“When you arrive at an image intuitively, you don’t necessarily know exactly what it means. It emerges from your subconscious like a dream and like a dream it may require analysis and yet never fully yield.” (Christopher Pratt)
Several years ago, not long after I became aware of the federal government’s intent on resurrecting the plan to build an airport on prime local farmland, I was searching site as plein air sketching material. I had noticed an abandoned farmhouse on lands north of Pickering that showed promise. As I sat and studied the scene, I felt the need to do a pencil sketch instead which morphed into a way to express my thoughts on the expropriated land and the threat of airport development. I turned it into a half-sheet watercolour in the studio. I distorted the buildings, ran a jet contrail through the cupola and reflected jets in the windows. It must have struck a chord with others. The painting was accepted into a Juried Exhibition where it won the People’s Choice Award and was sold during the exhibition.
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| Expropriation (22" x 14-1/2") |
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