A Muskoka & Parry Sound Gem – Swords (Part 1)
Donna on the porch at Swords © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry There is a place just north of Rosseau that has a remarkable history. Built originally by lumber interests in the 1890′s, lived in and run by a family that gave the village its name and then, for the last 80 years, it has been [...]
Visiting Uffington, Muskoka
Bruce Johnson (left), Judy Veitch (right) © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry I finally had the pleasure of meeting Pete Marchildon and Judy Veitch, the new owners of the Fleger House last weekend. It is so exciting to see one of the few examples of turn of the century (20th) buildings being preserved. Judy took me [...]
Exhibition of Muskoka Heritage
Cooper House Bathroom Sink, 10×8, acrylic © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry Saturday, October 9th 2010 marks the opening of “Legacy” at the Auburn Gallery of Fine Art in Gravenhurst. It is an exhibition of portraits, paintings and photographs depicting the people and places of 19th and 20th century south Muskoka and some of their stories. [...]
New Painting "Waiting"
Waiting – Red Chair, 16×20, acrylic © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry This is the bay window at the abandoned Livingstone Stephens house near Bracebridge. This one was a tough one, technically – for its complicated interior architecture; emotionally because these old places I have come to know have touched me; and due to ‘life’ around [...]
Looking to the Autumn
Old Truck, Germania © 2008 Michelle Basic Hendry Other than the fact that my head is so stuffed that my keyboard peckings reverberate in my skull, all is moving towards recovery from a terrible late summer cold. After losing a week to it, I can finally sit up long enough to start thinking about the [...]
Meeting A. J. Casson at McMichael
“Kleinburg”, A.J. Casson I spent a part of my childhood in Kleinburg, attending a school adjacent to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. I’ll never forget the strange pictures full of colour and wavy forms on the walls of that gallery and in the halls leading into it. I had no idea at that time how [...]
Gold in Muskoka
Crystal’s Room, acrylic, 16×24 © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry The front room from the interior of the house in Uffington featured in June’s “On the Move” post is finally complete. This room was the favourite of Mrs. Fleger’s granddaughter, Crystal. Apparently she took the bed from this room to college. I named the painting in [...]
An Empty Chair…
Photograph of Bay Window at Livingstone/Stephens House © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry The insistent River of Time flows downstream and eventually its contents disperse in the Sea of the Universe. My husband lost his beloved Grandmother yesterday. The world, for him, is somehow diminished without her presence. His focus is now on the gathering of [...]
On the Move-Uffington, Muskoka
Fleger House, Muskoka, June 10, 2010 © 2010 Michelle Basic Hendry Sometimes, in order to survive, change is necessary. Change is the thing that allows us to flourish. Occasionally we confuse progress and change and believe that we must wipe away the old to make room for the new. So many errors are made and [...]
Scottish Settlement in Muskoka
Roxborough Church (photograph) © 2009 Michelle Basic Hendry I finally got back out to see the Roxborough Church (St. Peter’s Anglican) with the camera on Tuesday after accidentally discovering it on the weekend. It seems I am the last person in Muskoka to find this little gem of a Church in the wilderness. I think [...]
