Tomorrow is the opening reception of my exhibition entitled, “Saint of Cobalt: Barbara of Madoc,” at the Minarovich Gallery in Elora, Ontario. It represents my first Local Colour project, which I’ve been focused on this past year. The exhibition culminates with two icons of Saint Barbara, created from the same prototype, each painted from a … Read more
I’ve continued with creating pigmented photographic works over the past fortnight. I’ve completed a dozen of them, and I think that they’re kind of interesting. The big addition in these works has been the writing out of my notes on the mats surrounding the photographs. Although I think it might be hard to see in … Read more
I found myself in Edmonton, Alberta this week. I spent much of my off-time exploring the city. The highlight of this exploration time was visiting the Royal Alberta Museum (in the hopes that it would provide a variety of, “collections” examples, which it did in spades!) The collections exhibited spanned historic Victorian layouts, modern museum … Read more
Part of my year’s proposal currently talks about creating, “a variety of artworks that focus on the adventure behind creating colour”; with that in mind I’m trying something new … Last year a number of people commented on how much they liked the photographs I typically take when I’m out collecting my rocks. They also … Read more
With an interesting colour range created from my Madoc rock, the question before me was, “what next?”. What could I create that would show the interesting progression (and the rock’s potential) that resulted from this processing? My first inspiration comes from the colour palette cards that I typically create for myself. But, in the case … Read more
Today I got to work exploring the colour potential of two different rocks I collected last year: Lemonite from Madoc and Annabergite from Cobalt. Using intervals of 100°F, samples from both rocks were put into a small kiln and held there to change their colour (this is an old, primitive process that goes back to … Read more
I decided to slap together a shallow shelf in the corner for old jars that I recently received as left-overs from an estate sale. This small addition to my space will hopefully act as a catalyst for this year’s Transart’s work. As I am putting odds and ends into the jars, I am also beginning … Read more
I worked a little today on the red earth I collected around McGinnis Lake near Peterborough. Nothing fancy; just a simple wash (to get rid of the roots, etc.), and a basic decanting to get some sense of the colour. There’s something here that’s especially interesting to me: The idea that this dirt comes from … Read more
Returning home after three weeks in Berlin results in a real need to give my children some “daddy-time”; so, after letting my feet rest for a week, I was off again. We decided to head up to Peterborough to enjoy a week visiting the local attractions: The Zoo, the Canoe Museum, and Petroglyphs Provincial Park … Read more
I’m now working on the second icon of my St. Barbara series, this one will be from outside Madoc, Ontario. The colours from this location are much brighter than from Cobalt, and offer a naturally occurring yellow ochre and a beautiful Indian red. But, I’ve come to realize that I am missing a good brown … Read more