There came a point in the project when James was no longer able to work on it, so I needed to find a new woodworker to collaborate with. Luckily, Kerry O'Toole was available to help bring the project to conclusion. He has a large studio in Grafton, which is just across the river from Woodstock. Kerry is an experienced woodworker who carves anything from large sculptures to fine details in furniture. By the time Kerry and I started working on it, the main trees were mostly complete, and the canopy was just started. So there was a lot that I needed Kerry to work on, such as the foreground and background parts of the forest and the rest of the tree canopy. Above you can see Kerry's initial progress and how we used tape and Sharpie marker to plan where different parts of the composition needed to be positioned. Kerry was quick to jump to the task and his style of markmaking was perfect for the remaining portions of the mural. I still needed to make one more tree -- a white birch. Also, there still remained a number of understory plants for me to shape out of copper. By the time we had all the space filled in, the architecture firm's deadline was looming. But we were on track to meet it. Kerry even carved his own interpretations of some of the understory plants, such as the bloodroot and trillium, while I continued to shape them in copper. Once all of the wood elements were in place, Kerry and I worked together to apply wood stain to the completed scene. We carefully picked the tones we wanted to use, even mixing them at times. We chose darker tones for the canopy, and lighter tones for the background. It was interesting to see how the stain really emphasized the grain of the wood. I finished the bloodroot leaves in copper and even added a bloodroot bloom out of aluminum for a different highlight. Then I finished the trillium and added a wild ginger plant in the left corner. Once everything was in place and the copper elements were complete, it was time to adhere the copper to the wood. We did this by mixing epoxy resin with sawdust and "gluing" each copper leaf and plant. Afterwards, Kerry applied a thin coat of clear epoxy resin to the entire surface to protect the sculpture from outdoor elements. And finally...here is the finished sculpture propped up outside of Kerry's studio! Kevin Burry built the final frame to install the mural outside the school.
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After working with the students at SCES, everyone was heading to summer vacation and I was taking a 5-month deferred leave on top of that. This opened up the possibility of working on the final mural during my leave. Goguen Architecture, the company responsible for designing and building the new school, would require a submitted proposal. Everyone was pleased with the Appalachian Hardwood Forest theme and especially loved that the students had been involved in the initial conceptual process. Therefore, we went ahead with the following proposal:
Here is the original concept sketch: In the proposal, we included some images of planed butternut boards to show the grain texture. I include an image of one of my woodblock prints, A Global Warning, to demonstrate how we might achieve the bark texture on the trees. I also included an image of some steel leaves that I created as part of another collaborative sculptural project, As the deer... The proposal was submitted in June 2014, but unfortunately it did not get the official green light until the end of January 2015! Besides using the woodblock technique to carve texture, I knew that I would need to collaborate with a true woodworker. James Buxton and I had worked together on the As the deer... sculpture, so he agreed to work with me on the project. The creation process started early February at the River Art Centre in Florenceville where we were able to secure some studio space. First, we had to bring in a sheet of 4 x 8' marine grade plywood as the base. We used the original sketch and the students' drawings to begin planning the composition. We would also lay out boards of butternut, make cardboard models and calculate potential depths for each element of the scene. We started with the butternut tree in the foreground of the composition. James would combine parts of the fallen butternut boards and shape them into the tree. Then I would start carving the texture as though it were a woodblock print: Once the texture was carved, I rolled up the wood surface in an archival quality printmaking ink: We repeated this for each of the four AHF indicator species of tree. We would figure out a position for the next tree, James would assemble and shape the wood, and I would carve and ink the bark texture. Next up was ironwood: Eventually basswood and white ash were added as well: Another important element to the sculpture were the copper leaves. We cut the rough shapes of the leaves out of copper and shaped them in sculptural relief. We used the leaves that the students collected in the leaf press as the model for each type of leaf. Once the leaves were completed, we used a salt and vinegar solution to shine them up. Ferns and fiddleheads were added: James started to work on the tree canopy where all the copper leaves could be set, and I continued to work on some of the common trees (such as the yellow birch). Stay tuned to see how the project came to completion.
