Point Clark: Seashells

Heading into the August long weekend my family and I decided to take a short vacation. We headed up to Hanover and then explored the region, visiting places such as Walkerton, Kincardine and Durham. While our choice of location was not done with this project in mind, there did happen to be one stop that offered a new pigment!

On our last full day we visited Point Clark. There is a beautiful imperial lighthouse tower there that was first lit on April 1, 1859. At the base the walls of this limestone lighthouse are five feet thick! We all climbed to the top of the tower too, ascending all 114 steps with children in tow, and the view was something everyone enjoyed as the children picked out different details along their new horizon.

But it was in walking along the shore I found something new that I could use in the 100 mile ART project. Occasionally in the sand one can find a weathered seashell. In finding these I had the help of the whole family, but it was especially my oldest son who kept an eye open for such treasure. He walked the whole length of the beach with me and in the end collected almost half a bag of little shells.

The best shells that we found were fairly large pieces and had been weathered to an off white. These will make the best colour. I remember reading that in the East, white sea shell pigment actually replaced the flake white around the 16th century so I’m looking forward to powdering these shells and see what all the fuss was about!

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