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Porte de l'Enfer

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I’ve just returned from camping a little north of Algonquin Park! I especially love this region of Ontario—it feels like I’m remembering a part of myself when I’m there—and both the kids and I really enjoyed our time together. The highlight of the trip for me was canoeing down the Mattawa River by myself in … Read more

Monte Creek

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The second day of exploring the local-colours of the Kamloops area  was no less exciting than the first! Perry and I hiked and rock-hounded for the morning—I think still satisfied with the yellow ochre of yesterday—but on our way our of Monte Creek we started noticing the hills …

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Spences Bridge

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Today I drove 400 km around the Kamloops area visiting places like the Kamloop’s Viewpoint, Savona, Hat Creek, and Spences Bridge with Kelly, a local artist who shares my passion for finding and using local materials in her art. In each place we stopped we found soils and rocks that will make interesting colours … We found a rich sienna colour at the Viewpoint and flakes of something florescent in Savona (which was more exciting until we realized that it was chips for road paint!). In Hat Creek, a local farmer told me a tale of some dark red soil up the mountain that he could only break up with his tractor (I was unable to convince him to take us there though …).

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Saskatchewan Sampler

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“Saskatchewan Sampler Spidergram”
25½” x 38½”
an assortment of local-colour pigments from Saskatchewan;
egg tempera; paper.

In preparation for the upcoming University of Saskatchewan course, “Creating Paint From Soil: Applications And Observations In  Boreal Ecosystems” (ART 398/898.3) I’ve created a preliminary sampler of local-colours from some of the soils forwarded to me by Ken Van Rees (Professor) Department of Soil Science.

Unlike my previous spidergram maps, which had a single sample at their centre, this map has a ring of five soils from around the province. There are some interesting things happening here and I’m looking forward to exploring the possibilities further with the students.

404 Green

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I had promised myself that I wouldn’t be seduced by green again … but sometimes one just can’t help it. On Saturday morning I came to the realization that my green earth from Madoc—which I think is very beautiful—just wasn’t intense enough for my current work … How could I resist a rendezvous with my 404 … Read more

Eby Ochre

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Today was a very good day—I found the site where Conestogo’s sienna pigment was collected! And, the best part is, that I didn’t even know that I was pigment hounding! With a bright, sunny afternoon before us on a holiday Monday, the children had asked if we could go for a hike along the Conestogo … Read more

Conestogo River Footprint

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I think it’s too bad that footprints have become associated with the negative impact that people have in the world. When we travel, we stop and consider our carbon-footprint; when we use something, we weigh it’s  ecological-footprint … I personally love footprints, as I think of them as a microcosm of the positive environmental impact … Read more

Rock-Tumbler Results

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Upon opening the rock tumbler (after a week of letting it spin) I had two surprises: First, my rocks had become a bubbly mess; second, the colour wasn’t as bright as I had expected. At first I thought that the bubbles were pretty cool—a foaming mass of red is pretty interesting visually—but as I began … Read more

Rock-Tumbler Red

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Early this year I bought a vintage rock-tumbler on eBay since I’ve been wanting to explore another way of creating pigments from the rocks I’ve collected. And, I’m happy to share that it arrived in the mail last week! Once I had it cleaned and oiled (which required a bit of work given its age) … Read more