The Kingsway/Baby Point/Swansea/Lambton Mills/Humber Valley/Stonegate ( Sunnylea) Now Completed !!!!!!

I officially completed the The Kingsway/Baby Point/Swansea/Lambton Mills/Humber Valley/ Stonegate (Sunnylea) Mandala on November 16, 2012.
It encompasses quite a large area and I tried my best to incorporate most of the important buildings and other icons. I have written in many historical notes, ie., Hurricane Hazel ( 1954 ), Fort Toronto, the original
Baby Point aboriginal settlement, the mills up and down the Humber , to mention only a few.
The mandala is chock full of the rich past and present of that area.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I used to go on hikes with my Girl Guide group # 151 and we sang as we walked along during the more rustic days of the Humber , before Hurricane Hazel changed the whole look of its banks and eventually led to the forming of The Metropolitan Toronto Region Conservation Authority.
Those were the days, my friend.
But it' s never too late ! Now at the end of the Baby Point Peninsula is a long staircase leading down to a trail along the Humber, I hope you are able to take a walk along it some day soon and enjoy the beautiful nature of that area of Toronto.

I will be adding more about this mandala next week.

So moving forward, I will be working on The West Lakeshore mandala which will include Humber Bay, Mimico, New Toronto, Long Branch, and Port Credit.  My goal is to have it completed by December 20, 2012.
( I haven't forgotten Fort York....hopefully done by end of February, 2013 )

By the way, I have also completed a New York City mandala, which took me 120 hours to complete.
It is bursting with the adrenalin and hugeness of that great city !!!!
Besides Toronto mandalas, I have so many requests for other areas of the country and the world...Kleinberg definitely for the 2013 Binder Twine Festival next September !!!!

I am now also beginning a Montreal mandala.

If you wish to contact me about any of these mandalas, my email is :

torontomandalas@gmail.com

Fort York/War of 1812 Mandala Delayed

I haven' t completed this mandala yet and now have set a new goal and hope to have it done by October 1st.

I am still also working on the Baby Point/Kingsway/Swansea/Humber Valley mandala.

However, after 200 hours work, I am very happy to announce that 2 weeks ago, I completed a New York City mandala for a special request. 

Fort York/War of 1812 In My Mandalas

Fort York and The War of 1812 has been illustrated in 3 of my mandalas :

King Street West

Downtown Toronto

Olde, Olde Toronto New

On September 1, 2012 I will release my Fort York Mandala .


  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/signposts-of-a-new-toronto-cool/article1734637/email/

The Baby Point/Kingsway/Humber Valley Mandala Is Taking Form !!!

This mandala is jam-packed with rich details of its aboriginal past.
I am trying my best to carefully examine the strata as far back as has been recorded.
I am being careful not to omit significant information in that area which has changed the course of history for Toronto.
What was happening there during the War of 1812 ?
That relationship will be illustrated via my mandala.
Little did I know as a child , when I was a Girl Guide, that as I walked along the Humber riverside looking at nature, I was walking over thousands and thousands of years of footsteps.
What a deep, magic carpet lays below us in Toronto !

For further info :
torontomandalas@gmail.com

Dave LeBlanc , The Globe and Mail's Architourist, wrote about my mandalas in this article :

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/signposts-of-a-new-toronto-cool/article1734637/email/

Mount Dennis/Keelesdale/Silverthorn AND Baby Point/The Kingsway/Humber Valley and Sunnylea mandalas are on their way !

I have prepared the background for 2 new mandalas, each of which will depict the areas in the title above.

I have been out and about sketching here and there and am really excited about working on them.

These 2 will be numbers 32 and 33....and I hope to have them done by the end of July.

Please check every now and then for my comments as I go along, and see if you can guess what the centres of each will be.

Toronto was a place buzzing with building activity 200 years ago and it seems that it hasn' t stopped even up until this day !

Over 50 years has passed since my Girl Guide Troop # 151 spent a day along the Humber River near
Etienne Brule park.  There were no cement embankments then, as hurricane Hazel hadn' t yet passed through.
We would bring a frying pan, a pork chop and a can of pork and beans in our packs.
Then our captain taught us how to build a campfire on rocks ( to be safe, of course ) and cook our food.  We would tie a string to a rock and around the neck of our pop bottle and put it into the cool gurgling waters of the Humber until we were ready to drink it.
Oh, what fun we had looking for clues as we followed a path to our destination !

So, the Humber River will remain forever in my heart and memory for those wonderful perfect days
and I shall salute it deservedly in my mandala.

( By the way, The Humber is already well represented in the Weston and Etobicoke mandalas. )

For further info, please contact me at :

torontomandalas@gmail.com

Dave LeBlanc, The Globe and Mail 's Architourist wrote about my mandalas in this article on
October 1, 2010 :

 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/signposts-of-a-new-toronto-cool/article1734637/email/

 

CNE Mandala Completed Today !

At 5:30 pm today, I completed the CNE Mandala.  After over 100 hours of research, painting ( watercolors, gouache and acrylic ) and editing, I am happy to say that I have accomplished what I set out to do.

I began working on this mandala at the beginning of January of this year and it has been a trip back down memory lane.  I have included many historical and nostalgic bits of information, and also recent happenings.
Upon asking many people ( varied according to age ) what was their favourite thing at The Ex, I was so happy to note that everyone had something to say.  And so I incorporated some of them.
In a world so hectic with work and technology, it is enlightening for me to learn that most people seem to find their own little corner sanctuary.   And for some, it is a spot in The Ex.
For example, one person loves to spend the whole day in the Horse Palace to
escape daily life and  just be.

For further information, please contact me at :

torontomandalas@gmail.com

CNE Mandala : Details, Details, Details !

I have had to attend to so many little details on this mandala because it is a record of over 100 years of history.  Of course, not all is contained in this little ball of energy.  So I have had to pick and choose carefully and finally have almost completed this piece of work.
There are the greeters at the Princes' Gates, and the usual suspects at the Coliseum and Horse Palace entrance.
Can you guess who these might be at each location ?  I don' t want to spoil the surprise before I present this mandala on April 22, 2012.
And oh, yes, there is an RN from St. Joseph's Hospital/Health Care Centre on duty at the First Aid tent if anyone needs a band aid or other minor medical assistance during his/her trip to the Ex.
Please do not forget where to meet your friends at the centre of the mandala.
You will be reminded where this is by the song written in hearts all around.
What a place, where we can look at everything through rose-colored glasses, just like the lady with the quilted hairdo who surmises the whole scene from atop, right near Marilyn Bell Park !