on the town

I grew up in this town,

my poetry was born between

the hill and the river,

it took its voice from the rain,

and like the timber,

it steeped itself in the forests.

-Pablo Neruda

Pere Raquette

30x40, acrylic on canvas, 2010.

This is a painting of Saint-Tite-des-Caps, Quebec, where Group of Seven artist, AY Jackson, spent his early spring days between 1916 and 1922. ‘Pere Raquette’ (Father Snowshoe) was the nickname the locals gave him after watching him trek into the wilderness with his paint box. This is part of a larger series of paintings revisiting iconic Group of Seven paintings, retracing their steps to locations and mapping them using colour palettes from the original paintings.

Population: 1500

Cabbagetown in Winter

Acrylic on canvas, 30x30. 2011.

Cabbagetown is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Toronto. It was once the home of poor Irish immegrant workers who were said to be so poor, they grew cabbage in their yards to eat. With its restored victorian era heritage homes and narrow streets, it is now some of Toronto’s most expensive real estate.

Population: 4100

Kincarden

Acrylic on paper, 22x30, 2011.

Kincardine is a town on the shores of Lake Huron, in Bruce Country, Ontario. First called Penetangore, Kincardine, with its strong Scottish settler colonialists, renamed it after Governor General James Bruce.

Population: 11,389

Provincetown

Acrylic on canvas, 36x48. 2012.

Provincetown is a small coastal resort town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It has long been a summer mecca for artists and lgbtq people.

Population: 3000.

Summer population: 60,000

North Bay

Acrylic on canvas, 24x30. 2016.

North Bay is located in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is the seat of Nipissing District, and takes its name from its position on the shore of Lake Nipissing. North Bay is located on the traditional territory of the Nipissing First Nation peoples.

Population: 52,000

Peekskill

Acrylic on canvas, 24x30, 2016.

Peekskill is situated on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point in Westchester County, New York.

Population: 24,000