Monday 7 December 2009

Lemons and Art


If life gives you lemons, make lemon curd! Every now and again, I need homemade lemon curd. It can't be shop bought, it has to be homemade. It doesn't have to be my home, mind. I'm quite happy for someone else to do the work. The W.I. do a very good line in lemon curd. I used to get it from their stall at the farmers market. But I don't work near that market any more, and so I have started to make my own. I'm rather pleased with the result. It's not difficult, and tastes SO good!

Lemons have also turned up recently in a painting Mr Kitsch and I bought. Back in May, when we celebrated our 20th anniversary, we agreed that instead of buying each other presents, we would buy a piece of art. Circumstances intervened, and we never got our art. So when we saw this painting, and liked it, we decided this would be our anniversary art.

It's by a local artist called Sarah Duncan. We got it at the private view of Art Presence, the Christmas group show, which includes some of my work too. I keep mentioning it, I know, but it's actually the first time my work has been up in a gallery (as opposed to fairs or markets), so I was a bit excited.

All the artists have to do three sessions 'invigilating', and I did my first one on Tuesday. What I didn't know is that one of the essential duties is to go out on the streets, handing out flyers and encouraging people to venture down the rather hidden alleyway where the gallery is. Well, it only rained a bit, and I was quite pleased with myself for managing a cheery, if damp smile at all the poor people I accosted.

We actually did quite well, considering it was a wet Tuesday afternoon, and I like to think that my superior flyer-distributing skills played their part! Sadly, no-one bought anything of mine. I wonder if I put people off by standing behind people, shouting "BUY IT! BUY IT!"...?

P.S. If you're in Bristol on Saturday, there are lots of cool Christmas markets to go to. I will be selling vintage and handmade at the Festive Flea Market at the Folk House on Park Street. (10am to 3pm)

4 comments:

Elaine Prunty said...

best of luck at market, and i can't understand why your pictures didn't sell, .. some people expect to get stuff for nothing....always remember though ...its not you ...its them.... ..I always found selling my work one on one really difficult ,to the point where i just can't do it anymore..hope it goes really well for you on saturday...

Suzy's Vintage Attic said...

Well done on having some of your work in a gallery. How satisfying!

Lemon curd is one of my favourites things!!! Nothing beats homemade.

Warm wishes
Isabelle x

GardenOfDaisies said...

Everyone needs a little lemon curd in their life! I love it! I make my own from my Mom's recipe.

TK said...

Lemon curd is one of the greatest human inventions. Possibly greater even than the wheel.