Popanyinning Markets: Before the event
One of about 20 things I was planning to do when I retired, which happened some four years ago, was to try selling some of my canvas prints at a country markets. As regular readers will know, I consider myself to be a reasonably good photographer having been taking photographs since I was about 16. The idea with this activity being to do up some of my pictures as canvases and take them to a markets somewhere and see if anyone was interested in buying them.
Trying out as a seller at some country markets isn’t planned to be a money making exercise. In fact it is likely my canvases will be priced at wholesale plus freight with no profit margin included. And if someone offered something under that pricing then, for the fun of it, I would likely take the offer. The idea is/was to get out and do something. Something that interested me. Something I haven’t done before but often thought about.
Well, up until now being over four years after putting it on my retirement list—much like the other 19 items on my list—this item has not been ticked off.
However, just lately I heard that there was going to be some markets at Popanyinning and sort of half mentioned to my niece Kim that I could try a seller’s bay at these markets. I mean, how bad could things go at Popanyinning.
Well my niece jumped on to this idea and has locked into it. It seems that unless one of us suffers a medical issue—which is not unlikely—then I am (we are) for sure going to be at the Popanyinning Markets on Sunday the 25th of this month and setting up a seller’s bay with eight or so canvas prints for sale.
In addition to the canvas prints I am going to have a wall calendar there for sale. This idea came about after a call to my friend in Popanyinning to tell him I was being bullied into setting up a bay at the markets. During this call he said he thought a calendar would be a good item to sell at this time of the year. I liked the idea so I spent the better part of about ten hours or so finding twelve suitable Popanyinning related pictures from my archives and preparing them to be put into a calendar. That calendar is now on order from Vista Print and 25 copies of it should arrive in time for me to take them to the markets.
I will likely do a post about the calendar and how good the work is from Vista Prints once it arrives later this week.
In the meantime, following are the four new canvases I have ordered and I am taking to the markets.
I have provided some notes with each one and I plan to print and provide these notes attached to each canvas that I sell on the day … which is why some of the content is repeated as it has been made ready to print on the cards to go with the pictures.
Old Cart: Laze-a-Way
This canvas print features an old horse drawn cart I came across as I was wandering around the Laze-a-Way Holiday Farm & Caravan Park property at Popanyinning. This was on one of my stays there before it changed hands.
As with many of my landscape works, this photograph was purposely under-exposed in order to try and bring out the brown and orange colours a bit more; especially the carpet of dead brown leaves in the foreground.
As with all my canvas prints I plan to only produce and sell a limited number of each canvas. In the case of this print there will be a maximum of five produced.
Rusted Truck on Mellenbye Station
This canvas print features an old rusted truck on Mellenbye Station. Mellenbye Station is about halfway along the Morawa to Yalgoo road on the east side of that road.
While the truck is the primary subject in this capture and has the focus, the multiple colour tones in the sky in the background is also something I was trying to bring out in the print. I love how the sunset orange colour which goes with the rust color on the truck then blends into the blue sky. I took five very quick pictures of this scene at different exposure setting to ensure I captured those sky colours in the background.
This shot was taken late in the evening and sometimes you can get very lucky with the colours in the sky from the setting sun. But you do have to be quick as the colours can come and go and change within minutes.
At the time this was taken, in 2023, Mellenbye Station, which is a working cattle station, was also operating as a station stay in the cooler months and there are posts relation to this on this Web site. Sadly the previous operator of the Mellenbye lease left the property at the end of September this year and Mellenbye is now, at this point in time anyway, no longer operating as a station stay. Which is a real pity.
As with all my canvas prints I plan to only produce and sell a limited number of each canvas. In the case of this print there will be a maximum of five produced.
Chrysler Plymouth: Arc-lantern Slide
This canvas print features a very carefully back-lit photograph of what I call Arc-lantern Slides. However, a search on the Web will reveal that these arc-lanterns are also called ‘magic lanterns’ and ‘lantern projectors’.
These amazing glass slides are 8x8cm in size (which converts to 3.15 inches square) and are mostly—sometimes entirely—hand-painted. They were used many years ago to project still advertising onto the movie screen before the movies started.
In the beginning, which I think was probably around the mid- to late-1800s, they were projected without any sound. In the early 1900s they were generally projected accompanied with sound. This sound was typically someone talking about what was being advertised.
This particular arc-lantern slide is advertising the 1938 Chrysler Plymouth available from P. H. Lodge & Sons in Morawa.
P. H. Lodge (Percy Lodge) is the father of my father Sydney (Syd Lodge), both of whom are now passed and P. H. Lodge & Sons (sadly) no longer exists.
As with all my canvas prints I plan to only produce and sell a limited number of each canvas. In the case of this print there will be a maximum of ten produced.
