Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Guess What? New Works Available at Art in the Village


Guess What? What? - 2013 

Art In the Village
is carrying new works of art by Simone.
2311 Bloor St W,  
Toronto, ON 
M6S 1P1   
416-763-2224
Directions
walk West on Bloor from Runnymede station.
Jizelle, the lovely owner,
has agreed to frame some works
which will be display at BAND (http://band-rand.com/)
from September 20th (7-11pm) to October 27th 
with an Artist Talk scheduled for October 25th at 7pm.

These lovely images of flowers paintings are 8" x 10”. 
Perfect for any home or office. 
Priced at $120, they are an affordable purchase for anyone
who hopes to invest in Canadian Art.
For anyone who would like to enhance their home with beauty.




Lilium Casa Blanca - 2013

Magnolia - Soulangeana - Lennei 2013


Rosa - Picali - 2013

Tumbling Ted - Saponaria Ecymendes 2013

Water Lily - Nymphaea - James Brydon 2013

The Artist Project (http://www.theartistprojecttoronto.com/)
is currently accepting applications.

I will be launching a new Indiegogo campaign
to usher support in order to participate. 

Booth prices start at around $1900, but it’s worth it.

I was a volunteer docent at The Artist Project last year.
The event was located at the CNE. It was well curated
with works from some very talented artists. Being a docent
was loads of fun and despite being heckled by one disgruntled visitor,
it was one of the highlights of my year.

I was able to see some artist pals from back in the day and
to meet some new talented artist from all over the world. 

Wish me luck in my venture to exhibit at The Artist Project!


Open on Tuesdays in June Rowlands Park located at Davisville and Mount Pleasant. I spent much of last week walking around ‘up North,’ (what I used to fondly call, Yonge and Eglinton), and getting inspired. I was happy to visit another Apple Tree farmer’s market (http://www.appletreemarkets.ca/).


I stopped to have a coffee at Smoked & Cracked just North of Davisville Park on the West side of the street. Next time, I’ll have the lobster. This time I had a blueberry scone that was fresh and delicious. The coffee there is amazing too. No espresso yet, for those who are hoping for cappuccinos.

June Rowlands park is a great venue for the Davisville Farmer’s market. Imagine purchasing a quart of fresh, Ontario strawberries and sitting under a tree in the park and eating them with someone you love.

The great news is, that aside from the ripe and delicious fruits, spreads, meats, veggies and baked goods, there is one person cooking up a storm who also sells mango lassi’s, a favourite of mine. If you haven’t had one yet, you haven’t lived. It’s healthy, sweet and delicious.

If I were able to give an award for best presentation, it would go to 'Garden of Good.'

Garden of Good - Apple Tree Farmer's Market - 2013

Two staff members who preferred not to be seen on camera, wore black and yellow striped tops and black aprons. The owner of the business was so delighted that I was going to put her booth up on my blog, that she gave me a coupon! Yay!

Recently, people have been apologizing for their love of honey. I don’t apologize for mine. Honey is a natural antibiotic. I think it’s one of the good things in life when used in moderation.

I felt compelled to research the controversy around honey. Here's what I found...

A quote from seeds.ca:

In the early 1600’s when the early European settlers came the New World, they brought the precious honeybee with them, thus introducing the species to North America. The Native Americans already knew how to boil maple sap into the sweet maple syrup, but the settlers brought their own familiar sweetness to start their new lives. Once introduced into North America, beekeeping became a well-established and expanded practice. The first recorded use of honeybees in Canada was around the 1820's in Quebec and then it spread to Ontario around the 1830's.

Now this is interesting, because I’m sure I read somewhere that the bees in Canada came from Africa, but I was unable to find a reference supporting that online.
If you find one, please let me know.

Below is an excerpt from Wired online:

Controversy Deepens Over Pesticides and Bee Collapse

Colony collapse disorder is characterized in part by bees abandoning their hives during winter, and that’s precisely what Lu’s team reported in 15 of 16 imidacloprid-receiving hives. While other colony collapse disorder symptoms, such as queens that stay in the hive while workers flee, were not reported, Lu considers the experimentally induced collapse to be realistic.

The first reports of colony collapse disorder came in the mid-2000s from commercial beekeepers, who depending on region have experienced colony losses ranging from 30 to 90 percent. Commercial pollination costs have since skyrocketed, and as wild bees are also afflicted, even naturally occurring pollination is threatened.

Measuring bee declines, however, proved much easier than explaining them. Among a lineup of potential culprits including fungus, mites, viruses, bacteria and pesticides, studies failed to find an obvious, smoking-gun cause — but, piece by piece, evidence against neonicotinoids has steadily accumulated.

Developed in the 1990s as a relatively less-toxic alternative to pesticides that seriously harmed human health, neonicotinoids soon became the world’s fastest-growing pesticide class and an integral part of industrial agricultural strategy. In the United States alone, neonicotinoid-treated corn now covers a total area slightly smaller than the state of Montana.

Like earlier pesticides, neonicotinoids disrupt insects’ central nervous systems. But unlike earlier pesticides, which affected insects during and immediately after spraying, neonicotinoids spread through the vascular tissues of plants. They’re toxic through entire growing seasons, including flowering times when bees consume their pollen.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently evaluating the safety of neonicotinoids, and more than 1.25 million people have signed petitions requesting a ban. In parts of Europe that have already banned neonicotinoids, colony collapse disorder may have slowed, though Krupke said these reports are too anecdotal to consider scientifically reliable.

Some European countries, including France, Germany and Italy, have even banned neonicotinoids, though pesticide companies vehemently defend their ecological safety and say concerns are based on inconclusive and premature science.

Lu’s study, released April 5 and scheduled for publication in the June Bulletin of Insectology, attempts to replicate the life history of commercial bees, which are often fed dietary supplements of high-fructose corn syrup that may contain neonicotinoid residues that survive processing.

Summerlicious (http://www.toronto.ca/special_events/summerlicious/2013/index.htm) is on until July 21st. A great way to dine in style for less.

Sad to say I missed this one. African Fashion Week (http://www.afwt.ca/).
Be sure to check it out next year.

My prayers go out to Nelson Mandella (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12305154).
May you have a speedy recovery and thanks for your contribution to the world.


Ciao4now,


Simone




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