The Naked Silo

33 on 33: Day 33 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My last day of painting: the Glenora Ferry. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: This was the fading, ghostly effect I initially planned for, but didn't really suit, the torn-down church on Day 27 , but it works quite well here. This is another of my favourites from this series.

33 on 33: Day 32 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My second-last day of painting: at the Glenora Marina. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Despite not being quick enough to paint the scene of the sun beaming majestically through the morning clouds (see the full post for a picture), this tree island was still quite a sight and I think I prefer it backlit like this, rather than lit evenly like it was when Fred and I returned to the site later on. Interestingly, I had quickly blocked in a boat on the far right along the horizon, but painted it out for some reason...it turns out it was the Glenora Ferry and, had I known, I would have left it in!

33 on 33: Day 31 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My thirty-first day of painting: at Glenora Estates Road. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Prince Edward County is surrounded by water, but I hadn't painted very much of it over the course of this project. I knew I would be painting water of some sort on my last day at the Glenora Ferry, but I wasn't certain of my stop for Day 32, so I decided to paint this scene to include Picton Bay just in case. And I'm glad I didn't "pan left" to include the cement factory.

33 on 33: Day 30 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My thirtieth day of painting: Rosebud at Picton Harbour. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I didn't intend for Rosebud the tug and its reflection to be the most saturated elements of the painting when I started, but as I worked, it seemed the best way to treat the scene and I think it works very well.

33 on 33: Day 29 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twenty-ninth day of painting: The Regent Theatre in downtown Picton. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: My experiment with allowing the rain to make streaks on the painting worked excellently here, making it look like it's raining in the picture. I added the wet reflections on the sidewalk afterward to reinforce this effect.

33 on 33: Day 28 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twenty-eighth day of painting: The Bean Counter in downtown Picton. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: The paint was drying on the canvas because of the sun and heat during the few hours I was out painting, making blending a real challenge, but I was happy for another sunny day (expressed in that blueblue sky) and I did my best. This is yet another architecturally-based painting which I had to redraw several times to get it small enough to fit on the canvas...and I still couldn't get Buddha Dog (just out of frame on the right) in the picture!

33 on 33: Day 27 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twenty-seventh day of painting: where they tore down the church to make room for the torn-down church. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: My initial intent was to render the ghost of the church in a fully-detailed way from the top down to about where the bottom of that foreground sign is and then fade it out to imply that it's no longer there (a look I achieved with the Glenora Ferry on my last day of the project), but when I blocked it in, I decided that simple red lines looked better and were less confusing than my original plan. I brought (now historical) photo reference with me and lined up my perspective here to match.

33 on 33: Day 26 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twenty-sixth day of painting: in front of the Picton Metro, facing west. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: When you study things you're familiar with, you notice new things. For example, I've driven through this intersection probably hundreds of times in the past four years, but I never really paid attention to how the road dips and inclines so much; you tend not to notice these details while driving (or even walking...but biking is another story). I like the focal point of the pale yellow house –and I made sure to emphasize that glorious blue, sunny sky after all that rain!

33 on 33: Day 25 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twenty-fifth day of painting: near the roundabout in Picton. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Defiantly painting in the rain (in the van) I made the most of it this day and ended up pretty happy with this one, compositionally balancing the plants and the poles. The puddle (as in Day 21 ) is a reminder of the all-too-frequent rain during this project. Also, I've seriously really grown to love painting power lines.

33 on 33: Day 24 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twenty-fourth day of painting: the Saylor Block in Bloomfield. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I'm pretty happy about how this one turned out, and I think it's great that this and Day 23 are the only two paintings in this series that have subjects that face each other in real life.

33 on 33: Day 23 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My twenty-third day of painting: the Saylor House Café in Bloomfield. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: To me this painting evokes the best kind of spring rain: refreshing, gentle, making the greenery extra lush and making it nice and cozy to be indoors.

