Work continues well with the miniature diptych … The joints I’m making will not be as complicated as I have done in the past, but then again the stresses on such a small frame will not be as great either. With everything fitting well, I believe that tomorrow I’ll be ready to put the frame … Read more
Given the piles of lumber that I’m use to dealing with, this really makes me smile; here is a photo of the complete stack of wood I will be using to create the miniature diptych. In a more serious vein, one of the benefits I hadn’t considered before of making a smaller work is that … Read more
After working in my studio for the morning, I headed into Waterloo for the afternoon. The KW Gem and Mineral Club has a special Kids Club which takes place the first Saturday of each month at 2 pm at the Button Factory. They cover a range of topics, and this month they had asked if … Read more
Today my family visited the Royal Ontario Museum, and we had a wonderful time. Between dinosaurs and bat caves and totem poles and paperweights, we also explored the new Teck Suite of Galleries: Earth’s Treasures! Here we found rocks of all shapes and sizes (even a meteor from the moon!) but it was the above … Read more
With the new year well under way and I am taking that perceived newness and foraging a little off the path. Whether it is ultimately a little detour, or a parallel path, or something entirely new, I really don’t know yet; but, inspiration has whispered something into my ear, and I’m going to find out! … Read more
With the mass tones applied I can begin to apply other colours and create images. Egg tempera is unique in the way an image is created. Rather than creating with a neutral tone and then applying shadows, tempera painting works best when a dark mass tone is applied and highlighting layers are added. While the … Read more
Gessoing is a messy and demanding job and once it has begun it cannot be stopped until completed or else future layers will never quite adhere properly. Gesso, which is a mixture of hide glue and a type of chalk, is the intermediary between the wooden panel and the paint layers. It starts off as … Read more
Jointing the wood panels together is a perfect job for the casein glue that I created using the milk from Harmony Organic. The reason why it is worthwhile to create a special glue for this purpose is that casein glue, once cured, is waterproof. Given the amount of water that the wood will be subjected … Read more
There was a time when I planed all my wood from rough to finished, and on smaller works I sometimes still do, but when there is a whole slab measuring 20 inches x 8 feet I like to get some of the rougher work done on a machine. So, after marking out the different panels … Read more
I recently finished Moby Dick, the 1851 book by Herman Melville. One of the many wonderful passages that caught my attention is this one from chapter 32, “Small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything!“. As of … Read more