Yesterday, Stone Song sold! It was bittersweet for me. I loved this painting.

I was happy that a wonderful couple also fell in love with this quirky piece.

I completed the 36×40 painting in 2018.

The source photo was taken by Venetia Butler when a few friends and I went to the Soundwork exhibition in 2017 at FieldWork down the road from me.

The installation piece featured in this painting is by Hilary Martin & Ranjit Bhatnagar. The dory is atop white marble rocks from the Lanark Highlands, placed in the field off Old Brooke Road.

When Esther Pflug and I sat in the dory, the sounds of the ocean played.

It was raining slightly that day, so Esther’s green umbrella came in handy. My dog, Dexter, was ready to step into the boat to ensure I didn’t leave without him. We laughed about the absurdity of sitting in a boat in the rain, floating on rocks in the middle of a field.

Here is the description of the installation piece from the FieldWork catalogue:

Description:

A wooden dory moving through stone waves emits the low distant drone of the sea – an evocation of the haunting and persistent pull of the ocean on those of us displaced from coastal roots, and a nod to rising tides everywhere. Board the boat (watch your step!), hear your presence animate the sounds surrounding you, and ponder how you’d make your way through unseen dangers along rocky coasts, in part by listening, in times before GPS.

Bio:

Stone Song is a collaboration between Hilary Martin, a sound artist and drystone waller from Newfoundland based in Toronto (hilarymartincreative.com) and Ranjit Bhatnagar, a sound artist based in Brooklyn, New York (moonmilk.com). This is the third installation in the Stone Song series.

Creative sound and electronics collaborators include: Matt Nish-Lapidus (soundscape and electronics), Rob Cruickshank (electronics consulting and fabrication), Cristin Eby (solar), Jessica Thompson (logistics), and Dan Tapper (installation assistant).