33 on 33: Day 22 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twenty-second day of painting: in Bloomfield. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Like with the Fields on West Lake  barn, I had to redraw the building twice to get it to fit onto the canvas. I guess I tend to draw big when it comes to pointy buildings. In fact, this could be reduced a teeny bit more, but overall, I'm very happy with it, especially the great contrast between the white and the brown thanks to the wonderful sunshine that morning.

33 on 33: Day 21 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My twenty-first day of painting: between Slaven & Matthie Roads. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I'm happy I was able to capture those furrows and that excellent puddle in this painting because that's what motivated me to paint at this site in the first place. Also, quite loose, but still descriptive in the rendering, so I'm clearly still learning/evolving a bit.

33 on 33: Day 20 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twentieth day of painting: at Fields on West Lake. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I had to redraw the barn three times, each time making it smaller, so as to actually fit within the canvas borders (the same thing happened at the weird Mac's ). Also, I was starting to get pretty tired of all the rain at this point. I would have liked some nice shadows on the barn...but I did my best with the overcast lighting.

33 on 33: Day 19 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My nineteenth day of painting: at Wellington Harbour. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: For a long time, I felt this painting was too dark and muddy (feeling like I did about Day 4 ), forgetting what it looked like when I painted it outside, having seen it only indoors for the few weeks leading up to the show, but, when I brought all the paintings to hang them at Blizzmax, I was pleased to see all the subtle blues and details once again, so I am now very happy with this one.

33 on 33: Day 18 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My eighteenth day of painting: still in Wellington. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I tried to capture the damp and cold of the day, but the morning fog (see the photos in my full post) had mostly lifted by the time I'd set up, so capturing that effect was, unfortunately, unlikely (unless I go from the photos for future paintings...which is likely).

33 on 33: Day 17 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My seventeenth day of painting: in Wellington. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: The drawing of the house may not be entirely architecturally accurate, but I think the foreground tree makes up for it. This is one of my favourites, mostly due to the colours.

33 on 33: Day 16 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My sixteenth day of painting: at Hubbs Creek Road. See the  Grand Map . See the  full post  for this painting. Afterthoughts: Staying loose here, but keeping the forms clear and now experimenting a bit with a limited palette and, hence, a rather monochromatic look...and I like these colours, they go together quite well.

33 on 33: Day 15 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My fifteenth day of painting: at Sandbanks Estate Winery. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Returning to a bit more realistic colouring here, the looseness and slight impressionism is in full swing. Painting grapevines is hard because of all the "noise" of the leaves and grapes and vines, etc. –unless you're doing a large painting or a close-up view, then you can get in some good descriptive detail– but I did my best.

33 on 33: Day 14 20" x 20", oil on canvas, private collection My fourteenth day of painting: just outside Rosehall. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Much like the painting I did on Day 12 , I experimented a bit with the colouration of the sky here, inspired by the great contrast between the foreground trees and the field, provided in part by the rainy day and its even, diffused lighting. The transition from the greens to the violets to the yellow sky somehow works –maybe it's that buffer of grey-blue trees...

33 on 33: Day 13 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My thirteenth day of painting: near Cold Creek Road. See the Grand Map . See the full post  for this painting. Afterthoughts: Faced with another farm landscape, I thought I would abstract the image and colours a bit and try to distill them down to basic shapes, etc. I think it worked well enough, and people seemed to really respond well to it at the reception. And for the synesthetics out there, this painting, to me, looks like an Icy Square feels.

33 on 33: Day 12 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My twelfth day of painting: in Hillier. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Although the sky did not look like that at any point during my session, I'm very comfortable with (and people seem to really enjoy) the expressiveness of it and the mood it creates.

33 on 33: Day 11 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My eleventh day of painting: at Ross Burris's Farm. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Continuing with the looseness here, in some ways, but trying out a bit of a geometric approach, as well: the barn and fence are pretty straightforward, but the trees have a 45-degree unity to them...yes, it sounds weird, perhaps silly, but there you have it.

33 on 33: Day 10 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My tenth day of painting: overlooking Pleasant Bay. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Happily, I'm painting much looser, here, more impressionistic...almost abstract.

