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I just knew that little taste of spring we had last week wouldn't last. Yesterday was a "no bus" day here again. The roads were a mess and visibility was very poor. My poor little spring bulbs are out there shivering their little butts off. The weather forecast says that early April will be warmer than the norm, so we have only a few cold days left before that happens if the forecasters haven't made a mistake.
My seed order has arrived and I'm soaking my Jiffy cubes in preparation for starting some tomatoes, canteloupe and watermelon. The watermelon is an experiment. I ordered seed for watermelon that takes the shortest time possible to ripen. I'm not crazy about the stuff, but my family loves it and everything that grows in our garden tastes way better than the fruit and veggies I buy at the grocer's.
but it's making itself known, nevertheless. It's been mild and we've had some rain, so most of the snow has disappeared. My tulips, daffs and hyacinths are poking through the ground already. They're probably in for a shock, though, because it's almost certain to snow again before spring weather arrives in earnest. I saw a fat, saucy little robin outside my patio door this morning.
I got up to visit my mom for a couple of days last week. What an amazing woman!! Still going strong at 91 years of age.
I'm getting ready to make my plea to council on Tuesday for funding for the artists' guild I've helping with. Wish me luck!
I have a granddaughter who has just had her interview for admittance to the Ontario College of Art and Design. I have no idea where she gets her talent from. It's certainly not from me. You can view more of her work in my album entitled 'Jesse's Art', but I thought I'd share a few of my favourites via my blog.
The photo doesn't do this one justice. I've asked to buy it from her when she's ready to part with it. She's said she'll give it to me, but I'd pay another artist to acquire it, why not my own granddaughter??
This portrait of John Lennon fascinates me. It's a 'fractured' piece, made up of the lyrics of one of his songs. Take a closer look below:
The next one is a very large piece, created using the pointillism technique (thousands of tiny dots).
Here is a photo of Jesse and her mom (my daughter) in front of some of Jesse's work on display at an art show.
As you may have guessed, I'm a proud mom and grandma.
For the last month or so, I've been working with a very talented artist who lives nearby to establish an Art Guild. Do I have any artistic abilities? I'm afraid not. My only talent lies in appreciating the work of others. Besides my fondness for looking at lovely things, my motive for entering into this project has to do with the economic development of our little village and surrounding area.
I participated in a couple of marvelous workshops while I was at the Good Roads Conference and they fired up my enthusiasm for the project even more. The only industry within our community is farming. Most of our farmers are relatively prosperous, but most employ family members, so there are few opportunities for our young people. Our downtown is beginning to look like a ghost town with several empty shops. It's very difficult for our merchants to compete with the big box stores in the three larger towns within a 20 mile radius of us. It seems to me that the only hope for developing our economy in the near future is to encourage tourism by way of recruiting specialty merchants willing to open boutiques and shops dealing in arts and craft type merchandise. It's my hope that establishing the Art Guild will make a start towards that sort of business.
I hope to apply for a government grant in order to fund a modest facility where the various artists can have a bit of work space, and an area for them to display their work and, perhaps, conduct workshops. I'm convinced that such a facility would be a start, at least, towards attracting visitors from the major cities within 50 - 100 miles of here. One of the skills I developed at work was grant application writing. We must, however, have an organization in place before I can do that.
Donna, the artist with whom I'm working, has many contacts within the arts community. I, on the other hand, have very few. While I was away, Donna recruited three others, each of whom I know to be talented, enthusiastic and hard working individuals. She also made contact with a another who would like to participate in an annual Studio Tour in the surrounding area. We're going to meet with him on Monday to discuss the possibility of renting one of the empty shops (just for the weekend of the Tour) where all of the artists close by could display their work under one roof. I think it could be profitable for the artists and it will almost certainly draw numerous visitors into the village. I hope to convince council to underwrite the cost of the rental. I may have some difficulty with that, though, as several others are convinced that we should devote our time and money to attracting industry. As well, some think we should be investing more in our sports facilities. Anyway, I'll give it my best shot on Tuesday. Wish me luck, and if any of you have success stories or ideas that might assist me in this project, please share them with me.
Thanks,
Myrna
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