More from the Toft Gallery

 Here are the last prints, plates and wall hangings from our home gallery. This photo of the Norseman aircraft and fireworks from Red Lake was a gift to us when we left there. It was a gift from the Red Lake and Cochenour United churches. In the background is Red Lake United Church. The fireworks were launched from the lawns of the church.

 Family lore says this one-of-a-kind plate was brought into the family by my mother, probably before she married Dad and is a keepsake from her early days of work in the pottery industry.

 Part of our collection of commemorative plates.

 Other plates in the collection.

 A Gary Lovett print, "Northern Lights over Ena Brook."

 A close-up of the painted photograph of the Mayor of Burslem.

"The Angel of Burslem" stands on the top of the Wedgewood Institute. Anne's family lore says the model for the angel was one of her ancestors. In homage to the Mother Town of Stoke-on-Trent and the potteries, the photograph of the angel is reproduced on 18 ceramic tiles.

Les Galleries Toft

 Some time ago, when workmen were in our house, we overheard a comment: "This house is filled with pictures." So true. The collection has been amassed over decades. The one above is a painting of our home in Red Lake painted by Gary Lovett, the art teacher at Red Lake District High School Gary was beginning to make a name for himself as a N.W. Ontario artist when he died. We are happy to have this commissioned piece.

 This print was one of the first we bought while in Canada. It was purchased at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto while we lived in Elgin.

 This is a print of the cathedral in Ely, England. We visited this cathedral with Anne's brother, Jeff, who lives near there.

 These prints are historic buildings near our home town of Stoke-on-Trent. The upper one is Cheddleton Railway Station. It is the starting point of a revitalised steam railway, and was the village I was raised in.

 The Tree of Life hangs in our bedroom. It was a long ago purchase from The Thousand Villages store in Winnipeg.

 Our son, Julian, gave us these two Benjamin Chee Chee prints.

 The plate with English canal boats was given us by my sister, Joan. We rented canal boats on trips to England and these bring back memories of those holidays.

 This painting of a rose is by a local Kanata artist. I shared space at her house on a studio tour.

 The print from Newcastle-under-Lyme enables us to remember Anne's Mum who lived there. The detailed marquetry picture of musical instruments were a gift from Anne's brother, David.

 This winter scene of the Rideau Locks was a gift to us from our son, Nathan.

 This plate of lilies was purchased at another studio tour.

 From our Red Lake Days, this Don Ningewance painting of a Red Tailed Hawk reminds us of our life there.

 The Roches, the southern end of the Pennines, is a hiking area of our youth.

 This gallery wall of prints from the potteries, a painting of the flint grinding water mill at Cheddleton, and the Mayor of Burslem, an ancestor of Anne's, look good as a collection.

 The three First Nation prints here were obtained last year at the Spencervill Heritage Fair in exchange for a basket of mine.

 This is another purchase form a Thousand Villages.

 Our most recent purchase, made just last week, was a painting by a child with autism at a fund-raiser for Quick Starts, a program for early intervention in the lives of children with autism.

 In the basement a gallery of small pictures is our overflow area.

 Gandalf was a very early purchase.

The last print is another one from a person with autism.

That completes most of our gallery.

Arthur Simo: an artist on Etsy and a person with autism.

The very first purchase I made from Etsy was from a young Florida based artist, named Arthur Simo. Arthur is a young man with autism. He paints his original pictures, tells his Mum what the painting is about, and she then posts the picture and the story on Etsy.

Encounter Folk Art Original Raw Painting

Description

This painting is about an encounter between two far away planets, they are very different on size and customs. Each one brought a document on each other language to communicate the meaning of the encounter. Hopefully they will be able to interchange knowledge.

What I write here is what Arthur explains me about his paintings. He will sign all his work and he will paint different things everytime because his paintings are part of his feelings and thoughts on a daily basis. You will be the only one having this original painting. It is great to collect or give it as a present.

The size of this paintings 9" by 12" paper, watercolor,crayons and markers.

Added on Apr 13, 2010

Mars Discovery Outsider Folk Art Rare

Description

This painting is about a mission to Mars and a group of astronauts were searching for any life form. One of them found something and after he touch it, it became real, it moves and laughs, but it came out of hot lava under a rock, she is radioactive and can kill humans. She looks friendly and she wants to communicate.

What I write here is what Arthur explains me about his paintings. He will sign all his work and he will paint different things everytime because his paintings are part of his feelings and thoughts on a daily basis. You will be the only one having this original painting. It is great to collect or give it as a present.

These are just two examples of his creative work and his vivid imagination.

To see more of his work go to www.Etsy.com, and check out his work under the name of arthursimo. Enjoy!

Mailing costs revised.

In 1965 or 1966 Anne and I bought this oil painting of Tower Bridge in London, England, probably from the artist himself. It was one of many paintings displayed for sale on the railings of Green Park. We brought it with us to Canada when we emigrated in 1966. It has been with us in Montreal, Elgin, Red Lake, and now in Ottawa.



A little while ago I added the picture to my Etsy site as a vintage item for sale. We have decided to do some down-sizing of our art collection, particularly as there are paintings and pictures in the basement that have no wall space for them.

In figuring out potential shipping costs, I contacted UPS since that agency also offered packaging services. UPS stated they would package the 48" by 18" painting for $64. I also obtained shipping costs from UPS to ship to California, to Vancouver and to the UK.


Recently I received a "convoe" (an internal Etsy email) asking if there was a less expensive way to ship the painting to England. A $400 to $500 shipping expense on a $200 painting seemed a little extreme. I researched the costs from Canada Post and found these were much lower than UPS, particularly if I shipped to the UK by surface mail (a ship) rather than by air. It would cost around $80 to ship to England using surface mail. It would take weeks to arrive rather than days, however.

There remained the question of packaging. In a 3.00 am "Ahah" moment, I remembered that my youngest son had recently bought some bedroom furniture from IKEA that came in handy sized flat boxes. I called him (but not at 3 00 am) and learned he still had the empty boxes. One, now in my basemant, can be readily adapted as a shipping box for the painting.

I revised the shipping costs for Canada, the US and the UK and am awaiting a sale!