Christopher van Donkelaar

Buckets of Local Colour

Christopher van Donkelaar — Tue, 21 May 2013 16:19:11 +0000

One of the things I look forward to each year is revisiting the Conestogo River after the spring torrents have…

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Kirkfield Excursion

Christopher van Donkelaar — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:50:08 +0000

A chance encounter put me on an irrational trail yesterday … and its been a lot of unjustifiable fun. While…

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Local Colour Map: Kitchener

Christopher van Donkelaar — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:29:33 +0000

Kitchener is a city of two hundred thousand people in the Canadian province of Ontario. In 1981, the first recycling program began here and my own initial reuse of this city's rocks have produced some subtle shades of colour. This is my first example of a displaced local colour (a new concept I'm playing with ...). While there's lots of these black rocks on the ground along the railway tracks in Victoria Park, it looks to me like spillage from trains long ago. View project

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Local Colour Map: Eldorado

Christopher van Donkelaar — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:32:31 +0000

Eldorado is today a small crossroads in the Canadian province of Ontario, located north of the town of Madoc. In 1866 it was the site of Ontario's first gold rush, and while only a few ounces of gold were ever mined, the excitement lead to riots in the streets. I have also found gold in Eldorado—a yellow ochre that is brilliant in colour and extremely fine in paint! View project

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New Local Colour Map Underway

Christopher van Donkelaar — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 22:07:13 +0000

I’m busy at work today exploring the local colours of Eldorado, Ontario. This is a place that I’ve visited many…

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Local Colour Map: Porte de l’Enfer

Christopher van Donkelaar — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:35:37 +0000

The Porte de l'Enfer (Hell's Gate) is a rare, native ochre mine in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in a river valley on the north bank of the Mattawa River. Its steep-walled corridors hover over dark, swift-flowing waters, and the early voyageurs were terrified of the man-eating demon that dwelt in the depths of this cave. But from time out of memory the Anishinaabeg peoples have collected red pigment from its depths—leaving gifts of tobacco and beads to appease—and have used its colour as paint. The Porte de l'Enfer is the first place I ever visited in my bourgeoning awareness of local colour; it remains a very special place to me in informing my work. View project

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True Blue

Christopher van Donkelaar — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:22:22 +0000

Before leaving San Diego, I had the chance to attend the True Blue exhibition currently happening at the MinGei Gallery…

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The Sunset Cliffs

Christopher van Donkelaar — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 02:55:23 +0000

Yesterday I walked to visit the Sunset Cliffs … here’s a place that’s already a paint palette! The diversity of…

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Making paint with the Luiseño People

Christopher van Donkelaar — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 03:09:27 +0000

Yesterday I had an amazing opportunity to paint with a group of Luiseño children on the La Jolla Reservation north of…

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Local colour map: Conestogo

Christopher van Donkelaar — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 12:10:02 +0000

Conestogo is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario located at the junction of the Grand and Conestoga Rivers. The area was first settled by Mennonites emigrating from Pennsylvania in the 1820's, who were followed by people of German and British background. Through out the 1880's, the Goodworth and Sill’s Pigment Mill operated here creating a, "chocolate brown" pigment that was used locally, nationally, and across the British common-wealth. The local-colours of this area have made there way into a lot of my art—from spidergrams to icons. And, collecting rocks, soils, plants from the community has resulted in a rainbow of pigments—Eby Ochre; Burnt Conestogo; Maya Blue; Madder Red; and a Bone Black. View project

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