It's a clear, cold day at the farmette. Minus four Celsius and I'll definitely have to bundle up to feed the birds in a bit.
Last weekend, Rob and I were in Owen Sound to run some errands and do some Christmas shopping when we happened on this most amazing little gallery right on 2nd Avenue, which is the main drag of the town.
Grey Gallery has a very eclectic and cool collection of art produced by local talent.
The latest exhibition had just opened the night before, and it is a doozy.
Brian Dalton is the artist here who does landscapes of local waterfalls and other local icons. The one on the left is of Inglis Falls, which is just sound of OS. He has photographed and painted through all seasons and has a fine collection that obviously people want to buy. Both of these had the pleasing red dot that indicates sales.
Stuart Burgess is an artist from Lion's Head, which is partway up the Bruce Peninsula. He's Scottish, but his paintings have a distinctly indigenous flavour.
It's ironic - and maybe fitting - that we found this artist because Rob's brother Bill's kids out in Saskatchewan are all a mix of Cree and Scottish.
All of them are smart, talented folks, and grand-niece Bianca is a particularly talented artist whose raven motifs are especially stunning. See? This is Rob's iPhone cover, which is a rendition of one of her paintings.
Robbin McGregor is another local artist whose unusual work springs from the skulls of rodents and skins of dead animals that she has found on her property. Look at this! It's what she calls a silver fox goddess headpiece. Cool eh?
She also has a bit of steam punk flavour to some of her work. Take a look a this one, with its bits of copper wiring and what looks like tiny transmitters.
There is a definite steam punk vibe to the earthenware coin banks that Jim Hong Louie makes.
We were captivated by the intricate details, including keys that you could actually take out of the pieces.
We saw many, many paintings and prints that would go well in any home. In fact, I gave Rob a not-so-subtle Christmas present hint that a Stuart Burgess would look just dandy on the wall of my newly-renovated office.
I love the serendipity of finding a true treasure when we're not even looking. We'll be going back often, now. Until next week.