and mount using acid-free and lignin-free materials, with archival tape that I special-order from a framing shop - the same quality of framing supplies as for my exhibition and gallery paintings.
For the makers’ market this year, I’d opted to also offer a small assortment of framed plein-air paintings after a few people asked about that at last year’s event. I’d picked up some small good-quality frames last year, when an art store just outside of Montréal had a liquidation sale prior to their renovation closure, so was prepared! I spent a few days pulling the glass panels out of these frames, to carefully clean each side of the glass panels, and choosing which of these small watercolours to frame. Of course, now I had to find room on the table to put at least some of these small framed watercolours! I’d been gifted some small wooden mini-easels, which were perfect for this. With the table display finalized, it was time to carefully pack everything up and number the boxes so my sweetheart and I would know in which order to carry them into the event space.

This makers' market was held at the Whitlock Golf and Country Club, in scenic Hudson Québec, on Saturday. After doing a Saturday and Sunday "Gathering of Artisans" last year, I was looking forward to having a one-day event for 2024 as I'd found the two-day fair to be far too demanding for my two different rare diseases. And as I need my sweetheart's help at these events, because of a Mild Cognitive Impairment caused by one of those rare conditions, I only do one table-sale each year.
Unfortunately, we found out when we arrived yesterday that the organizers had made an error with the measurements. The floor plan for table locations showed rows of back-to-back tables, without enough space in between for the artisans and artists to sit behind their tables. The last-minute solution was to move several tables to the lobby, to make enough room for the first few rows of tables to be able to fit in their chairs. But by the time it came to the last row, where my table was, there still wasn't enough room for our chairs. This meant that I had to stay standing for the entire six-hour event, in addition to the set-up and take-down periods; from 0900 to almost 1700 (the market was open from 1000 to 1600).
Perhaps worse, our aisle was so narrow that visitors couldn't stop to look at our tables and with no space behind my table I couldn't access my boxes of paintings. I only display a small selection of paintings on the table, to avoid overcrowding it, so would usually ask each visitor whether they were interested in a particular type of scene or image and then pull several out of a box for them; my boxes of watercolour paintings are also sorted by type of scene! On the positive side, there were a lot of visitors, with almost no lulls during the first few hours and then only infrequent pauses until the very late afternoon. Just as well, as I was completely exhausted by then from having to stand for so long. Another positive was chatting with a large number of visitors about chronic pain, as part of my Art Despite Pain #artdespitepain initiative; I always reserve a portion of my table for information about persistent pain, and one of my goals is to raise awareness of chronic pain. The highlights of the day were the family members and friends who stopped by, so Thank You to Fiona (and for the photo), Jan and Nick, Kath, Suzanne and Christella, and the others who came out to spend some time with us!
Overall I was disappointed by having to stand at this event, although the locale was lovely and there was plenty of natural light. But I experienced issues with last year’s “Gathering of Artisans”, so I’m not sure whether I’ll continue joining an artisans’ and artists’ fair every year. Early last spring I’d talked with a couple of members of my local artists circle, an organization with sixty members, about the idea of holding a group 'summertime studio tour day’ – but then dropped the idea after an elder family member had an emergency hip replacement soon afterwards and needed our help on an almost daily basis through the summer. But I’ve revived the concept for this year, and have already proposed this group ‘open studio’ day to our circle’s President. At this point, it’s almost certain that this will be my focus for next year; opening my home-studio for a day or two, with my folding table and display racks all set up here, as part of a group “visit the artists’ studios” event. That will be much easier on me and my rare diseases, as well as for my sweetheart; rather than having to pack and transport everything, set it all up elsewhere, then dismantle and pack everything – in a rush at the end of the event – to bring it home, I’ll be able to take my time and set up my home-studio over the course of several weeks. And then to put things away gradually, at a much slower pace.
Stay tuned for news about this in the coming months! In the meantime, several of my larger watercolour paintings are on display in two different exhibitions. My largest piece is at the Trestler House (Maison Trestler) national historic site in Vaudreuil-Dorion, until late December, while two slightly smaller paintings are at the Viva Vida Gallery in Pointe-Claire Village through January 10, 2025. On that note, Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers! And, as always, thanks so much for stopping by!