I stepped out of the house before 6 am into blackness and 4 degrees Celsius to head off to Salamanca Market, which officially today it returned to “Salamanca Market”. During COVID restrictions it had different rules and was renamed “Tasmanian Own Market”, but everybody still referred to it as Salamanca Market. But now that it “is” Salamanca Market again, all the sites were open and stalls returned to their assigned sites, so there would have been over 300 stalls today.
The Festival of Voices https://festivalofvoices.com/ is on and that could be what was contributing to the busyness today. I wasn’t feeling crash hot today, so I didn’t keep track of too many stories. I started feeling much better as the day went on.
The first customer of the day was from Brisbane, Queensland, a choir performer at the Festival of Voices. She purchased a “Lazy Days” and a “Hanging Out” print.
A university student bought a “Salamanca Saturday” large tote bag to use to carry her books and study material. Two ladies were walking by, and one of the ladies exclaimed that her son bought her the “Salamanca Saturdays” print (what a lovely son! 😊). She was pleased to meet the artist and told me that she loved it.
A mother and daughter purchased a “Spiky Bunk Beds” and a “Bunk Beds” print to take back to USA with them. They live in New Hampshire.
A grandmother visited the PJ Paintings stall and purchased five prints: “All Ears”, “Helping Hands”, “Scarlet Robin Rescue”, “Friendship Refreshes the Soul” and “Spiky Bunk Beds”. She said that they are going to Manila, Philippines. Then she came back with her daughter and her three children. She bought another print, “Glamour Girls” for another daughter. Her daughter bought three prints of the wombats in hammocks series.
These three prints are from my Cheer ’em Up series, of scenes where emus come to the rescue and save the day. The emu in the painting titled “All Ears” is such a patient listener that the tip of its beak is getting a little crumpled. This series is available at: https://pjpaintings.com/collections/emus
One young lady was drawn to Tu-whit & Tu-whoo because her grandfather, in Ireland, would pick up the dead ones off the side of the road and get them stuffed. He has a long shelf lined with stuffed barn owls.
It was good to get home, warm the toes, and sit down with a cup of tea.
Happy Canada Day!
Cheers, Patricia (PJ) Hopwood-Wade
The Unfurling Artist: journalising creative journeying 