Cedar Boundary Line 2025

18 x 32 in

acrylic on masonite

This painting is based on the view facing east from our farmhouse, specifically, Sept 29, 2012. The neighbour’s mixed deciduous woodlot was in full Fall splendor, and an approaching shower cast a dramatic gunmetal sky, pierced by mid-afternoon sunbeams that quickly came and went as the system moved through. The line of cedars that the painting takes its title from were planted by Tina, her Dad Joe, and our young kids, around 20 years previously, demarking our property from Joe’s. Here in the painting they catch the late afternoon sun, and help to create the illusion of space between the fenceline and the bush behind, where the sunlight illuminates the moisture in the air.

I have been very fortunate to have had a career as a farmer, not the least of which is because of the time it has afforded me to spend outdoors taking in such fleeting yet recurring atmospheric events throughout each season and each year.

My painting technique has, I think, evolved over the years, especially since 2018, where I now handle acrylic medium in a much different manner than when I started out. It has allowed me to depict the effects of light on a landscape with more colour saturation and attention to detail. What hasn’t changed has been my continued goal to illustrate a universal theme (in this case, a Fall landscape), with a very specific subject, the cedar fenceline in our field on September 29, 2012. As a painter, I have complete freedom to change narratives, scenes, and go forward or backward in time. When this painting was done, the cedars had been gone for 5 years, taken out by the new owners of the farmland. I wanted to resurrect them, and pay tribute to the work our family did to build our farm over a thirty-plus year history.