Kettle Point: Mars Black from Pyrite Nodules

This is one of the very unique places I have been looking forward to visiting for this project. Kettle Point takes it’s name from the round boulders, or “kettles”, that emerge from the underlying Devonian shale beds of Lake Huron. These natural wonders are actually concrentrations of calcite crystals which grew over many centuries around

West Lorne: Yellow Bole

It really is a small world: In reviewing some of the places that the 100 mile ART Project has gone, Maggie read about the Mastodon tusk from West Lorne and it turns out that she lived in West Lorne for many years. She went on to say that there were cliffs of clay around there

Conestogo: Many hands

This week I received some unexpected help in the 100 mile ART Project: About 40 grade-seven students from Laurentian Hills Christian School in Kitchener! On Tuesday and Thursday of this week Mrs. Lisa Eelkema and Mrs. Shirley Huinink brought their students on a field trip out to Conestogo to collect some river rocks and then

Newtonville: Making Indigo Blue

I was very excited to receive in the mail my package of seeds from the Cottage Gardener this spring. Mary and Dan Brittain, the owners of this wonderful organic seed company, are one of the sponsors of the 100 mile ART Project. They had very kindly shipped me 360 woad seeds! Woad (Isatis tinctoria) makes

Don Valley: Limestone

I recently visited the old Don Valley Brickworks in search of some unique minerals.  The brickworks was created in 1889 by three brothers John, William and George Taylor. Their work was creative, using the different materials present at this site to create a variety of brick types. They were also prolific and by 1907 they

Arthur: Rabbit Pelts

When I proposed the 100 mile ART project I was all too aware that my experience in using entirely locally collected materials had a few holes in it; glue making is one of them. Glue shows up in many areas of painting an icon: The woodworking, gilding and gesso work all rely on a good