Tuesday, November 29, 2005

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.....

Thursday, November 24, 2005


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".

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Friday, November 18, 2005


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.

Monday, November 14, 2005


From the Georgina Pioneer Village: found in the train station

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Monday, November 07, 2005


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.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Friday, November 04, 2005


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

Thursday, November 03, 2005

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....

Tuesday, November 01, 2005


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.

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