It's not steel scenery after all...

The one below appears to be soybean/canola oil plant. At least, that's what the sign on the fence said - Bunge - that, and do not enter, etc. etc.

Like I could get my "chauffeur" to stop while I climbed a fence.....

Hamilton, Ontario. Steel scenery.

Hamilton: Hospitals and Steel Mills

Many of you know that I lost my Mom about six months ago; and that two months ago, we discovered my Dad needed a triple bypass. That was Tuesday, at Hamilton General, and all went very well. And is still going well. My brother and I drove down together and also had a great opportunity to catch up with each other.

Since my brother acted as chauffeur, he was kind enough to take a quick runabout the steel mills and whatever else was in the neighbourhood. I learned quite a bit - he's a metallurgist and quite knowledgeable about the varied questions I had - "Why is there rifling up smokestacks?" "How do you extract oxygen from the air?" "What's the difference between Stelco and Dofasco?" (Seems Dofasco's the place to be).

They have a vibrant and vocal arts community with a new gallery. Sudbury was similar in character - a working town that snorts "We've got culture too!" And boy, do they ever.

You're going to be seeing a few renderings from my "drive by shootings" - lots of rotten shots, but tonnes of great material. This plant intrigued me because:
a) it looked hard to draw, but would render well in Sharpie and shoe polish
b) should I play with it, it would work very well in blues and yellow
c) it's a puzzle how parts interconnect - and this feels like a 1,000 piece jigsaw

I still don't know what the place is; or it's function. And brother HAD said "Don't ask what these plants are because I don't know".

Ignition coils

Oil sprays, rust, oil leaks, winter tires...

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.


Ezra Pound

Please don't sit on me

Horny Chair

I've posted this rather interesting piece of furniture here for Kendall; who often includes chairs in his abandonned landscapes; often poignant and reminiscent of the life these places once housed.

Meanwhile, at the Georgina Pioneer Village; there sits this particular piece in the Sutton West train station. It's difficult to imagine a pioneer with too much time on his hands; but this creative soul must have wondered what to do with his collection of cattle horns, so he decided to sit in it.

From the Georgina Pioneer Village: found in the train station

Woodstove: Georgina Pioneer Village.

All the leaves are gone, and the sky is grey. Yes, I'm California dreamin', and I just had an oilspray. The kitchen is covered with kleenex and report card material, and hopefully these other duties will provoke inspiration.

Leslie and Davis Drive, Newmarket.

ROM: Still working through this drawing. (Acrylics and shoe polish)

Edward Burtynsky

Truth is, I've been battling boredom. I don't like anything that I've "created" - it's lacking both spirit and surprise. I keep hoping I'll find something in the process to spark and ignite a new direction, but it the meantime, it's WORK. One rather interesting feature did catch my eye, ad I am remiss for not sharing this guy's stuff with you sooner.

The National Post's Saturday Night insert has a great spread on Toronto photographer Edward Burtynsky; and I realized that I had completely neglected to include his work in the links. Even more oddly, because he's one of my "heroes" and his books would make a nice Christmas gift for me.


An interesting comment in the write-up by Mark Pupo:

"It's not every day, however, that you encounter a lessone about industrialization in images that are so hypnotically, rapturously beautiful".

Hmmmmm....

Royal Ontario Museum - preliminary

Royal Ontario Museum. Again. I thought this by far the most interesting "exhibit". I'm not keen on the final product (according to the maquette) - reminds me of the pyramid at the Louvre gone mad. Mind you, I don't much like the pyramid at the Louvre either. Marrying the old with the new seems to cheapen both; although their offspring can be quite elegant - such as the National Art Gallery in Ottawa. I wax loquacious.