Published: Thursday, 5th June, 2008 8:00am

Price is right for artists

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SALES of artworks in the first weekend of this year"s 3 Harbours Festival have almost matched the total amount for the whole of last year"s festival.

Festival chairman Andrew Crummy was delighted with the turnover of £18,000 for the first weekend, despite poor weather on Sunday. He said: 'Saturday was absolutely fantastic. It helped that it was a great day, with the sun shining, and also that there were visitors from all over the world attending Cockenzie and Port Seton Gala Day.

'But another factor is that people now know more about what the festival is about and have a better understanding of where to look for artwork.

'The amount of sales in the first weekend alone is double the amount last year, and almost the same as for the whole fortnight last year.

'Thank you to all the people who have attended and helped with this year"s festival, so far. There is still plenty to see for the remaining days of the festival (ends Sunday) and it would be great if as many people as possible could come along, as the more money we bring in this year, the better next year"s festival will be.'

Mr Crummy was particularly pleased with the numbers of people who attended the exhibition of work by more than 20 artists at Cockenzie Power Station, including prints by arts impresario Richard Demarco. Mr Demarco will be giving a talk on "East Coast Art" at the power station this afternoon (Friday) at 3pm.

The winner of this year"s mural competition, based on the theme of "Children at Play in Cuthill Park" is Fiona Robb. Professional artist Fiona, who owns the Art Matters shop in Musselburgh, called her winning mural "Four Seasons". She said: 'I do a lot of potraits of children and the idea of the four seasons was so that I could show as many children as possible in different settings.'

l Log on to www.3harbours.com for details of remaining events. See centre pages for 3 Harbours Festival launch pic spread.