Tiny House Ontario

Battersea Beautiful at Loughborough Lake Ontario

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Laura

I have been pretty fortunate in my life to have had the opportunities that I have had. Travel being one of the privileges I have enjoyed. For me, there are places that are just so breathtaking and unique that they stay with you forever. I have not been around the world but I have seen many places. Few are as enchanting as Battersea, Ontario.

Right where the Canadian Shield meets the South, water, rocks, inlets, trees, sky, and marsh, are beyond beautiful. It seems shady everywhere there, except at the store’s parking. It is funny how mostly we don’t notice this when we come from the area, and only remember when we leave.

This, my friends, I am going to share, is the best place in the world to sit and have an ice-cream cone, or a Popsicle (for my Vegan friends). The cars drive slowly past, the boats make their way into this little harbour to go to the store or the local hang out for a beer or something. I don’t know why exactly, but it is just a place that you want to sit at and breathe for a bit.

I think that Erazim Kohák might say that this is a place that holds it’s history and when you are there, you can almost feel the lives of those that have been there before you, sitting right there, eating an ice-cream.

I hope that I have done it some small justice. 8×10

Categories: Art, Erazim Kohák, Kingston, Laura Moreland, Ontario, Original Art work of Laura Moreland, Simple living, Time | Leave a comment

Spring Cattails and Turbines

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Laura

8×10

Another one from an early and lovely spring day on Wolfe Island. This photo, and I believe my painting as well, capture better than a lot of images just how HUGE these turbines are on the landscape. The large farm is sitting close to the base of the (closest turbine) and it is simply dwarfed compared to it.

I am still not sure if I love or hate these giants, but one thing I can say about them is that they have forever changed the view and I like to paint them. OK… that was two things…

Categories: Art, Kingston, Laura Moreland, Ontario, Original Art work of Laura Moreland, Tiny House Ontario, Windmill painting, Wolfe Island | Leave a comment

Hatter’s Bay Country Market

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Laura

658 King Street West

Kingston Ontario

In keeping with my own beliefs I could not be more thrilled to announce that Hatter’s Bay Country Market has accepted and will display (for sale) my Wolfe Island Series of paintings.

Hatter’s Bay is a local store. What I mean by this is that it carries local products. Wonderful candles from a local bee keeper, maple from a local farm, wonderful hand made dog biscuits, made from local products, locally produced and sourced food and of course, local artists work.

It is a gorgeous and unique business where you can stop by as a tourist just to look around, but I am sure that you will find more than one thing that you will want to pick up for dinner. I also suggest that you pick up a lemon tart which is a fantastic combination of shortbread and lemon. To die for!

The store is in beautiful and historic Portsmouth Village (now a part of Kingston). The setting for the Convict Lover which is the story that was written when the writer Merilyn Simonds purchased a home in the village and found a series of letters written by a convict from Kingston Penitentiary and a young girl who grew up in the home many years ago. If you have not read this, I suggest that you get a copy. It is an amazingly well researched historical fiction.

I hope you will all pop by Hatter’s Bay and don’t forget to bring your appetite not just for art, but for wonderful local food! Your dog wants a treat too! I know I am right, because dogs love Laurie’s dog treats!

DATE OF INSTALLATION: To be announced

Map (Hatter’s Bay is the lucky 7)

Categories: Art, Tiny House Ontario, Windmill painting, Wolfe Island | 6 Comments

Crooked Floor Cottage

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Laura

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.