Conestogo Shell White

I’ve been experimenting with creating a shell white from some mussel shells I found along the Conestogo River a couple of years back. With work beginning on some local-colour plant paintings, I again find myself in need a local white pigment … Shell White could be the answer: It has a long history of use

Preparing a pigment for 2020

Time is very interesting to me: Whether it’s our perception of it’s passing, or technology’s general effect on our cultural need for immediacy, or perceiving it within the objects we create; time is intimately linked to our daily happiness and satisfaction. Today I decided to begin the creation of a pigment that will take a

Rockhounding: Eldorado

Before the snows come, I’ve decided that I want to get out for a least a couple days of rock hounding.  The connection with the earth is so important within my art that, as much as I love my studio, I need to head out up to the Canadian Shield and into the bush to

Guelph Quarry

Today my eldest son and I went to the Guelph quarry to go rock hounding. We had a beautiful sunny day and the perfect cool weather to enjoy ourselves.  We found many different crystals (a few which can be used for pigments) and came back after a full day with three big bags full of

Dundas: Galena to Flake White

This article is a series of journal entries from the 100 mile ART project, a project completed while artist-in-residence for the City of Cambridge in 2008. The goal of the project was to create a painting using only materials found or farmed within a 100-mile radius of Cambridge, Ont. Galena The last sample provided by Reiner

Dundas: Celestite

In May, the LaFarge Quarry in Dundas will be open for a field trip to collectors associated with local gem and mineral clubs. I plan on attending this rock hounding opportunity, but Reiner has been good enough to provide me with some samples beforehand so that I can test certain minerals found at this location for their use as