art walk

Yesterday I did something that I've never done before: an art walk. I didn't even know what an art walk was exactly. I guess I haven't been to many small-town summer arts festivals and when I have, I've tended to bypass the wall of landscapes and florals, tended lovingly by the members of the local sketch club, to make a bee-line for the food. Bad attitude, I know. But since the invitation to join the artists at Cloverdale's Blueberry Festival arrived in my mail box and I had a free day, why not?

The art displays were uniformly competent and pleasant, with one or two noteworthy exceptions. But the entertainment was surprisingly disappointing: no food (with the exception of baskets of blueberries and an ice cream truck) so I pretty much starved, and the live entertainment was, well, not. It was like watching parodies of old reruns of Hee Haw. I guess I really am a city girl at heart. Vancouver has expanded so much in the past couple of decades that I thought Cloverdale might have been absorbed, but apparently not, which is actually kind of refreshing.

There were two exceptional highlights to the day: I got to meet Ernie, a retired veteran whose wife died of leukemia last year. I tended his painting of lilies while he sat at his booth and sold copy after copy of his charming book illustrating historic barns in western Canada. He did all the artwork and research for the book and he's donating 100% of the proceeds to the Leukemia Society.

And when it was all over except for the crying, I walked away with second prize and a cheque for $100 thanks to the excellent judging :) by the Arts Council of Surrey. The first prize of $200 went to the well-deserving Daniel Tibbits and his painting Mass Machine.

When's the next art walk?