The show is up and it looks great!

If you have a chance stop by and take a look (the gallery is open daily 12-5), it’s such a great group of artists. The official opening is Saturday at 7:00, hope to see you all there!!

I didn’t think it was going to happen, but we got a space! There was a cancellation at the gallery@the Guild and we are booked!

It ‘s such short notice, but we still managed to get 13 pairs of artists for the show. I’m so excited and honored to help put this show together.

The amazing poster was made for us by Tyler Landry, I love it!

Small Fancy is a little late this week, but here it is. Now that I’ve thought about it more, I should have maybe drawn me waiting for the bus after work, in the dark, in Vanier, at 15. That was the worst part of this job.

I have so many of these, they might go on for a while… or maybe it is too depressing re-living all the jobs from hell. We’ll see…

I just finished up these 2 custom pieces. The top one is for a little guy ‘s family I’ve done portraits of before. You can see the one I did of  his parents here.

The fabric piece is for a couple who recently moved to Chicago. I have them in front of Cloud Gate  (also know as “The Bean”) … it was hard to get a good photo of this one. I layered up different fabrics for the Bean and it’s so pretty in the sunlight. I also removed a heart before I sent it off, 4 is bad luck for the Chinese. Oops!

Between illustration jobs and custom portraits I find it fun every once in a while to just play around and do something just for fun’s sake. Here are a couple of fabric pieces I just finished up.

Here are some peeks of something I’ve been working away on. Donnalee  gave me a couple of painted boxes before she left to the UK for a year to work on her masters. She wanted me to to create something from them. She mentioned something about pinecones that stuck in my head… and this is what I came up with.

She also asked me to curate a collaborative show for Peake st studios ( a wonderful local art collective)… but sadly I’ve dropped the ball on that. I haven’t been able to find a space, as the Guild (our usual space) is booked all year.

Hopefully we can get something set up for next year. At least my pieces are done!

Some new barns. I tried some fabric barns for the first time.

This week’s Small Fancy is “Birds of the Season”. Mine is dedicated to my father. I find his love and knowledge of birds infinitely inspiring.

Not totally unrelated… I’ve joined twitter. I always felt it a little overwhelming when I considered it before. I spend enough time at the computer, I didn’t want to be spending more. I really enjoy reading other people’s tweets and it’s fun, so I thought I’d give it a go. I’m still figuring it out and trying to get the hang of it. You can find me at @lorijoysmith.

It’s always very exciting when something new opens in Charlottetown.

It’s even more exciting (for me) when they want to have my things in their shop.

The Young family (Adam, Rebekha and their 3 lovely boys) recently moved to Charlottetown and is opening up Young Folk and the Kettle Black. It’s a coffee shop/store.  I actually went to high school with Rebekha in Ottawa, many years ago. It was so nice to see her again. She and Adam fell in love with PEI after visiting,  (it’s hard not to) and decided to move here last year.

Last weekend, with my sick Ila in tow (I didn’t know it was hand, foot and mouth at the time!), I dropped off a bunch of paintings, fabric pieces and cards for the store.

It is a beautiful space, where the old Ampersand used to be. They are opening this weekend and  will be selling all sorts of lovely things upstairs and downstairs there will be cake and coffee…

yes, the coffee… let me tell you about the coffee! It is the best coffee I’ve had on PEI. I almost cried when I tasted it. I’ve been wanting to go back and have another ever since, but have been stuck at home with a contagious child. Soon.

They are such kind and lovely people and it’s a wonderful  little space, just what this little town needs.

Happy happy 1st birthday to my adorable little niece and nephew. We love you!