Hello again,

I hope that you have had a wonderful summer with lots of time to laugh, meet up with family and friends and spend some time in awe of the great outdoors.

I feel as if I have lived a bit on the edge this summer with a little too many things happening, too many dates to remember and juggle but all the while feeling happy with what I was doing with my life.
 
This was my 13th year of operating the "Frog" as it is affectionately called. With much contemplation I have decided that this will be my last year  of operating a retail business.  I am still as besotted with folk art as I was when I first stumbled on to it, I love the physical space that the Frog occupies but I am no longer enchanted with running a retail operation.  I just spend too much of the summer working and not enough time for friends and other delightful things.

The website will continue and I intend to attend some weekend art fairs in other Provinces and perhaps take some folk art into the US.  Many years ago I sold NS folk art to the Folk Art Museum gift shop in New York City, perhaps I will look into that again. If you know of any events that might be an interesting venue for the work that I carry, please email me about them  - I might see you there.

I did not spend as much time as I have other years visiting with the artists because for a while now I have been thinking about reducing my involvement.  I found that Bradford and Ransford Naugler continue to create colourful objects.  I particularly enjoyed a large fish that Bradford carved this year.  Another piece that I have really enjoyed is a Robert Workman piece of otters frolicking on a large piece of driftwood. This piece will be on the website when I up date later this year.  This will be a very difficult piece to ship so I hope that someone who arrives in a car will fall in love with it.

I found that Rick Brittain's work continues to get better.  His paintings have again been much admired this summer and I have sold many.  I will continue to carry his work on my website and I look forward to watching his creative growth.

Peter Rafuse who was this year's poster boy at the NS Folk Art Festival was a popular artist this summer. Many collectors came in for a piece of Peter's more primitive work.

When you next come to Lunenburg, please do not hesitate to email or telephone me.  Let me know if you would like to see any pieces that are on the website, I will be happy to show them to you as well as many more which are not on the website.

I hope that you continue to enjoy your folk art and I look forward to a continued folk art journey with you.  Inge

Hello Again...

...dear folk art lovers,
Another winter has passed . I wish for you  that this winter has been one of more  good health than not and one of much joy and laughter. I hope that you  have you been enjoying your  folk art and that you are looking forward to coming by to say hello and to smile at these wonderful creations.  I spent some time in the southern US this winter and looked at lots of southern folk art.  One of my favourite artists is Mary Proctor.  She often incorporates wise sayings in her pieces like "when I was a child I told my grandma all my thoughts, she said child they aint worth a penny till you put them to use and penny make dollar".  I think that we have all had many thoughts that turned out not to be worth much because we did not put them to use.

Returning to Nova Scotia folk art.  I have some wonderful new pieces in the gallery many of them are now on my website and some still to be photographed for the site.  There are some new pieces by old timers like Eddie Mandaggio - a beautiful huge rooster and a bobcat that he made a long time ago.  A stunning, large   Garnet McPhail chicken and  some small birds by Thomas Rector.

This year I will add some Rick Brittain paintings to the site.  They sold rather quickly last year before I got round to having more images taken.

Have you looked at the site and noticed the two paintings by Charles Norris.  The first time that I was introduced to his work I thought that I was looking at his brother Joe's  work.  Their styles and content of what they paint are very much alike.  It seems that they lived next door  to one another,were the best of friends,  painted together and were an influence on one another.  Unfortunately Joe passed away in 1996  and Charles lived until 2012.

A collector who came to know Charles well tells me that Charles referred to himself as "Charlie". He recalls  that he  was an earthy, simple man who would telephone and say "this is Charlie". Charlie's work expresses his deep connection to the sea and the small coastal community where he lived...the only world that he knew. What a shame that I did not have a chance to meet him.

Joe's work rather quickly escalated in price, in part because he had two major collectors of his work.  Charles  was not collected as prolifically and this reflects in the very affordable price of his work today.  For now I just have these two paintings for sale.

I usually do not write about happenings in Lunenburg on my blog but it is with pride that I let you know about Martine and Sylvie owners of the restaurant Fleur des Sel and the Salt Shaker deli.  Martine and Sylvie are very hard working and their dedication has been rewarded.  Fleur des Sel has been named the best restaurant in Nova Scotia and number seventeen in Canada.

Recently we had much film activity here when a week of filming for " The Book of  Negroes" took place on the waterfront among other locations in Lunenburg.

Another new and exciting project to take place in Lunenburg is a Documentary Film Festival to be held between 19/21 September, 2014. Check out the website www.lunenburgdocfest.com and come if you can.

Friends this is all for today.  Enjoy your family, your friends, your gardens, markets, parks and everything else  that gives you pleasure... until next time -  Inge