Down across the Conestogo River grows my favourite willow tree. As you can see from the photos, the shape of the tree’s trunk is unique and the tree’s tenacity (which the trunk demonstrates) is probably why I like it so much. In trying to draw a tree, I don’t know if I should be creating … Read more
Since my project proposal for Transart is currently focused on trees, the immediate work ahead of me is to photograph and sketch as much as I can before the cold weather arrives and the trees drop all their leaves. Down on the flood plains of the village of Conestogo there are quite a few orchards … Read more
With the gilding and gesso ready, today was a gilding day. In designing the star, I purposefully worked toward creating some subtle effects. It was to this end that I slightly angled the star’s rays so that the light would reflect off the gold differently as the viewer (or the sun) moved. To heighten the … Read more
Every time I apply gesso I learn something. In this case, I learned about the extra patience needed when applying each coat in the summer’s humidity. In the winter, with a nice dry space, a nice thick coat of gesso can be built up in under two hours. Today, the work took the whole morning. … Read more
When my children and I collected the sap from the pine trees, we also ended up with extra bits of bark, bugs and leaves. I didn’t think that this would help in my little project, so I set about purifying the sap. The simplest way I could find to purify the sap was simply to … Read more
Chris Willard, from the Cambridge Centre for the Arts, and Brian Mullins, from Virtual Vistor, came by my studio last week and shot some footage for a project they have in mind. Brian has kindly uploaded an example onto YouTube for anyone interested. If you like, you can make some popcorn and take a look … Read more
I grew up in a sandy area, north of Barrie, where pine trees were abundant, but where my family and I live now is a very different region. Pine trees don’t naturally grow here in Conestogo where it is so wet and the soil has so much clay. But, just north of Elmira there is … Read more
One of the unexpected consequences of cutting the cabochon was a bucket of water with a layer of blue sediment (it was used to cool down the grinder while it runs). For many years now, I’ve wondered about creating ultramarine blue from lapis lazuli, but I’ve never gotten around to it. It is a pigment … Read more
With the beautiful piece of lapis lazuli purchased, I had a new challenge in front of me. I’ve never cut a gemstone before, but I had recently seen a demonstration by Tim Elliott which impressed me. I knew that he was the man to ask about how to get it done. When I called him, … Read more
As I wrote in an earlier entry, for the centre of the Pentecost Star I wanted to place a piece of blue stone. I had met someone during the 100 mile ART Project in Cambridge who did nice work making gem stones (and in conversation, he stated he was willing help on this front) so … Read more