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I was out looking for garage sales in the late morning, but because the weather has been rainy as of late I didn’t see any out there. The only area I looked for them in was the neighborhoods that are in the vicinity of Lakeshore Drive, extending from where we live to St. Anne de [...]

Ours is a small house built mostly of glass and light, of bright tones and books, and, when it is possible, with flowers. Flowers dragged in from the garden outside—blue heads of hydrangea, blooming stalks of peach iris, dozens of glads in two dozen colors, a stem from the red bud, a bright plume of lilac. Flowers bought and arranged in the Ikebana patterns I have learned—in half-moons, in swish plates, in rising wooden circles. Flowers tucked in with the groceries.

But this past winter of cold and dark I somehow neglected the flowers. I was being...economical, perhaps. Rational and wise thinking. I was testing out the small unsentimental fraction of me and seeing if I liked her.

I didn't. I missed those blooms and their unpredictability. I missed the way they turned toward the sun to remind me it was there.

Friday it was warm enough to walk to the Farmer's Market, and I had friends due in the next day. I shucked the unsentimental me and went off buying and didn't stop until I'd reached the flower stand, where anemones of historic proportions held their heads high on straw-like stems.

"I can't help it," I told the lady. "I'm taking some of them home."

"Of course you are," she said.

I have something special to offer patrons of the Edmonton down town market this Saturday: three original sketches drawn on 7.5 x 10" illustration board. If they don't sell I'll be putting them in my etsy store. Visit 104th street just off of Jasper Ave from 9 am to 3 pm to see them. I'll be sharing my spot with good friends Sarah Jackson (creator of the Jam children's book series) and Miss Dishy (illustrator & crafter).

Night Out © 2008

Zombie Wave © 2008

Last year I experimented by selling my art/prints at craft and art fairs. I personally love going to these events. They're packed with local small business owners (as small as business's can come) who not only create their products but package, transport, sell and market everything about themselves). It's beautiful and it's so traditional. These tiny business's are directly linked to their owners and therefore are fully responsible for the quality of their products (the product is also a "face" and a personality). I adore also (and maybe especially, having grown up on a farm) farmers markets where you can smell sweet freshly baked bread and walk by rows of organic and locally grown potatoes and carrots, beautifully washed and glowing. Necklaces shining in the sun and jars of homemade mustard that make your mouth water as you pass. I don't even mind (some people scoff at such things) older women who sit together, knitting needles clacking as they chat behind rows of perfect mittens and quilts.

Becoming a vendor, however, made me aware of the true work that being a "craft fair" person entails (besides, obviously, creating your products). Fairs are costly: often I rarely earn much of a profit for my business and what little profit is earned is usually spent at the various booths who buddy up with my table (a carton of free range duck eggs here, a pair of fair trade earrings there...). The hours I put into packaging artwork, cards and making sure they don't fly away in the wind has been known to exhaust me. But with that said, fairs can also be addictive. I can't describe how wonderful it is to have real live feedback about your art to an illustrator who usually sits at home (alone) handing in illustrations via the internet. The connections I make and exposure that I gave myself are priceless (plus it gives me the opportunity to educate the public on what illustration is and to quite frankly create whatever the heck I want to try to sell). While the early morning running around (ahhhh... where's my calculator!... geee I forgot to get change again!) and long days hoping for more foot-traffic were nice to escape for a couple months I've decided to do a few more this year, because heck, these fairs and beautiful.