Off Grid

Crooked Floor Cottage

In order to purchase the land where Tiny House Ontario sits, I had to sell land with a very crooked little cottage on it.  It was a fantastic spot in beautiful Warkworth, Ontario.  You could walk to the village and yet you were secluded so much that you could bathe naked in the Mill Creek that ran around the ten acres.

This is the inside of the crooked cottage.  I started painting it about a year or maybe two ago and lost focus on it.  I pulled it out today and ta-da, it is done, like magic.

The stuff in the painting all has a story.  The tall cupboard was retrieved from the garbage in Germany when I lived there.  It is called a chimney cupboard.  The wash basin and pitcher are made of enamel and were handy (still are) because either there or Tiny House Ontario have running water.  The Victorian sideboard is from Eaton’s and cost ~$3.89 to order it from the catalogue about a hundred years ago.  I had the catalogue but I donated it a while back so I can’t look it up.  The sideboard now sits in my sister’s home, I gave this to her when she bought our great, great, great grandparent’s home. It is nice that it is there and it looks great in her kitchen.  The stairs stool was built by my grandpa and the kettle in the other room belonged to him and grandma.  The green footstool was also taken from the garbage; it has storage inside and I kept my dogs stuff in there.  The candle holder on the wall was made by the Philoxian hippies at their commune in Marlbank.  I bought it years ago when I was there with a group of friends from my youth; we were teeny-boppers then… I guess that this painting could just as easily be called waste-not, want-not or nostalgia.

I finally finished it today.  It is 18×20.

Categories: Art, Erazim Kohák, Laura Moreland, Off Grid, Open your eyes, Original Art work of Laura Moreland | 3 Comments

Rain Water Wash

Tiny House Ontario is in the process of installing a little place to wash up with our collected rain water.

The drainage is fantastic on the escarpment due to it being limestone bedrock with natural faults every few feet, so even when it is raining like crazy, for days, the ground is not wet.  Thus a simple drain tube should do the trick.  A sink and shower will be added… hopefully… on a raised platform.  It depends on what the building inspector says about adding on to a non existent building/art project…

Here is the beginning.

Categories: Building code, Environmentalism, Nature, Off Grid, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny house, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Spring Wolfe Island Farm

I was at Tiny House Ontario over the weekend.  It was beautiful.  Took a quick trip over to Wolfe Island for some photos.  Painted this little 8×8 today.

Categories: Art, Kingston, Laura Moreland, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Original Art work of Laura Moreland, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario, Wind Farm, Windmill painting, Wolfe Island | Leave a comment

Evenings for the Powerless

In his book, The Embers and the Stars by Erazim Kohák, he correctly says that we believe shadows fall, but we are wrong.  Shadows raise up from the forest floor to meet the night.  When this happens at Tiny House Ontario, the candles are lit and the dogs are sent out before the shadows raise completely.  Sometimes, the crows blare out the last warnings of the day.  The evening brings the howl of the coyotes and the screech of the fishers.  Many find that their imagination allows fear to rise with the shadows.

For me it is a peaceful time of day where faced with too little light to read, or paint, I write or simply reflect on the day while I watch the bees wax burn.  Due to this time of the day, I am relaxed all summer.  All of the days difficulties are smoothed out before I rest.

Categories: Environmentalism, Erazim Kohák, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario | Leave a comment

Wolfe Island’s Wind

Wolfe Island Wind farm is a an omnipresent part of life for some people on the island, but for other’s it is simply a part of the landscape.  Do you think it is an environmental move forward, or a mass of metal that pollutes with sound and size?  So many quixotically charged these giants before they were there and others invited them into their hearts.

Love them or hate them, the wind farm is now a part of the everyday visual intake of those who live on and around the island.  Looking South from Kingston these giants are pretty hard to miss.

Painting 8×10 acrylic of Ian MacAlpine’s photo.

Categories: Art, Environmentalism, Laura Moreland, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Original Art work of Laura Moreland, Sustainable living, Wind Farm, Windmill painting, Wolfe Island | 2 Comments