VOCO Mobiloil: Arc-lantern Slide
This canvas print features a very carefully back-lit photograph of what I call Arc-lantern Slides. However, a search on the Web will reveal that these arc-lanterns are also called ‘magic lanterns’ and ‘lantern projectors’.
These glass slides are 8x8cm in size (which converts to 3.15cm sqaure) and are mostly—sometimes entirely—hand-painted. They were used many years ago to project still advertising onto the movie screen before the movies started.
In the beginning, which I think was probably around the mid- to late-1800s, they were projected without any sound. In the early 1900s they were generally projected accompanied with sound. Typically someone talking about what was being advertised.
This arc-lantern slide is advertising Mobiloil petrol and oils available from P. H. Lodge (which later became P. H. Lodge &Sons).
Prior to being known as Mobiloil (or Mobil Oil) this company was VOCO (The Vacuum Oil Company) and used a gargoyle as its emblem. They changed the emblem from the gargoyle to the well know red Pegasus horse sometime around 1930.
P. H. Lodge (Percy Lodge) is the father of my father Sydney (Syd Lodge), both of whom are now passed and P. H. Lodge & Sons no longer exists.
As with all my canvas prints I plan to only produce and sell a limited number of each canvas. In the case of this print there will be a maximum of ten produced.
The Bent Greenough Tree
Note that the picture shown was taken of the actual canvas using a smartphone. As such it does not provide an accurate representation of colours on the canvas.
This canvas print features a panoramic style print of the somewhat ‘famous’ bent tree on the road between Dongara and Geraldton.
While this particular tree has become a star because it is closer to the road and it stands out, back when I was a kid there were hundreds of such ‘bent’ trees along this road and on the many side-roads in the area. Many of these trees have since been cleared or have died. However, if you drive along this road there are still a few of the older bent trees to be seen.
The bent trees are a result of the almost never-ending south-south westery winds.
With my shot of this tree I have tried to make it different to the many thousands of similar pictures taken of it. I have taken my picture from a low viewpoint. In fact my camera was on the ground. This then puts the bulk of the folage on the tree in the sky.
As with all my canvas prints I plan to only produce and sell a limited number of each canvas. In the case of this print there will only be one of these produced.
Kookaburras (Glass Panel)
Note that the picture shown was taken of the actual canvas using a smartphone. As such it does not provide an accurate representation of colours on the canvas.
Back around 2016 through 2018 my wife Jenni, who passed late in 2018, suffered from MND. During this time there was not much that she could do in order to try and stay sane while coping with this horrid disease.
I decided to print a few of my pictures to canvas in monochrome and to purposely make them somewhat faint or washed out. The plan was that she could then try colouring them in.
I bought her the biggest set of Sharpie pens with the most colours that I could. From memory the set of pens included 30 Sharpie permanent ink pens.
While the colours used on these two kookaburras sitting on this branch are likely wrong, the effect is quite striking.
The original picture used here was of the glass panel on one of the doors in our house. This might help explain the texture you can see.
Obviously there is only one of these canvases in existence.
Red Back Spider
Note that the picture shown was taken of the actual canvas using a smartphone. As such it does not provide an accurate representation of colours on the canvas.
Back around 2016 through 2018 my wife Jenni, who passed late in 2018, suffered from MND. During this time there was not much that she could do in order to try and stay sane while coping with this horrid disease.
I decided to print a few of my pictures to canvas in monochrome and to purposely make them somewhat faint or washed out. The plan was that she could then try colouring them in.
I bought her the biggest set of Sharpie pens with the most colours that I could. From memory the set of pens included 30 Sharpie permanent ink pens.
The vibrant red on this red back spider’s back was coloured in by my wife.
Obviously there is only one of these canvases in existence.
Ellendale Pool
Note that the picture shown was taken of the actual canvas using a smartphone. As such it does not provide an accurate representation of colours on the canvas.
This canvas is of Ellendale Pool east-south-east of Geraldton along Ellendale Road.
Getting to Ellendale Pool ‘back in my day’ was a bit of an adventure. But now it is bitumen all the way right up to the turn off south onto Ellendale Pool Road. Then it is only about 700 metres into the caravan and camping area at the pool.
One of the attractions at the pool, or not if you don’t like noisy cockatoos, is that during the summer months there is generally hundreds of white cockatoos spending the summer at the pool. The birds roost in the side of the breakaway.
In this photograph you can see a lot of cockatoos in one of the trees over to the left of the picture.
As with all my canvas prints I plan to only produce and sell a limited number of each canvas. In the case of this print there will only be one of these produced.
Special Popanyinning Calendar
I have also produced a 2024 calendar featuring pictures taken in and around Popanyinning.
See more about the calendar here.
