The Naked Silo

I've wanted a TARDIS since I first started watching Doctor Who in the late '70s during Tom Baker's run which I watched on TVOntario on Saturday nights (with a repeat on the following Thursday which I also tried to catch). My mother didn't try to prevent me from watching the show but she didn't really like it –not because of the scary monsters, but because she was worried The Doctor would trip over his long scarf! This caused her much anxiety and me much amusement. Anyway, Doctor Who merchandise was pretty scant in Canada, so getting some kind of toy or model TARDIS (or sonic screwdriver or overly long scarf) was beyond me for most of my life...but the show was enough and I enjoyed much of it. A night's work. I'd used cereal boxes for my study models of the Bata HQ in Toronto and an a-frame restaurant prior to this project, but, in researching architectural modeling materials, I was introduced to chip board, a sturdy cardboard-like materia...

This is the main hub for all my architectural Shipyard projects. I've also created hubs for my science fiction model projects as well as my automotive model projects . In this post I talk about my first known exposure to models as a very young boy, and, as that one was architectural in nature, so I think it's nice that I'll be making architectural models among the others.

In  this post detailing my return to modelling, I talk about being fascinated by a model of a hospital I saw as a wee lad, and recently, I've expanded my modelling interests to include architectural models, starting with my test model of the former Bata Head Office in Don Mills, Ontario. I definitely have a preference for mid-20th Century modern architecture and its (now) retro futuristic look, so looking around the internet for suitable candidates for future projects, I immediately fell in love with the design of these small a-frame diners. This a-frame design dates a little earlier in the 20th Century, the first instance I can find being the late '20s or early '30s and the burger chain, Hardee's, used this for many stores in their chain across the USA. I'll be taking the design and incorporate many details from real a-frames to make my own unique burger joint as part of an action-packed diorama. 1/72 or 1/87 scale? Based on a particular element inv...

So many of my modelling projects fall into this this category that I've decided to split them up in groups of ten to avoid an overly long scroll down the list. I'll do the same for my Automotive and Architectural projects when necessary. My first ten sci-fi projects (which include my novice attempts in the 1990s) can be found RIGHT HERE . The following are more or less in chronological order (some projects are being built concurrently; some are temporarily on hold for various reasons; some are simply very fast builds and get done before the more complex ones, etc.).

This is another modelling project whose inspiration goes way back to my childhood in the late '70s and early '80s. Growing up in Canada with a Macedonian cultural heritage , the main meeting place for us was St. Clement's Orthodox Church  in Toronto for various functions: weddings, Christenings, and many, many dances (outside of Christmas and Easter, we didn't attend regular church services, nor did my parents insist that my sister and I go to Macedonian school). I bring that up only because more than 90% of the time we would pass this building on our way to and from church (and the dozen or so times I'd visited the Ontario Science Centre just around the corner from Bata HQ) –otherwise, I might never have known about this relatively short-lived gem. Heading west along Eglinton Avenue (just east of the Don Valley) I'd see the this strange and beautiful building before we turned left onto Don Mills Road. Waiting for the light to change I'd often have a...

36" x 48", oil on wood panel, 2017, private collection This commissioned piece features one of the boys in the canoe in  Life Jackets  (his brother, Gus, got his own commissioned painting featuring him diving off a dock ). The challenge here beyond capturing the likeness and pose was making the underwater effects look convincing. His hair (actually a deep dark mass) looks like it's sparkly or something, but that's just the shiny paint catching reflections -a side-effect of the way I paint and the crisscross textures my surfaces have. Blocking. First thing's first (obviously). Here I'm playing with the hair to look like it's undulating underwater and not being blown by the wind by making the groupings (or locks) flow in different directions. Skin and reflections. At this early stage, weird shadows look weird, but I had to trust that, after much more work, it'll work out and look like he's in a pool and not suffering from s...

40" x 30", oil on wood panel, 2017, private collection This commissioned piece features one of the boys in the canoe in Life Jackets (his brother, Reed, got his own commissioned painting featuring him underwater ). Like in Life Jackets , I had to paint a lot of surface water, but unlike that painting, the surface was more wavy, so I had to get a grip on lots of shadows and reflections and highlights. It was slow going, keeping track of things, but fun. Many hours into it... Most of Gus is done here, but that's a lot of water! It's gonna take a lot of work to get this looking anywhere near good. So far, only the basic surface with a gradient getting lighter toward the horizon and wave shadows are done. The sky is blocked-in dark to give some depth to the lighter colours that will go in afterward. Nearly done. The sky is now properly lighter and the trees have some highlights of their own. Now, just dozens upon dozens of highlights to do in t...