Materials: Wallpapers & flooring from abandoned ranch in the Cariboo, BC., charcoal, acrylic, thread on canvas
Dimensions: 11” x 9” (framed)
Price: SOLD
This is a collection of studies that is part of a larger series titles “The Ghost Ranch Series” which will eventually include larger scale mixed media monotypes and eventually oil paintings and sculpture.
The “Ghost Ranch” is situated in a remote area in The Cariboo next to a long marshy lake. At one time it was an active cattle ranch, now it sits abandoned on crown land. The layer of history of daily life in former years can be seen in the different textures and styles of wallpaper and floor coverings. Nearby a small mining prospector’s cabin, now a hunters’ retreat, sits nestled in the trees at the edge of the meadow.
These pieces show shards of vintage linoleum and many different layers of old wallpaper that had fallen away from the walls of the ranch house. There are some frottage fragments from the heavily textured linoleum. The thread references the last strands of thread that are left from curtains that had once hung in the windows, and now blow in the breeze. Inside the ranch smells of must paper, damp carpet, and rusty metal. Outside the smell was of crisp clean spring air, Cottonwood buds, and fresh grass in the meadow. It felt like the start of a new body of work…