Solitude – In Tom Thomson’s Footsteps

One of the moments that I will never forget on my trip to Algonquin Park last week, was when I left my companions who headed back to the motel and drove deep into the park until I got to the end of the road on the shore of Opeongo Lake. I am sure that during the summer, the spot is busy with campers and day visitors who come to enjoy the crystal clear waters, but in the middle of January, with the lake frozen and snow covered, the sense of solitude was a feeling I had not experienced before. Not to that extent.

For miles around me, there was not a single human being. I stepped out of the car hesitantly and could not paint for a while. All I could do was experience the vast wilderness and me alone in it. Can I tell you a little secret? I felt an acute sense of anxiety. I have heard and read many stories about people who have spent days and years even secluded and away from human contact. Then there is the whole idea that the worst punishment you can impose on a pack animal like man is isolation. Isolation. That’s what I was feeling. Solitude is a gentler term for it I guess, but isolation is what gave me the anxiety.

Thankfully I had my paints and a car that I knew (hoped?) would take me back to where other humans were. A bit later as  I was painting, my thoughts went to Tom Thomson, who painted not far from the spot I was at and he also did it in winter. He was made of better metal than I am of course, but he must have felt the melancholy of isolation at these moments I think.

For all the anxiety, I am glad I was there though. You have to experience this at least once I guess. Next time – given a choice – I would prefer the company of humans. Does that diminish me in a way? I don’t know. Some are loners. I thought that I could be… I know better now.

What about you? have you ever felt isolation? solitude? were you anxious about that? 

Winter Plein Air at Algonquin Park

I took off early on Monday morning to beat the city rush hour and got to Whitney at 10:30 after crossing through Algonquin Park. I checked into the old style East Gate Motel took a small break and headed out exploring. I had studied the area of Whitney in Google Maps, so I knew the spots that I wanted to explore, but there is no substitute for first hand scouting. I checked out a few spots, all were excellent, and then I settled down and did a watercolour off the dock in Whitney.

Galeairy Lake, Whitney. Watercolour on Paper, 9”x12” ($98.00)

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That was followed by another one off of Airy Road. The evening was festive with 6 artists telling tall tales and enjoying the warmth and a glass or two or more.
Tuesday was park day. I headed into the park with a couple of other artists and we were told that they were expecting us and had freshly ploughed the road all the way up to Opeongo Lake. I drove in all the way and did three 8”x10”s on the lake shore. The seclusion was amazing. My two fellow artists chose spots about two km back and I was alone on the lake. At first I couldn’t paint at all. All I wanted to do was take in the feeling of being all alone in a vast winter wilderness. Breath-taking and humbling. It was getting dark by the time I gathered my gear and headed back to Whitney. Along the way out of the park, I had a brief encounter with a moose crossing the highway. Thankfully I will driving slowly and we ended up just eyeing each other while I waited for her to cross.


Distant Shore, Galeairy Lake. 8”x10” Oil on Panel, ($300.00)

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The next day I chose to paint in the outskirts of the park along old highway 127 and Airy road. We had a nice bright day and I did another three 8”x10”s. Back for a quick shower and dinner with the hope of another half day of painting before heading home…
Alas, that was not meant to be. I woke up on Thursday to heavy snow coming down. The town was happy to see the snow because it meant the start of the snow-mobile season. For me and the other artists, it meant a hasty retreat back home before the roads became impassable and we were stuck as unwelcome guests.
The trip was exhilarating. I am  battle hardened and ready for a few more months of winter and winter painting on weekends. Stay tuned!

Winterizing The Plein Air Gear

We finally have snow,  which means that the winter plein air season can finally start up here. I am getting ready for a trip to Algonquin park for a few days of winter painting soon. So it is time for me to winterize my gear.
Winterizing the pochade is one of the essential rituals of the season. I love working on a glass palette in the summer, but glass is not a good idea in winter at all. Glass and metal are out of my gear in winter. They conduct the cold too readily and when you are out in the snow, that can make your paints harder to work and your painting experience shorter and less enjoyable.
So off comes the glass (notice the nice value setup below the glass. I will miss that), and on comes a fresh piece of plywood.
 
Next I season the plywood with oil and later with leftover paints in several layers:

There are times though when painting while standing in the elements is just not possible. Its not really the cold, One can dress up for that. Its the wind or the snow that drives you back. In cases like that, it is a great idea to paint from the comfort of the car. For that I have a simple setup that consists of a steering wheel easel and a passenger seat  tray that holds my open pochade (used as a palette), brushed, tools and of course the turp can.

I actually have a can screwed into the tray and I simply slot my portable turp canister into it (where the coffee cup is now) . It is much safer that way. I don’t get any tipping accidents. Speaking of accidents, this whole setup is placed over a large drop cloth that covers everything from steering wheel to seats. It is too easy to get oil paint on the interior and i just don’t want that.
Here is a quick look at the back of the steering wheel easel. I keep it very simple because I don’t use the setup much, but it works very well and the simple clip on the top is all you need to hold a panel in place while you work on it.

