The Naked Silo

by  Celia Sage  and  Milé Murtanovski 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase Two] In keeping with Celia’s surrealistic image of a flying trailer whisking her to adventures away from home, my frequent escape from the suburban doldrums of Scarborough was the mighty TTC (the subway used to be called the “Red Rocket”) taking me and my friends into the excitement of the Big City (Toronto). – Milé Murtanovski Home Away From Home by Celia Sage 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase One] Click the image above to see all ten Phase One paintings from our HOME project.

by  Celia Sage  and  Milé Murtanovski 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase Two] As a contrast to Celia’s tranquil and pastoral landscape with its surreal eyes keeping watch, I’ve painted one of the seemingly millions of ever-present wire-festooned poles that line Scarborough’s streets (here at Kennedy and Lawrence, the very heart of bland convenience) like superhuman fence posts or totem poles for communication, electricity, and boredom. – Milé Murtanovski  Home Made –Squall Shadowed Hills by Celia Sage 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase One] Click the image above to see all ten Phase One paintings from our HOME project.

by  Milé Murtanovski  and  Celia Sage 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase Two] The female figure in the centre of Milé's painting was unavoidable, so in order to respond to the idea of Home on my half I transformed her into a younger version of myself, backed by the foothills and mountains which were the background of my early life. I turned Milé's Scarborough hydro corridor into the lines which bring the actual hydroelectric power that keeps Boise's home fires burning. – Celia Sage  Scarberian Rhapsody by Milé Murtanovski 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase One] Click the image above to see all ten Phase One paintings from our HOME project.

Born & Bred & Bored & Dead by  Milé Murtanovski  24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [Phase One]  ...see the PHASE TWO version. Home Away by  Celia Sage  24" x 24", collage and oil on canvas, 2017 [Phase One]  ...see the PHASE TWO version. Where the Heart Is by  Milé Murtanovski  24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [Phase One]  ...see the PHASE TWO version. Home Builder by  Celia Sage  24" x 24", collage and oil on canvas, 2017 [Phase One]  ...see the PHASE TWO version. Always on My Mind by  Milé Murtanovski  24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [Phase One]  ...see the PHASE TWO version. Home Range by  Celia Sage  24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [Phase One]  ...see the PHASE TWO version. Conform or Be Cast Out by  Milé Murtanovski  24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [Phase One]  ...see the PHASE TWO version. Homemaker by ...

More selections from Sketchbook #19 (2001-2002). Scarborough power/telephone lines. Most likely at Eglinton. One of many sketches I did for Uncle Seth's Lame Suburban Poetry CD package. Ashley in the red dress seen in AW-023 and Ceci n'est pas un shiraz . I've drawn this skull a few times, and painted it  once (but from a different angle). Aisha again (have I used this shot for a painting yet? Maybe ...). When I first started conceptualizing my Interiors  series, I thought I'd include people (like Ashley, above). It turns out there were no people at all (except for this one ...which had Ashley in it, but only to fill a dark void). On the right is the companion piece mentioned in this post . Punny. Small brag: the reference I used for the woman on the couch was from some magazine where she was facing the other way. I flipped her in my mind while drawing her. Never done that before (or since) to such a degree of success. ...

More selections from Sketchbook #17 (2000). Another sketch idea enlarged from a tiny thumbnail from my sketches for Konstantine's " A Taste of Heaven " CD illustration (a gig I didn't end up getting). Mid-Scarborough strip mall hell. Aisha has turned up in many paintings since.

No Swimming 22" x 30", watercolour 1996 One chilly fall day my friend, Kim, and I went to the Scarborough Bluffs to look around and see what we could shoot for possible future paintings, and I shot a couple of rolls of film in a couple of hours or so. Ultimately, I decided I'd do two paintings: a "clean" one and a "dirty" one, both paintings inspired by the beauty of the cliffs as well as the "No Swimming" sign and garbage at the site. Scarborough's beaches have been on-again/off-again clean and filthy and this was during a no-so-nice time. The bottom painting is straight from the photos taken at the Bluffs, but it was way too cold to have Kim in a swimsuit there, so we went back to her warm house and I took some pics for that painting (as well as others; click on her name in the "labels" below to see some of them). Before, Below, Beside 15" x 20", watercolour, Collection of The City of Scarborough The ...

30" x 40", oil on canvas, 2003, private collection Here's Kristina again in her traditional Macedonian attire, this time herding a flock of sheep among hydro towers somewhere in Scarborough. This one has the best likeness of her, and also the best rendering of the costume. My original title was simply "Electric Sheep", taking a portion of the title of Philip K. Dick 's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (which, in turn was the basis for Blade Runner , one of my favourite movies), but the power lines asserted themselves and I referred to the painting using both titles interchangeably...so you get to pick the one you like better. Early conceptual sketches: Here's a little semi-related bonus I found online: Power Lines Having Fun

The cover. I remember Uncle Seth 's singer being insistent that the cover depict a basset hound wearing a beret on stage, apparently reading poetry (as implied by the CD's title) from a music stand (and I think he's smoking; he's smoking in some of my sketches). So off I went to sketch like crazy and finally produced the oil painting above (seen fully below). That stage is actually in the Free Times Café in Toronto, where the band have played many times. "Lame Suburban Poetry" 24" x 36", oil on canvas, 2002,  private collection I can't remember if it was my idea or the band's to include people reacting sort of mockingly toward the dog, but I thought revealing that "punchline" when you open up the insert would be fun. The band is represented on the left with their initials. My favourite is Jeff at the top, shot in a phone booth, evoking the look of a detective on a case. Easter eggs: on the shelf just to the right of ...