Art Show Opening this Friday

My new show - inspiRED, Charlotte County, opens on Friday July 2nd, 2010 at Sunbury Shores Arts & Nature Centre, 139 Water Street, St. Andrews, NB. The exhibit continues until August 4th.


For a sneak peak, click on the photo below...

InspiRED by St. Andrews

I just completed one of the large graphite works for my upcoming show in July. It is called The Red Rail, and depicts a large wooden sardine carrier on a marine rail lift, waiting for the tide to come in.



This boat does not represent any one boat. It is a boat that I have made up, based on the reading of the book Masts and Masters by John D. Gilman. A friend gave me the book on loan to read, and it has inspired a few images for this show.



This boat was originally a sailing vessel, but has just been fitted out with its first engine. Because early engines were largely unreliable, and their masters didn't trust them, all sails and rigging were left in place. I would say that this image fits in around 1910, a few years before WWI. It wasn't for another 20 years that the centre mast was removed, and a pilot house was placed on the back part of the boat.

This boat is about 75 feet long, and would carry 80 hogsheads of fish. When not in use for hauling fish, the vessel would be used to haul freight up and down the coast of this area. Sitting in a cradle, on the marine rail lift, really shoes off the graceful lines of these vessels. They were very elegant ships, and I'm sure their Masters and crews took great pride in them.

Peace,
Geoff

A Touch Of Red

The last couple of days have been spent indoors working on some graphites for an upcoming show. "InspiRED, St Andrews" will be opening at Sunbury Shores in July, a date that is fast approaching!

"Red Wave with Buoy "was inspired by the many buoys that wash up on shore in these parts. This one is made of wood. I like to find the wooden ones; they have become harder to find since modern floats are made from styrofoam and plastic. I find this to be a successful piece for a couple of reasons...

The angle of the buoy allows for it to sit dead centre without looking overpowering to the rest of the composition. The rope tied to the buoy goes off the page, at an angle, and is tied to something unknown, creating tension.

The second work is called "Red Dulce" and is a view of the land and sea to the north of the end of Bar Road. At low tide some interesting rock formations are exposed to explore, and some are covered in dulce. I chose to highlight the dulce as a compositional balance to the three mountains(Greenlaw, Chamcook, Grimmers), that are so dominant in the background.

If tomorrow is nice, I'll be back outside to paint.

Geoff