Market day with Otley Coffee Culture

This weekend Otley Coffee Culture hosted their second 2022 event. I’d missed the first coffee festival (it happened in April shortly before I moved north). So, I was delighted to join the fabulous team of creative exhibitors and Rounton coffee roasters at the Otley Courthouse for the November pop-up market. What a wonderful way to meet and get to know more people in my new hood.

For those of you who couldn’t swing by, here’s a mini round-up of the Yorkshire artists taking part.

Sarah Hughes (@sarahhughes4793 on Instagram and pictured above) is an Otley artist and printmaker. She’s also a regular at Yorkshire Life Drawing (the life drawing group I enjoy being part of on Thursdays). Sarah was exhibiting fabulous screen-printed landscapes. Each one unique, even when part of a series of prints. Her work has a wonderful sense of movement. I was particularly drawn to a series of tree prints she had on display. 

Linda Hoare is Otley’s Mayor. Linda was selling lovely handmade (and hand painted) jewellery in support of two local charities: Open Country and Dystonia, UK. I bought two pairs of earrings from Linda – now to decide whether they’ll both be Christmas gifts or whether I might keep a pair for myself. 

Martha Taylor is a watercolourist who specialises in marine subjects. Martha was exhibiting her lyrical underwater creatures and sweet penguin cards. Lovely, delicate work with beautifully subtle colouring, and there’s a heartwarming sense of life and personality in each subject.

Sarah Harris is a landscape artist who specialises in limited edition prints based on her fantastic ink drawings. Her Yorkshire-inspired local landscapes have an evocative sense of depth and space that captures the magic of a scenic walk. I had a great view of her work from my stall and couldn’t make up my mind, which one was my favourite. 

Kathryn from Downtown Drawings had a stand next to mine at the market. Her iconic prints and cards include cityscapes and architectural subjects, both in black and white and in colour. Pleased that I’m starting to be able to recognise some of the local landmarks around Leeds in her work. And her vibrant York scenes reminded me that I need to plan a day trip to York soon.

For the pop-up market, I chose to display a variety of new paintings that I’ve created in Otley this year. These included flower creations, a figure study, a seascape and my very first Yorkshire landscape (as shown in the pic above). Chuffed that the Otley locals who swung by remarked that they could recognise the landscape. Also delighted that lots of people commented on the sense of movement in my paintings. Honoured that another artist said that they can hear the sea when they look at the seascape – what perfect feedback!

In addition to the work on mini easels, I took along loads of nature and dance creations on paper. Always good to have lots of stuff for people to browse at markets. This creates more opportunities for conversation and getting to know your audience.

The event had a good footfall, we had a steady stream of visitors but without it feeling crowded. Just the right amount of people to able to enjoy talking to people while they browsed and bought from us. I loved meeting more people from my new community and getting to know the artists, business owners and volunteers who made it such a successful day. Thank you to everyone who was involved. I can’t wait for the next event.