Outdoor Winter painting

Winter has always been a time when I have enjoyed outdoor painting. Mind you it is not always easy to paint outdoors in winter. Sometimes you have to retreat to the comfort of the car to paint from behind the wheel. For that I have devised a steering wheel easel that I don’t leave without. It is always better to be out in the open though, but sometimes it is just not possible.

First Thaw, Oil on panel, 8”x10”

You may think that the temperature is the deterrent. It isn’t. I have painted in –25C with not much difficulty. The temperature is not the issue. Wind though is a killer. A still cold crisp day is a blessing. But any sustained wind will test even the hardiest of winter outdoor painters.

It has been a mild winter so far with not much snow down here in the GTA, but I hope to making up for that soon. I am heading to Algonquin park in the second week of January for a few days of winter painting. That should be a lot of fun! I will be staying in the town of Whitney – minutes from the park’s east gate.

Being outdoors in winter is knowing how to dress for the occasion. I hope to post a full description of my winter gear soon. When you are out there and comfortable, there is whole world of colour and harmony to discover and enjoy painting. But comfort and safety are key to a successful outing. No use loosing a finger or an ear to get a painting done… I am no Van Gogh

Art Installations… Art?

Have you been keeping track of the latest mishaps in installation art around the world?

It seems that the almighty Damien Hirst had one more twist in his on-going saga with Cartrain, a teenage collage artist. Damien had ripped a concept of incrusting a skull with diamonds from his friend John Lekay who in 1993 made a skull incrusted with crystals. Damien’s “For The Love Of God” sculpture was made in 2007. When Cartrain made a collage of the diamond encrusted skull, Mr. Hirst was able to confiscate the work by bullying the kid’s gallery owner to release the collage to him or face legal action.

The kid recently retaliated by going to Tate where an installation by Mr. Hirst called Pharmacy was on display. Part of the display was a box of HB pencils which the young Cartrain swiped and subsequently put a note of ransom for in exchange for his collage. Hirst then sent Scotland Yard after the kid and they charged him with swiping the pencils. The value of the pencils somehow became half a Million British Pounds because they were in the installation!! Yes folks I can’t make this up. The 17 year old kid was charged with swiping a box of HB pencils that somehow ballooned in price from a few dollars to half a million British Pounds. Hirst also claims that his installation was irreparably harmed by the removal of the HB pencils. Oh my! The installation is worth 10 Million British Pounds!!! I say the kid was in his right to artistically express himself in a performance art as a parody of the installation no?

Fast forward and jump a few miles east to the Ostwall Museum in Dortmund, Germany where a cleaning lady cleaned a bucket that was part of an installation art that seemingly cause £690,000 damage to the bucket. You see the bucket was supposed to be dirty. The artwork in question was a Martin Kippenberger installation entitled 'When It Starts Dripping From the Ceiling'. Again I am not making this up. I simply don’t have the imagination or the boldness to value crap at that high a price!

Now do me a favour and watch this Youtube video of a TED presentation. Interesting commentary on installation art and the state of art today eh? Tell you what, I am with the cleaning lady too. But what I most want to know is who values these installations? How do they value them? And who in God’s name is paying for this crap???

Traverse In Blue Minor

I was recently asked by a friend and collector to paint a small work with a blue theme. I love blues. They are so rich and varied and moody. After a moment’s hesitation (a commission is a tough thing to do well and keep everyone happy), I said yes.

I started by asking my friend to help me define the colours that she wanted. I was looking for a mood and a general idea of what colours interested her. There are so many blues and so many variations that you could fill many pages with swatches of blue. I sent her a swatch of blues and a few accent colours and she chose the ones that she liked.

Once that was done, I had to marry the colours to a theme.

Many themes came to mind Sea scape? Winter snow scene? Or my favourite: Rain? I did a few sketches and them sent her a scan of a rough pencil sketch of a rainy urban scene. This would form the theme of the painting. The details would have to build their way in the work itself.

 

Work in progress:

 

 

So here is the final work after a few weeks of letting it brew in my mind. It took me three sessions to complete this one.

The Mood: Its a cold rainy afternoon. You are heading home from work or shopping. The crowds on the street are starting to get thicker. At the crossing, the cars come to a slow stop. You can hear the swish of the water on the tires and you can hear the humming of the idling engines.

I love the mystery of a rainy day. Something about the umbrellas and the hushed crowds attracts me to it like a cup of warm coffee. So… What do you think? Does it take you there?

Going On a Bounce–Evening @ Bus Stop

This is a bit of a departure for me from the usual landscape works that I love doing to an abstraction of an urban moment. I loved doing it and I am still on a high just looking at it. It may look like my cat did it, but honestly, it was a thrill just letting go.

Evening @ Bus Stop, Ink and Watercolour on paper, 5”x7” (NFS Yet enjoying it too much)
I call it Evening @ Bus Stop. I wonder what you think of it?