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.

11" x 15", watercolour, 1999, private collection I "discovered" Main Street Unionville on a mid-1990s bike ride to my cousin's house in nearby Markham; he wasn't home so I kept riding, kind of aimlessly exploring, and came across this amazing little stretch of town, seemingly preserved from the turn of the century. Many of the buildings are shops and such, but the fa ç ades, are preserved and/or renovated to remain aesthetically unified with each other. It makes for a very pleasant walk of about five blocks or so. Often riding my bike or driving my car out to Main Street Unionville to relax and "get away" for a couple of hours (in all seasons; in fact, autumn is stunning there), I started taking pictures and eventually did some paintings of some of the buildings (the "music shop" I painted as part of Matt Osborne's self-titled CD is based on a building very similar to this one).

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 ...