Every year I try to get to the Uof Toronto campus for the Fall colors. This year I was late and it shows- I have to resort to a lot of photofinishing prestidigitation to make for interesting pictures: This is the view at the corner of Bata and Rotmans – some surprising color given the …
Sometimes an artist stops you in your tracks with charm and a very sly wit – such is the case with Carly Waito.There is a certain edge to Carly’s paintings and figurines. Nothing quite Bizarro but still sharp, like a pin prick – catching one at the edges…. and suddenly you are sucking on blood …
Artists Scene in Toronto: Carly Waito, Painter and Ceramicist Read More »
I was at the Toronto Outdoor Artists Show in Nathan Phillips Square two summers ago and could not help being lured in Scylla and Charibdis fashion by David Grieve’s works of art.There were at least 5 or 6 booths before David’s but one painting just kept calling like the Sirens: I could not keep my …
Églantine, also known as M. Fleur-Ange Lamothe, is an artist and photographer who lives in the Brampton area of Ontario. I have seen her photographic and painting works on Flickr plus shows in the Toronto area – and enjoy them very much. Go here for a sampler of her photos, here for an expanded bio, …
Artists Scene In Toronto: Églantine, Painter and Photographer Read More »
I was walking along in the Parks near the Scarborough Bluffs enjoying a summers day and then … I came upon this bit of basket weaving by Carey Nicholson, a Port Perry artist. Wow! The explosion of color and form was an absolute delight – and chatting with Carey about her craft quickly brought insights …
Artists Scene in Toronto: Carey Nicholson, Basketry Read More »
The Toronto Santa Claus parade is over 100 years old and a good part of the appeal of the parade is that people have fun every mid-November Santa weekend. And the fun is not just for the kids and viewers – the parade participants have a lot of fun too as these picture attest to. …
Go about 130 kilometers East by Northeast from Toronto – and you are into the rolling countryside of Northumberland Hills – where the last days of Fall means it is that Perfect Pie Time of Year again. Just check the local time and location:Its time for the 30th Perfect Pie Feast and Festival in Warkworth …
THE Parade is coming to town this next weekend.  Yes, the Santa Claus Parade through Toronto’s downtown streets. It starts Sunday November 14th at 12:30PM up at Christie and Bloor . Mind – there are some changes to the route. The swing down University now swerves East at Dundas and proceeds to Yonge where …
Grafting Metaphor Brian Donnelly has made a riveting transition – and its marked in dripping milk white. In this series of before and after details of Brian’s draftsmanship there is change from searing portraits of the Grange Pub scene to the grafted milk-slopping metaphors of the animal-life surround. Watch: Detail on right is from Puma …
Artists Scene in Toronto: Brian Donnelly, Metaphorical Painter Read More »
Now I have done it – spoken the unmentionable. The Canadian Maple Leaf has been tarred, tainted, and tarnished and …. and directly blemished by name => Maple Leaf Tar Spot Rot. What is there – a fungus among us? The Mysterious Rot Spots appearing on Canadian Maples this Fall in TO Well as it …
Glass is a liquid; but with Blaise Campbell’s pieces, glass has a texture and look of permanence. This group of characters might be from a Family Compact vintage 1820’s Upper Canada. There is substance beyond the Gunpowder sheen and upright pose. A sense of hauteur. Here is all business, a bit rotund, but knowing their …
Artists Scene in Toronto: Blaise Campbell, Glassicist Read More »
Just two weeks ago, the hues had crescendoes with cymballic fervor throughout the valleys and ravines that mark and carve the Toronto area while slipping into the Lake. And now they are memoried midnight reveries. It all started with first glimpses – And these were reflected on painted surfaces – Even Fall’s flower blooms blushed …
Every year just around Halloweed Day, Mike Sprung has his Jack’O Lantern pumpkin carving fest. This year, the carvings  coincided with Halloween Day exactly. So in the afternoon before the munchkins could besiege the place, an industrious crew of 3 not yet succumbed to Swine Flu, put to work on carving Pumpkins creatively so the …
Earlier this month, one could catch not a few souls out at the Leslie Spit in Toronto Harbor looking for Monarchs …. butterflies, that is. They make the annual migration to Mexico starting just about at the Fall equinox. Here are some of my fellow Monarch seekers: We came equipped with curiosity, cameras, hopes, and …
If you visit my websites you know I have a certain propensity for photography. But I also like poetry as well. I think of poetry is very much like photography – the art of capturing not just moments but ideas in their time. I find that when I look at Janice’s pictures they trigger poetic …
Artists Scene in Toronto: Janice Hardacre, Poetic Photographer Read More »
I like pottery. I am a ceramicist manque. So I poke around the many craft shows in Toronto and Eastern Ontario. And it is always a pleasure when I find Bill Reddick at a show because I know I will be treated to something positively  enchanting. Here is a detail from the poster from his …
Artists Scene in Toronto: Bill Reddick, Porcelian Potter Read More »
Ben Darrah starts 2009 ‘s list of artists whose works I have seen and admired for the past few years. I first saw Ben’s paintings at the Toronto City Hall Summer Art Show. His grand piano scale and style of painting immediately caught my attention. The gamut of hues in an almost faux wallpaper setting …
I can’t say that I agree with Jane Jacobs more: No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at … suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk. – Jane Jacobs writer, walker Janes Walk occurs in early May each year in …
GWN-Great White North are the people who put on the dragonboat racing throughout Canada and the US. They have the defacto Eastern Canada if not Canada Nationals every September in Toronto. One of the attractions of the GWN’s Dragonboat Fest is that it take place on the LakeShore at Marilyn Bell Park which was specially …
Every year in September, Toronto almost bursts at the seams with local festivals – The Ukrainian Fest in Bloor Village, The Polish Festival on Roncesvalles, and the CabbageTown Fest in CabbageTown. This year I got to the Cabbage Town fest and what a surpise. CabbageTown was the Irish, English and scattering of Italian and Spanish …