March means miniatures

The ACT Miniature Enthusiasts Miniature Fair and Dollshouse Show, to be precise: which happened yesterday.

Here were the highlights for me:

This garden courtyard scene, which was displayed in front of a canvas from (I assume) a bargain shop. The workmanship and detail in the scene was wonderful, but I thought the sense that the scene continued back and up to the top of the hill was a magic touch.

(Speaking of 'touch' I may have warmed up the colour on the photo a touch to give it a feeling of being taken during the gloaming hour, rather than under fluorescent lights in a suburban hall...)

I was interested to see Rhonda and Scott Coleman's menswear shop, as I'd photographed the contents last year (when they were displayed in an IKEA light box) but didn't blog about it. And I was lucky enough to persuade Scott to pose behind it for a photo:

 It's looking very smart!

I'm always a sucker for a dolls' house dolls house shop, and this one seems to carry everything you might need.

The Main Street Gallery caught my attention. So much so, that I forgot to find out who created it, but past me reliably informs me that it's by Jenny Balderson. (She does beautiful work, which I photograph quite regularly...)

(So I also magiced this photo to make it dusk...)

Upstairs is a gallery space, with some beautifully-made pieces on display, ranging across many media,

while downstairs is the art store we first visited in 2009, which is much expanded in its new home.

Business must be good.

Another highlight of the show for me was meeting Jill Fraser, owner of the new New-Zealand miniature magazine The Miniature Time Traveller.

And, finally, the food provided for traders by the Black Mountain School P&C was amazing, as usual. They fed us scones with jam and cream for morning tea, a selection of hot and cold dishes for lunch and this is what turned up on the trolley for afternoon tea:

(Stall holders at the Canberra show are very spoiled!)