Dreamland opens, Margate Kent

 

 

Ruth and I had tickets for the first day of opening at Dreamland. I had heard on the news that the Scenic Railway wasn't finished which was a shame, but I was more interested in seeing the site and the vintage rides. I like the old signage and paintings on the rides as well as some of the old cars and jets on the rides. Dreamland website here

 

The weather brightened up fortunately as we walked down, The original entrance was open down by the cinema, which still awaits it's restoration. A shop at the entrance and loads of staff everywhere. I must think of what might be good to sell there.

There is an indoor section with pinball and other arcade games, which we didn't look at this time. I presume they are open to everyone as the ticket section was outside. There are other activities inside too, including a roller disco.

They were still opening up rides while we were there, and pieces of hedge and fences were being moved around. I didn't mind this slightly chaotic mood it added to the atmosphere of  anticipation and of being one of the first on the site.

The chair o plane started up when we walked over, a 1970's classic Waveswinger, made it Germany and brought over from South Africa apparently.

I liked the painted decorations around the ride and took photos of it as well as the rest of the site and rides.

The Wall of Death had a showing which we were in time for, a wooden rickety feeling structure, where two rows of us looked down on the circular wooden track where two men rode their bikes round. In fact the bikes came right up to the top of the walls, very exciting to watch with the riders weaving around doing acrobatic moves as the walls vibrated with the noise of the engines.

I wasn't close enough for taking good photos, but enjoyed the performance.

The Helter Skelter and Hurricane Jets were being well used. I really like the jets, 1950's ride with good decorations.  Little ones were getting ready to pedal the Dream Cars, little vintage cars on a track. But the Big Wheel, and Double Decker weren't open, nor quite a few other rides, which was a shame, but I knew we would get free tickets for another visit.

 I am working on the final items to take to the Aunty Nora's Vintage and Handmade Market in Deal on Sunday 23rd of November.

The event is being held in the Astor Theatre in Deal  website for the theatre here.    10 till 3.30pm.

I have been gilding and painting some of my shells, collected from the beaches around the Isle of Thanet, and making some strings of the shells with vintage and collected beads.

Other things I'm taking include prints and cards and original works of art, photographs and other seasonal  craft items.

I'm also experimenting with some different photographic papers from Permajet and the sunset and misty sky photos of Margate harbour have come out very well on the glossy and pearl papers.

Link to Permajet here

Margate Bazaar

Today was the first Margate Bazaar of the season,organised by  Roxanne from Rough Trade and Lady Tesla's Loose leaves and Mud. I have a selection of cards at  Rough Trade which has a good selection of vintage, upcycled goods and jewellry.

 Margate is gearing up for the summer, with the beach and new steps ready for the visitors and new and old shops opening for the Easter weekend and summer season. Vintage shops are a speciality here, with loads of shops in the old and main town to visit.

Unfortunately the weather is decidedly un Spring like. We had snow and sun and then stronger cold winds, which kept the visitors away. Though there were some hardy souls out after lunch braving the weather.

We had optimistically themed our stall with Spring in mind, maybe the next time we have a stall it will really be Spring. I had a few new painted and mixed media pieces and a new painting of Margate., plus the old wooden cake stand I'd painted with copies of antique blue and white plates.

My painted cake stand, photo from Margate Bazaar facebook page.

Hackney Wicked and Marsh Lane

I managed to get over to Hackney Wicked this year, an arts event held over a variety of studios and spaces around Hackney Wick. The area is still pretty run down, although the Olympic stadium and park are literally just over the river from Hackney Wick.

There was a market there, which runs quite regularly, vintage, crafts, bric a brac and food. I liked the vibe, the alternative nature of the place.

The Schwartz gallery were showing work by Doug Burton, I watched the computer generated animation, which was fascinating. The forms flowing and changing, exploding and melting away.The Found Art Collective, had all sorts of found, dumped objects on display, including old TV monitors, some flickering into sparks of life, metal, wood, doors and spools of film all arranged in some sort of groupings.

Hanna Clarke and Kit Merrit had filled their studio with documentation of 24 hour periods, questionairres, tables, and notes all around. I was only able to see part of the event and a few studios, Neale Marriott's landscapes in oil stood out and Ayano Endo's shamanic work and the mixed media work of Abigail Thomas.

I have also been walking down Marsh Lane, the grass all withered and brown this summer. It seems as if it is the meeting point for crows, dozens of them on the fields and many of their large black feathers on the ground and standing up in some strange ritualistic pattern.

I collected some of the feathers, I'm not sure how I will use them yet. There were rows of thistles down near the Waterworks, their seed heads coming apart in the wind, I stayed to watch and take photographs.