The Naked Silo

by  Celia Sage and Milé Murtanovski 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017, private collection [HOME: Phase Two] When I think of “homemakers” I think of my parents, making a safe, comfortable, loving place for each other, and me, and my sister. Studying Celia’s tender painting of her and her daughters, developing ideas about how to respond for my half, I started thinking about generations –the older ones taking care of the younger ones– and I went back a generation, past my parents, to my grandmother, Lenka , digging potatoes in Macedonia, helping my granddad make a home for a very large family, giving them the opportunity to leave and have better lives, which my parents, in turn, passed on to me and my sister. – Milé Murtanovski Homemaker 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] Milé's shrouded figure* lying on the sidewalk was an almost unanswerable challenge. I hope that with a bit of imagination –and humour– the viewer will find the way I changed it to a bag of ski equipment persuasive.  This and other clues suggest my home town. – Celia Sage  Always on My Mind 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. *That shrouded figure was a homeless man (he was tightly wrapped in white, but his feet and head were actually exposed) sleeping on the sidewalk at Richmond and Yonge in Toronto, a chilling image I've kept not too far in the back of my mind since photographing him (that's my car's side-view mirror on the right) on my way to work in the fall of 2003.

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  Milé Murtanovski  and  Celia Sage 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase Two] Milé's patterned background [a suburban lot plan] immediately suggested to me the site maps used at the many campgrounds to which my husband and I have taken our trailer –our home away from home.  A new favourite is on the Maine coast, hence the mermaid. – Celia Sage  Born and Bred and Bored and Dead 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.

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] As an immigrant to Canada myself, it seemed logical to recast Milé's female figure as myself on the day I arrived.  Milé's Macedonian word balloon was more problematic, however, so I searched for phrases using "home" to find something that would suit my context, and I came up with the title, which seems to dovetail nicely with Milé's original idea.*  (Google Translate** helped me render it in what I hope is Macedonian, in keeping with the letter on his side of the painting, which I retained as a decorative element). I use the phrase humorously here but not without a grain of truth. – Celia Sage  Conform or Be Cast Out 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. *In my painting, the Macedonian word written in Cyrillic is "Eng...

by  Celia Sage  and  Milé Murtanovski 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase Two] As with “Homemakers” I've pluralized Celia’s original title as my parents were also my and my sister’s “home builders” in a manner of speaking (originally, I titled this “Providers” but simply pluralizing Celia's title is more elegant). I apologize profusely to my parents for my very bad likenesses of them here. – Milé Murtanovski Home Builder 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] I'd like to subtitle this "Apologies to Krista" because it seemed awful to paint over the loving likeness Milé had created.  However, "in the name of Art," I tried to turn her into me, with shades reflecting the County, which I have made my beloved home for over 30 years.  (The missing sunglasses arm is just me staying off of Milé's half of the painting.) – Celia Sage Where the Heart Is 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.

by  Celia Sage  and  Milé Murtanovski 24" x 24", oil on canvas, 2017 [HOME: Phase Two] Celia’s place of origin is different (and much farther) from mine, but our destinations are virtually the same, as indicated by the light blue outline of the northern part of Prince Edward County still visible on Celia’s half, and, more specifically to me, the silo at Small Pond Arts , my home. – Milé Murtanovski Home Range 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 ...

Since it can be difficult to find an individual painting or groups of paintings on a blog, even if you click on a tag/label, I've decided to gang up all my recent watercolours in one post. I've also done this with my County 101 and 33 on 33 marathon series (and my models, Sci-Fi and Automotive ), and I might even go back and do this with some others like my Interiors, Yupo, and Sunflowers series. So here are all 19 of my watercolour paintings of 2016 (not including a small handful of commissions) in one handy place. Click on a painting to go to its own post for details and info. Krista and Caitlin in Banff 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 Rosebud in Picton Harbour 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 Taylors' Tractor 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 The Crossing 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 With Fever You Wil Have A Bout 22" x 15", watercolour, 2016 Stojan at Greenwood & Dundas 22" x 15...