MARKINGS, PARKING GARAGE, OTTAWA

Again no postings since last week. So today a very abstract image I made of some markings on a wall in a downtown Ottawa parking garage. I liked the organic quality of the black line.

SPRING GARDEN

It is supposed to be Spring but this is what our garden looks like at this moment. Again today we received another huge amount of snow. It seems as if Winter will never end.

ICE FOLLIES 2014

The North Bay Winter art festival, the Ice Follies 2014, on Lake Nipissing was definitely lacking in a variety of visual art works. I simply photographed this teepee frame, which I presume, is part of an art installation. It made a good image but , as far as art goes, not very exciting. Hope to see a better festival next year.

BREAKING OUT

David Ernest asked me in his posting where I took the picture of Mr. Toad.Well I photographed him standing on a book shelve in our bookcase. A variety of characters have their domicile in our bookcases. So here is another one, which I made in monotone. Hopoe yoy like this image david.

MR.TOAD

One of our hobbies is collecting children's books and one of my favourites is Wind in the Willows. So here is Mr. Toad looking if Spring has arrived yet.

STREET MURAL, DOWNTOWN NORTH BAY

I just thought it might be a good idea to post a colour image just to break the Winter landscape. So here is a picture I took downtown North Bay.

WINTER CITYSCAPE, NORTH BAY

This is what Mainstreet in North Bay looks like on a Wintery Saturday afternoon. The only colour is this poster for a dance school.

SERENITY

I wish I had the serenity of the Buddha, which I found sitting on the sidewalk in a Montreal street. The Winter keeps going so luckily I still have some images in my file from my recent trip to Quebec.

MONTREAL CITY HALL

While waiting outside the Montreal city hall I took a few pictures. Photographing a landmark, like this building,  is always a challenge because  over the years numerous pictures have been made of this Montreal landmark. I remember that in the nineteen seventies Time Life asked famous photographers to photograph some of the great landmarks of the world. The final results were included in their series on photography.

NEIGHBOURS, MONTREAL, PQ

Walking down a street in downtown Montreal, I had to photograph these two houses. It reminded me of the paintings by Piet Mondraan.But how do you get into the door?

BOULANGERIE, MONTREAL, PQ

One area of cityscapes, which interest me are alleys like this one in Montreal. During this short visit I did not get a chance to walk these alleys. So I definitely have to return to really explore these city backstreets. One artist, whose work I enjoy is the Dutch painter and photographer George Breitner. He was a contemporary of Vincent van Gogh. So looking at his work I liked the atmosphere of his city paintings, which I tried to recreate in this image.

DUSK, ROUTE 20, QUEBEC

Driving to Montreal along route 20. I took a few pictures of the highway at dusk. The sun had almost disappeared but the sky still had a beautiful golden colour. Of course the light was almost gone still I got a few very nice abstract images.

FOR LINDA, CHURCH CEILING, COLOUR VERSION

Linda asked to see the colour version of yesterday's picture of the montreal church. So here it is . Hope you like this version. Personally I think I prefer the monochrome version.

CHURCH CEILING, MONTREAL, PQ

I just happened to pass this church in Montreal, which happened to be open, so I just walked in and took a few pictures. I was just in time because a few minutes later the building was closed. I was most impressed with this very opulent ceiling of the church. The image worked well in colour but the more monotone picture emphasizes the design of the ceiling.

BARN, EASTERN TOWNSHIPS, QUEBEC

On our recent trip to the townships in Quebec I photographed this beautiful barn. I like barns simply for their very utilitarian architecture and the strong textures and patterns of the walls and roof. The visit was too short and we certainly are planning to explore this part of Quebec either in the Summer or maybe better in the Fall after the busy holiday season.

HOUSE, PERTH, ONTARIO

Every time I wander through the towns and villages of Ontario, I keep remembering the photographs of the Canadian photographer Ralph Greenhill . Its a pity that his work is now very much forgotten because his black and white images of nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture are simply beautiful examples of great traditional black and white photography..

BEATLES COUCH, PERTH, ONTARIO

While not exactly a great example of twentieth century furniture design, I still enjoyed this couch while having lunch in a Perth pub and of course I had to record it so I could post it on my blog.

MURAL, VANKLEEK HILL, ONTARIO

we just returned from another visit to Ottawa but this time we spent a few days in the Eastern townships of Quebec. It was a great trip and on our way we stopped at VanKleek Hill, a picturesque town in the eastern part of Ontario. To my shame I have to say I never visited this community before but we definitely are planning to visit it again in the Summer. Two murals show a little of the local history. this is one of them and I will post an image of the other mural in one of my next postings.

BARBERSHOP, PERTH, ON

The picture is inspired by the abstract paintings of the Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondriaan. It is a composition of rectangles. The light and colours are reminiscent in atmosphere of some of the paintings by Edward Hopper.

BLACK AND WHITE TREE, PERTH, ONTARIO

Walking along a street in Perth, I made some pictures of this unusually shaped maple tree. I preferred the black and white interpretation because it really emphasized the shape and textures of this tree.