Monday, July 19, 2010

To Market, To Market..........

Sunday morning and the fog was closing in when I stepped outside at 6.45am.......... Will I go to the market or not, was the question?
The car had been packed the previous night in readiness.
Well, it wasn't raining, so that was a good start so off I went. The good thing is we live just a few minutes drive out of town, so it's not a huge trip.
As I descended down the hill into town the fog disappeared and it was sunny, this often happens and I was very happy to see Mr. Sun.
Above is one end of my stall .I finally finished the Tulip tea cosy Saturday night, hand stitching the edging as I watched Midsomer Murder. It's not Saturday night without Midsomer!!
The quote on the back is from Claude Monet and reads "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers"

Two fellows looking a bit grumpy about being up so early and having to sit on a table while passers by gawped at them wondering exactly what they were........not happy !

Another Hottie Hugger finished, this one made out of a multi coloured woollen jumper. Love those gorgeous jewel colours, they certainly brightened up the morning.

Behind them are a few wrist warmers/fingerless gloves I made using the sleeves from the jumpers I had felted. They were a popular item and I sold 3 pairs. Not surprising really, although the day was quite sunny, when it disappeared behind clouds and the breeze sprung up it was quite bitey and you needed to have gloves handy.





No. 1 came in a little later on and provided some live entertainment, adds to the atmosphere of the market. Quite amusing to see a group of littlies dancing away in front of him.

The 'pipe' with the yellow end is one of his didgeridoos. It's a very clever piece of equipment which has 2 parts to it. One inside the other and as you change key for a new song, you just slide the pipe in or out and you have the 'didge' in the right key. He uses this mainly for practice and busking saves alot of setting up and carting extra equipment around with him.

I bet you never knew that didgeridoos come in different keys? I certainly didn't.
When he is playing a gig with the full set up, he has beautifully varnished timber 'didges' which are quite stunning in their simplicity.



A bit of playing around today with offcuts from the jumpers. Bright clashing colours, curlicue hearts and wonky lines.
I may turn them into brooches or just keep playing.
Just a quick market report, I had an enjoyable morning and although sales are down a little bit in the Winter months it's always encouraging to get feedback from people whether they buy something or not.
My enjoyment in what I do is not about the money side of it but the creative processes behind it
and when you find someone who 'gets' or appreciates what you do, it makes my heart skip.

A lesson learnt during the week. Have confidence in yourself, if one person doesn't like your 'art' there are ten people you haven't yet met who do........................believe in yourself.

I hope you had a creative, fun filled weekend wherever you are.
I am about to set up my easel and dust off the paints.............stay tuned!
Thanks for dropping by, have a fantastic week, till next time,


Claire X



7 comments:

  1. All that fantastic craft work you do! I appreciate all the hours you must put in. Hope you had a good day at the market Claire. Nice to have some music while you work! I didn't know that didgeridoos had different keys either - a touch of the Rolf Harris
    :>)

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh Claire that is so true, about believing in yourself. Even One sale is a huge success! And you sold three pairs of gloves, I remember one show i did the girl next to me became very disgusted with no sales.........she packed up and left before closing. I try to focus on the people and think outwards instead of inwards.
    Does that make sense? Congratulations on lovely work, and the endurance doing a show requires
    xx
    julie

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a lovely craft table you set ;-) I think your tea cozies are my favorites...you are so creative with them. Hope you are keeping warm..so to say it is still horribly humid and hot here in Virginia. I am so ready for Autumn!

    Janet xox

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi Claire, there's something strange with the link from your comment on my blog to your blog. I keep getting on to a bible site instead of your blog. In the end I had look your blog up trough google.

    About the painting and how long it took. I think it took about 1,5 hours. But not straight on painting. I tend to look at my paintings in between moving on for a while. I just need that to know where I’m heading. And I build the painting with quick strokes, because i am looking for a light kind of look in it. So if you count only the stokes, they did not cost a lot of time :))

    Hope this helped...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank Claire for your 'lesson learnt', I was feeling a bit low this morning as I don't know whether or not I still have a job, so maybe I should plough all my energy into my textile work and see if I can sell that instead.
    Thank you for your supportive comments, the picture is sat framed awainting... I really don't know!
    Love Fi x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi there, thanks for dropping by, love your tulips teacosy!
    Anne.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have never seen Midsomer. I need to add that series to my Netflix list. The tulip tea cozy is beautiful! I bet it sold right away! You must be very proud of your son and his music. And I just learned something new about Didgeridoos.

    ReplyDelete

Life's busy isn't it?......thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
I love hearing from you and will reply via email unless you are set up as a
'no reply blog'
in which case I will reply here on the comments page...♥

Thankyou xx