The weather was absolutely perfect for the first-ever Artsburg Clarksburg event held all day Saturday.

The village was celebrating the growing number of artistic outlets in town on Saturday afternoon.

Artists were seen all over the main street plying their trade, the Marsh Street Centre was packed with different artists and craft makers and visitors were enjoying all that was available to be seen.

Mary Sims-Morey, a painter from Toronto, was painting away beside the bridge going over the Beaver River. She was busy Saturday afternoon working on a painting of the flowers and the bridge itself.

Mary said her work has just started to appear at the Loft Gallery - where one of her painting has already been sold.

“I try to paint in the outdoors as much as I can. My favourite subject is people, but I don’t get much opportunity to do that,” she said during an interview.

Mary said she has an educational background in botany and she has enjoyed painting plant life found in the wild.

“I love the details. The close-ups of the moss and the mushrooms. I love backyard botany,” she said.

The Marsh Street Centre was a hub of activity Saturday afternoon. It was filled with various artists offering different styles of work.

Irene Gordon of Thornbury was displaying her quilting work. Irene told the Courier-Herald that she continues quilting and has for most of her life.

“It goes back a long way. I taught quilting for the Peel Board of Education,” Irene said Saturday.

“It’s been in my life for years,” he said, adding that in 1975 she operated a Singer Store in Port Credit.

“I have 25 quilts. They’re sold for gifts. Wedding gifts, Christmas gifts, baby gifts or just as a gift for yourself,” he said, noting that each quilt is truly a labour of love. “It takes hours and hours and hours to finish one. I often have two or three on the go at one time. I like working with fabrics, I love co-ordinating fabrics,” she added.

Irene said she attends about four shows a year to sell her quilts. “I’m trying to retire,” she joked.
Carol Barden, a Collingwood painter, was also in the Marsh Street Centre on Saturday. She was displaying her many water colour paintings.

“I’m an outdoor person. I really try and do out door scenes and landscapes, but I also like the challenge of doing something different,” she added, pointing to her recent work of painting flowers.

Carol had company at the event on Saturday. Her seven week old cock-a-poo puppy Trixie was with her - snoozing away on the floor.

Carol paints regularly with the group of artists that meet at the Marsh Street Centre each week. She does a lot of her work from pictures she takes.

“I’ve travelled across Canada and Europe. I paint from the photographs when I can’t sit outside and paint,” she said, adding that painting outdoors is a real challenge. “The paper heats up in the sun and the paint dries quickly. On a cloudy day you get truer colours,” she added.

Outside at Artsburg the main street was a busy place. Keith Dennis had his horse and wagon team hooked up and was giving a tour of the village for anybody passing by. He had lots of time to chat and talk about his horses.

Beside the Marsh Street Centre Bev Lapointe, Allan Gibbon and Tom Kennedy were all busy preparing meals for passers by. The meals featured fresh corn on the cob, salads and cookies.

“We’ve had a lot of fun so far. And we’ve served over 50 meals,” Bev told the Courier-Herald.