Last spring, I was asked by the principal of Southern Carleton Elementary School (SCES) for some help getting a mural done for the new school being built (which is now the Meduxnekeag Consolidated School). It wasn't something that I could take on in my day job as a Fine Arts Lead with the school district, but I still wanted to leave her with some ideas. One of the ideas was to have the mural reflect a nature theme that would carry from the old school to the new school. I had recently explored the Beardsley Hill Nature Preserve, which was close to the old school but almost directly beside the site of the new school. Above are some images from the snowshoe exploration of Beardsley Hill in February 2014. Simon Mitchell of the Meduxnekeag River Association led us through the preserve and explained all about the Appalachian Hardwood Forest (AHF) and its four key indicator tree species: Butternut, Basswood, Ironwood and White Ash. I knew that Simon and the River Association often did a lot of work in Southern Carleton Elementary teaching the students about conservation. Then it hit me that I could get students involved in the mural by teaching model art lessons that were based on an understanding of the Appalachian Hardwood Forest. In fact, this could be a perfect model of how to integrate the subjects of environmental science and art! In May and June, Simon and I started to work with a group of Grade 5 students at SCES. We took them into the woods behind SCES and first introduced them to the tree species. We found all four AHF indicator species except for the basswood. Students made crayon rubbings of the bark texture and labelled their work. We also showed them understory plants such as Trillium and Bloodroot that are common to AHF sites. Later, in the classroom, I gave the students art lessons on texture and pattern where they drew their own renderings of tree bark and illustrated the plants based on Simon's scientific descriptions and their own observations. On a later excursion, we left the school property and travelled by bus to the Meduxnekeag Valley Nature Preserve, There, Simon Mitchell and George Peabody led the students through a network of trails. By this time, the leaves had grown significantly and we were able to collect samples in a handmade leaf press. Again we followed up the excursion with a series of art lessons in the classroom. Students drew the leaves of each tree species and paid careful attention to details and line direction. Then, in another lesson, I taught the students about composing a landscape scene and how to make some trees appear closer and others farther away.
The artworks created by this group of Grade 5 students would eventually become the basis for a mural in the new school. Stay tuned for Part Two of this story... Back in September, I had visited Thompson Marsh and Belding's Reef Nature Preserves and wrote about the experiences in the blog entitled Chance Harbour. During the midday of this visit, a low lying fog came in from the coast and began to settle over the ponds in Thompson Marsh. It was a spectacular sight that only lasted mere minutes. I snapped as many photos as I could before the mist began to dissipate again. I knew right away that I wanted to capture this unique phenomenon in paint. The last few months have been extremely busy, but I continue to work away on my canvases. In an effort to include more updates on painting progress, I thought it time to reveal an image of the final composition for Mist Over Thompson Marsh, a 20 x 40" oil painting on canvas capturing my visit in September: The next several paintings in the Conservation on Canvas series are currently being professionally photographed/documented and will appear soon on my artist website and here on the blog site. Stay tuned for more updates on recent progress!
James Buxton and I wanted to submit something collaborative for the silent auction at the 2015 On the Rise event. James is an amazing bird carver, and he chose to carve a Canada Warbler -- one of the listed species-at-risk. This is the second of James' carvings that I've painted. Thanks also to local birder, Nathan Staples, who has spotted Canada Warblers around the Meduxnekeag River. Nathan inspected my painting job for technical accuracy and gave it his approval :) It was a fun challenge to paint this 3D carving with all of its details. The On the Rise event itself was a very enjoyable evening, and we are all excited about the big announcement of Frye Island being acquired as a Nature Preserve! It's been a little while since my last blog post, but I've been keeping busy. I will hopefully have more frequent updates in the near future. Here is one of the latest completed paintings: This is L'Etang Islands on a 36 x 36" canvas. The colours look better in real life, but hopefully I will be able to get this latest wave of paintings professionally photographed soon. At least this gives a sense of the composition and perspective.
