With the approach of the Summer Solstice it seems slightly odd to be exhibiting a 'new' winter themed painting. This local landscape was begun late last fall when the first snow of the year fell over the autumn scenery. Just up the road a bit from home is where I caught a glimpse of the unique scene. The narrowed down colour palette is the key to this piece. Framed in vintage wood to continue with the warm tones, for sale and currently on display at the ArtBank Collective in Clarksburg, On. Before resettling in the beautiful Blue Mountains region, I resided in the picturesque hamlet of Eden Mills and really got started as a fine artist, crossing over from my Illustrator roots. The place was overflowing with exciting subjects to paint and many of my earlier works originated from there. Across the road from my home was the Eramosa River and the remains of one of the original mills, converted into a private residence. This painting depicts the exit of the mill pond and was an especially colourful place in the autumn season, as seen here. Paintings can take you back and sometimes even take you to a place you have never actually been but feel like you had!
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2 newly completed automotive portraits. Both are very red, both are the same size painting, and both are iconic sports cars of their era and easy to notice! They obviously varied with background treatment, but I think each compliments the cars very well. My ultimate goal with these projects was to capture on canvas some of the excitment and thrill these two cars exude in person! Based on a scene on the clients' property, this bright, colourful piece fit in perfectly with the impressive new addition to this grand home. Located in the same home as the above image, this large commissioned piece was designed to work well in this expansive room, which included deep blue lounges and chairs, as well the a strong presence of red found throughout the grand dining room. The painting itself is based on a visit to the Knothole, a quiet old fashioned cottage located near Parry Sound that has inspired me to create a number of paintings, with many more to come! Based on a late fall paddle into breathtaking Killarney Provincial Park, the focus of this painting was on creating a compelling arrangement of strong colours and shapes. There are rare days when the air is so clear the blues and greens seem impossibly strong and sharp, this was one of those! As a child, I spend part of my summers on Manitoulin Island, camping at Providence Bay. Looking back, that was a magical time, days of off hiking, exploring, swimming, campfires and always beautiful scenery! One of our favourite rituals was hiking along the rugged Lake Huron shoreline out to the old Lighthouse point, which included a basic meal cooked over a driftwood fire. When working away at this piece, it was like all the memories of clambering along this rocky shore came back to me and I could recall navigating these very rocks. Set in an elegant warm grey wooden frame, this painting currently is on display at Van Allan Designs in Collingwood. Recently completed commissioned work, this painting depicts a fairly typical rural landscape in nearby St Vincent township. It is a large piece (39" x60" plus frame) and was chosen and designed to work in a specific location in the clients' home. It felt like I was working on 2 or more paintings in one and the tall tree was added to the foreground to knit the fore, middle ground together. The painting invites the viewer to take their time and reflect on the quiet way of life that marks the countryside when enveloped in winter. This is a long overdue announcement and update to share all the changes that have come about this fall with The Kilby Gallery as well as myself.
I have relocated the gallery up the street from my original space to what used to be bank building at the corner of Marsh St and Clark st in Clarksburg. My partner in this new venture is Jeff Gillmor, local metal fab genius. Together we have recreated the lovely well lit space into an inviting, entraining and intoxicating mix of original art and artisan goods provided by a small collection of professional artists to be known as the ArtBank Collective. Within the space, Jeff and I have seperate rooms to showcase our goods in addition to the main room; mine being the old bank managers' office and Jeff's', the vault room. Inside, my space is both a showroom of my available art as well as a working painters' studio. With it's lovely high ceilings and large luxurious windows, it is a great place to both create and display an assortment of my pieces. There is a website coming soon for the ArtBank Collective which will reveal more of what this special place is and is becoming! The process of moving and setting up the new business has been time consuming and involved, but we are getting close and I am able to get back to what I am supposed to be doing, namely creating artwork! I will put up some pics of the new place soon and show the exciting new home the Kilby Gallery has landed in! A late fall boat trip in and around the Parry Sound district was the foundation of this new artwork. Franklin Island resides just out from Snug Harbour (I love those names!) and while putting along it's varied and rugged shoreline, I spotted this weathered piece of the Canadian Shield receding into the deep dark cold waters of the bay. By this time of the day, the light was low in the western sky and poked through the trees here and there, bathing everything in a warm late day glow! While much of the painting I am doing these days has grown and grown is scale, I am attempting to balance that development with an increasing focus on smaller pieces. Each of these smaller works is finished off with a custom hand made frame, created to enhance and accent these striking but affordable pieces of art! Colours of Spring 26"x54" framed with vintage timber for sale (contact donk@rogers.com for details) After a too long winter, spring finally arrived and with it, some bright, rich colours to light up the world! after a time, I returned to this location and a more uniform palette had taken over. Well there is always the fall ahead! Cabin in the Green 27"x84" for sale (contact donk@rogers.com for details) currently on display at Van Allan Design Centre 150 First St Collingwood, On Deep in the forest on the shore of a nameless little lake, sat this tiny rustic cabin. I remember it as a silent serene place and hopefully the painting imparts its audience with the same feeling. While planning this painting, I was playing with the asymmetrical balance between the vast sea of green on the canvas and the relatively small spot of red and blue. One of a series of smaller works I am slowly building up; this painting 'Snow Tonight' is highlighted here to showcase the frame treatment utilized. I try to customize each frame to suit the individual painting and in this case, the frame was constructed from slightly cleaned up barn board, which allows the saw cuts from long ago to create their own patterns and add another layer of interest to the artwork. In response to the constant demand for pics of the our famous gallery greeter, Brownie or Bdog for short, here is a pic that I managed to squeeze into. The owners of this painting wanted a pic with the art and artist and Brownie photobombed us, as usual! |
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January 2024
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