33 on 33: Day Twenty

When you head out tonight
In your quest for excellence in theater
I won't be there
I slammed my finger in the car door by accident
But I salute you in your ongoing quest
For excellence in theater
–TMBG, "Towson"

Today's stop for 33 on 33 was at Fields on West Lake, a stunning location made no less impressive by today's dreary weather. I managed to take a few photos of some of the buildings on the grounds (apparently in the midst of Mosquito Fest) before finally settling on a subject to paint (and before the rain started).

My subject: The Osterhout Henry Hall.

Their website claims it's "one of the most photographed barns in Canada" and I don't have any trouble believing that. My painting's composition is not from this angle, however. I was parked in a spot just to the right, enabling me a good view from inside the van since rain was forecast. Every day that I passed this majestic place I grew more and more certain that I would stop here for this project (here's my Map of Progress).

Carriage House.

A contender for Painting Subject of the Day, this cute little matching building dates back to the 1860s.

A triplet of silos.

I like silos and this view would have been an interesting painting for today, but I felt it too subversive to paint this while at Fields on West Lake and ignore the beautiful buildings available there.

Neighbours across the street.

Farm House Inn (from the side).

This view was a very strong contender also, especially because of the foliage obstruction in the foreground, but I already did a house-obstructed-by-tree composition on Day 17, so I walked around to get a better view of the house...

Farmhouse Inn (from the front).

Still a strong contender from this angle, it's simply a gorgeous building and I love all that ivy, but my mind kept going back to the big red barn, so that was that.

And here's the painting.

Comments

Axel Foley's Chevy Nova (1/25 scale model)

Multiple tributes, here. I remember first seeing Beverly Hills Cop on video at my friend Chris K's house, 'cause his family had a VCR and we'd watch tons of movies (and record music videos) together. The summer of 1984 was a special time for us (having created a strong bond in school since Grade 6 a few years before), going on biking adventures around the 'burbs and into the city, etc., and home video played an important role from then until I moved to the opposite end of Scarborough just before we started high school. We liked the movie a lot, both of us fans of Eddie Murphy from his Saturday Night Live days. I don't think I'd seen the movie since then (it would have been 1985, probably summer, since the movie came out in late 1984) and I became curious to see if it still held up. It did. It does. I found Murphy as charming as ever and the comedy (and even the action) holds up very well and its very re-watchable and very entertaining. Beverly Hi...

U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-D (1/1400 scale model)

Seven decades after Kirk. I'd been hooked on Star Trek since I was a wee lad in the 1970s, watching reruns of the original series from the '60s, and I enjoyed the movies that came out afterward. When a new series was announced to debut in 1987, I was excited and interested, even though I felt the subtitle "The Next Generation" was cheesy. Nearly 30 years later, I've definitely gotten used to it (but "TNG" is easier to say and type), but I still find it kinda bland. Anyway, the show had fresh new technology and a spanking new design for its main ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise , NCC-1701-D, now the flagship of the Federation. Andrew Probert 's design took some getting used to for me; it had the same basic elements of the original Enterprise (saucer, neck, cylinder, and two cylindrical engines on pylons), but the shapes and volumes were distributed differently, weirdly. Everything looked squished and soft. The organic look of this new ship had me ...

U.S.S. Enterprise, Refit Restoration, Part 1

"All I ask is a tall ship And a star to steer her by" – John Masefield The original U.S.S. Enterprise , NCC-1701, designed by Matt Jeffries, first flew across TV screens in 1966 and was redesigned (chiefly by Jeffries, Mike Minor, and Andrew Probert) for Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979 (explained in the movie as having undergone a refit). I like the original design for its simplicity and elegance, but the refit really does it for me with its swept-back warp pylons and overall updated-yet-still-futuristic detailing. It's no wonder I picked this ship for my very first ever model. Check out this gorgeous scene of Scotty giving Admiral Kirk a tour 'round the outside of the Big E in TMP (with beautiful music by Jerry Goldsmith). Which one did I build? The Star Trek V AMT/ERTL kit was issued in 1989, but I built it in the winter of 1991 (I remember there was snow on the ground in downtown Toronto, so it may have been early 1992, which means it ...

The Naked Silo

Search This Blog