33 on 33: Day 09 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My ninth day of painting: at Partridge Hollow Road. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I like the way the road rises in the distance; getting that scale was initially tricky, because I tend to start large and have to redraw parts, but smaller (this happened a lot on this project). More looseness in evidence here in the foliage, but I would have liked to showcase the sumac in the foreground more.

33 on 33: Day 08 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My eighth day of painting: at the Lafarge Quarry. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: My intention to loosen up starts here, employing similar techniques for the foliage as I did in a few of my barnscapes , but...looser. Also, I'm using a more limited palette of colours on this one, which I actually find quite liberating as well as challenging.

33 on 33: Day 07 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My seventh day of painting: at the County Junction Family Diner. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: It was during, but mostly after, this painting that I decided I had to try and experiment a little bit with colours and the basic drawing. I tried a little too hard to capture this scene in my usual realistic way, but the various circumstances of painting en plein air and the complexity of the subject (specifically, those multi-spoked wheels) made this a challenge too great for me, obviously. Also, I realized that, with this series, I could take some chances and get weird and experimental...or, at least, just loosen up a great deal (which I did with the next painting...colour experimentation and slight abstraction started showing up a few days later).

33 on 33: Day 06 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My sixth day of painting: at the County Depot. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I really enjoyed meeting Steve and Tom and having them tell me stories about the site's history; interacting with local folks and learning about bits of Prince Edward County through them was one of my big hopes for this project, and these guys were great.

33 on 33: Day 05 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My fifth day of painting: at the transfer station at Salem Road. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: This was the day where I got the notion to allow some rain to fall on a painting in the near future (since it kind of did on this one, hence the song (see the full post)), and I finally got around to it on Day 29 at The Regent. Also, this painting has the most bugs incorporated into it.

33 on 33: Day 04 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My fourth day of painting: at Smokes Point Road. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: This painting looked terribly dark when I brought it home that day, but under good lighting (or just string daylight) all the details in the grass are more apparent.

33 on 33: Day 03 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My third day of painting: at Old Portage Road in Carrying Place. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: Having learned to block in the shadows quickly and early (on the previous day ), I applied that lesson to great success on this painting, giving me a bright white wall on that one side.

33 on 33: Day 02 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013 My second day of the project: at the Carrying Place Cemetery. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: This was the day I learned to block in the shadows early because the light changes so quickly.

33 on 33: Day 01 20" x 20", oil on canvas, 2013, private collection My first day of the project: at the Murray Canal. See the Grand Map . See the full post for this painting. Afterthoughts: I think, despite the orange of my acrylic ground layer showing throughout, this painting captures the sheer coldness I felt outside that first, terrifying day. Pretty good reflections in the water, though.

This post is the hub of all 34 paintings of this project (including the title page). The links below will take you to the posts containing the paintings done on each day, with each of those linking to the post initially written on that day. Confused? Sorry. It's been a long project. 33 on 33: The Paintings Title Page Day 01 Day 02 Day 03 Day 04 Day 05 Day 06 Day 07 Day 08 Day 09 Day 10 Day 11 Day 12 Day 13 Day 14 Day 15 Day 16 Day 17 Day 18 Day 19 Day 20 Day 21 Day 22 Day 23 Day 24 Day 25 Day 26 Day 27 Day 28 Day 29 Day 30 Day 31 Day 32 Day 33

We've been driving around From one end of this town to the other and back But no one's ever seen us Driving our Econoline van And no one's ever heard of our band –TMBG, "The Mesopotamians" Stand by for action. The opening of my 33 on 33 show at Blizzmax this past weekend was fantastic and lots of fun, with tons of my friends and regular Blizzmax patrons coming out to see the fruits of my madness: 13,200 square inches of Prince Edward County scenes –some recognizable, some obscure, but all genuinely interesting to me– are now finally on display in sequential order, along with  a handy map to provide orientation and context. Each painting is available for purchase for $333. Blizzmax  is located at 3071 County Rd. 13, in South Bay (call ahead for hours: 613.476.7748). The show runs until 21 July. Bearded...but not tired. Since the completion of this project at the Glenora Ferry last Wednesday, people have been asking me if I've recovered from...