Local Colours

Luiseño Red

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Last week I had a magical experience in San Diego … It involved beautiful people, a red landscape, and ancient tools! It was a joy to meet up again with Dr. Norrie—she is an amazing combination of child-like enthusiasm and deep knowledge! Together we headed back up to the mountains around the La Jolla Reservation. Once again I was … Read more

Woad Blue Harvest

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woad blue

The annual harvest of our woad patch is something I look forward to every year. While it seems that the weather rarely cooperates (at least it wasn’t snowing, like last year …) I find it magical every time that profoundly deep blue appears.

Northern Ontario Greens

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As I wrote about in my previous post, my family and I spent a couple of weeks exploring northern Ontario last month. While the residency at Pukaskwa National Park was a big part of that experience, we also took the opportunity to undertake a number of local colour pilgrimages along the way. What surprised me … Read more

Northern Colours

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Some years ago an American friend considered the map of Canada I had on my studio wall. Into this map, I had pushpins marking the different places where I had collected local colours. Given that almost all the pins were along the Canadian/US border, he noted that I hadn’t been very far north yet. I’m … Read more

Making paint with the Luiseño People

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Yesterday I had an amazing opportunity to paint with a group of Luiseño children on the La Jolla Reservation north of San Diego. For over a decade, Dr. Norrie Robbins has been running the Science Explorers Club at reservations around San Diego with the express purpose of nourishing a love of the outdoors and  sharing values that protect the … Read more

Conestogo Shell White

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I’ve been experimenting with creating a shell white from some mussel shells I found along the Conestogo River a couple of years back. With work beginning on some local-colour plant paintings, I again find myself in need a local white pigment … Shell White could be the answer: It has a long history of use … Read more

Preparing a pigment for 2020

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Time is very interesting to me: Whether it’s our perception of it’s passing, or technology’s general effect on our cultural need for immediacy, or perceiving it within the objects we create; time is intimately linked to our daily happiness and satisfaction. Today I decided to begin the creation of a pigment that will take a … Read more