It was a real treat to see these islands and many other sites from a small airplane back in September. When I saw the L'Etang Islands Nature Preserve, I knew right away that I wanted to paint this from an aerial perspective. I might do a couple more paintings as aerial views. But this one was my first choice. Back in late November, I decided to take the old highway on a weekend trip to Fredericton after one of the first significant snowfalls of the season. While I was driving past the Mactaquac Dam, I could glimpse some of the islands along the St. John River from the corner of my eye and was admiring the winter colours. I often come to Fredericton on weekends to visit my family, and upon arriving at my parents' place, I asked my dad if he would like to backtrack with me along the old highway to try and get a better view of the Burpee Bar Nature Preserve from the waterfront. There are a couple of roads that lead down to the edge of the river close to Burpee Bar, but it is all private property. We talked to some of the residents who were happy to grant us permission to gain access to the water. The first road took us north of the tip of Burpee Bar which didn't offer too much of a view. But on this first descent to the riverbank, we enjoyed watching a flock of Canada Geese. We tried a second road a little further downriver and met a land owner who was happy to give us a tour. This afforded a great view of the Burpee Bar property. This gentleman was a long time resident of the area and described to us a time when Burpee Bar used to be a popular spot for salmon fishing many years ago. The water level was quite high so there was less of the island showing on the surface. I was quite captured by the frigid deep blue of the water in contrast to the yellow-brown vegetation still showing between pockets of recently fallen snow. It was a beautiful day with a brisk cold wind. But there was still plenty of sunshine casting dark blue shadows across fresh snow. I've since completed an 18 x 24" painting of some of the interesting shapes carved by the fast flowing water on the northern tip of the island: This past summer, I had kayaked with a group along the opposite side of the St. John River affording some beautiful views of Sugar Island -- a neighbouring nature preserve. However, our course had bypassed Burpee Bar completely. In the end, I am happy that my first time seeing this site was during the winter. It is very interesting to visit these islands in such contrasting seasons. As the Nature Trust website describes, these are the conditions that the island flora must endure until spring.
On November 25th, Jessica Bradford (NTNB Communication Coordinator) and I visited a grade three/four classroom at the Hazen White-St. Francis School in Saint John for a conservation and art workshop. Jessica taught the students about land conservation in the province, and then I led a printmaking art workshop, using various NB Species at Risk as the inspiration for the images. After the workshop, we met board member Walter Emrich for a quick hike through the Boar's Head Nature Preserve (which is only a few kilometers from the school). Walter led us through the trail system to the shoreline. I was immediately captured by the coastal rock features, especially within the context of early winter colours. Jessica captured this beautiful panoramic view overlooking Grand Bay:
Over the summer I had the opportunity to walk the periphery of Navy Island in St. Andrews. I've finally started committing a scene from this adventure to a 30 x 48" canvas. Most of the work is being completed at a new studio space that I am testing out in Florenceville. The space is called the River Art Studio and it is connected with the Andrew and Laura McCain Art Gallery. Stay tuned for more updates to come!
After joining Walter Emrich for the aerial monitoring on September 19th, we discussed the possibility of venturing out for another sea kayaking expedition before the season was over. Walter said he would keep an eye on the weather and get in touch when the weather was looking good. About a week later, he contacted me by email about kayaking to the Western Isles Nature Preserve on Saturday, September 27th. He couldn't have picked a better day! The water was calm and the sun felt like it could have been mid-summer. We took the ferry over to Deer Island and were able to get out on the kayaks by mid to late morning. We left from a beach along Richardson Road and made our way between St Helena and Beans Islands. We crossed over to Simpsons Island and looped around Mowat Island. We paused at the top end of Mowat to view Little Mowat and Barnes Island. Mowat, Little Mowat, Barnes, and Nubble Islands together make up the Western Isles Nature Preserve. From Mowat, we made our way over to Nubble Island where we stopped to stretch our legs. After visiting Nubble, we were still up for some adventure, so we continued past White Island and between Spruce and Sandy Islands. You can see the path we took on the map below: This brought us out along the tip of Campobello Island, where we got a good view of Head Harbour Lighthouse. We also came in contact with a large number of porpoises, some of which were surfacing quite close to the kayaks. What a tremendous experience! After taking in the sights and wildlife, we began to head back. This began my first experience kayaking against tidal currents. It renewed my respect for the power of the ocean. It was a longer paddle back to Sandy Island where we caught our breath again before returning to Deer Island. Here are some snapshots of the adventure: Since the kayaking adventure, I've been working on a few different paintings at the same time. But one of the paintings recently completed is from this adventure. After looping around Mowat Island, I was really captured by the rock cliffs as we passed by on our way to Nubble. I was quite sure that it was going to be the subject of a painting as soon as I spotted it. Here is the progress and the completed painting (30 x 40") in my home studio: I want to take this opportunity to thank Walter Emrich for leading me on yet another great kayaking adventure! Very grateful for having met so many amazing people on my journey through this project. Thank you Nature Trust!
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M McEwingNew Brunswick Artist and Art Educator Archives
July 2017
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