The Distillery District

Today turned out to be a beautiful day and I spent some time in the City this evening with some friends in the Distillery District and ate a wonderful meal on the patio at The Boiler House.

The Distillery District is a National Historic Site with an incredible rich history. The site was once The Gooderham and Worts Distillery, and represents the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America. The Distillery is now a small district that houses interesting boutiques, chic restaurants and is juxtaposed with modern condos popping up everywhere.

In 1886, the chimney of The Boiler House dominated the young Toronto skyline. It reminded everyone for miles around of the tremendous industry that was The Gooderham and Worts Distillery, at the time the largest in the world. Today, like the buildings themselves, the 156-foot chimney is completely refurbished. It's an architectural gem that every night is lit by its spotlight, announcing to all that this is still the source of The Distillery's energy ... albeit now, the people kind!

In 2003 the building was transformed into an award-winning restaurant by architects Mackay Wong. They retained all the major structural elements and used only recycled and historically appropriate materials to complete it. For example, the 22 foot high bar is made from 115 year old fir, recycled on site.

The successful conversion of the Boiler House from power plant, to award-winning restaurant, has been noted and praised by both architectural and food critics.

Mags.

"Absolute" Domination

Today's assignment was to find a scene that's dominated by one colour.

I travelled to the "downtown" section of Mississauga today to purchase my new iMac. This area is booming with new condo developments popping up overnight! This particular project has been labeled a graceful, curving architectural wonder.

This is the fourth in the "Absolute" master planned community. This 50-storey landmark tower is not just the tallest tower in the neighbourhood , but is also catching the attention of many for its breakthrough in condo design. Eschewing straight lines, fixed points and verticles, this tower will be a slender, graceful, curvaceous form of glass and steel. Stunning!

Mags.

Chinguacousy Park Fire/Life Centre

Tonight I tagged along with my friend Scribe as she zipped around to a few local landmarks around the city that we live in. Once of our stops was to the infamous Chinguacousy Park which, as seen through the lens of a camera, can be quite beautiful. Dusk was fast approaching so we needed to be quick. I snapped a few shots of this "house" with this week's architectural theme in mind.

Located near one of the park's entrances, the Fire/Life Safety Education Centre is a hands-on learning facility for training children about fire hazards in and around the home.  Upstairs, Stephanie’s Place models an average home with kitchen, living room, bedroom and bath. Children have the opportunity to find hazards and learn where to go when fire strikes and locate safe escape routes out of the house.

 

Vowing to come back, I've marked out a few other spots to photograph in and around the park. Stay tuned....

 

Mags.

Perpetual Construction

Construction seems to be perpetual: streets, sidewalks, buildings. Farm land and rolling fields seem to be disappearing quickly and are being replaced with overpopulated subdivisions, monstrous shopping malls and busy highways. With nothing much to do on Canada Day, I took a drive about 10 minutes away from my home into the neighbouring city of Caledon. This picture represents a pretty good indication of how perpetual construction is starting to happen in this quiet community. You can see farm fields in the background that are soon to be replaced with (overpriced) large homes. This scaffolding structure dominated the landscape and tells of things to come for this area.

Mags.

Bright On White

Came across the siteThe Daily Shoot today and ended up finding inspiration for today's picture. Each morning, the site publishes a new "daily assignment". Today's assignment was to make a photograph that's all bright tones or dominated by white......I came across these bright binder clips and thought that they would be a great way to convey that "bright" theme. What do you think?  

Mags.

Industrial

Turned out to be a beautiful evening and since I didn't go to the gym today and hadn't taken any pictures, I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by going for a stroll (hauling the camera along of course!!). I live near a local brick producing factory and have always been intrigued by the gianormous stacks that tower over the factory. I really like how the trees frame and soften up this otherwise cold, industrial looking structure.

Mags.

Texture

Texture is perceived surface quality. There are two types of texture: tactile and implied. Tactile texture (real texture) is what we are most familiar with. It is the way the surface of an object actually feels. Examples of this include sandpaper, cotton balls, tree bark, animal fur, etc. Implied texture is the way the surface on an object looks like it feels. The texture may look rough, fizzy, gritty, but cannot actually be felt. This type of texture is commonly used by artists when drawing or painting.

I liked this photo because it depicts a few different textures from the roughness (and smoothness) of some of the river rocks and also shows the prickly leaves of the weeds growing through the rocks.
 
Mags.

Form

Form is any three demensional object. Form can be measured , from top to bottom (height), side to side (width), and from back to front (depth). Form is also defined by light and dark. There are two types of form, geometric (man-made) and natural (organic form). Form may be created by the combining of two or more shapes and may be enhanced by tone, texture and colour.

This shot was taken from a bouquet of roses that I received from my college graduation ceremony earlier today.

Mags.

Shape

A shape is defined as an area that stands out from the space next to or around it due to a defined or implied boundary, or because of differences of value, colour, or texture. Shapes can also show perspective by overlapping and can be geometric or organic.

 

Hardly an interesting picture but was running out of time to search out something creative and fun to shoot........

Mags.

Symmetrical Balance

Symmetrical balance is mirror image balance. If you draw a line down the center of the page, all the objects on one side of the screen are mirrored on the other side (they may not be identical objects, but they are similar in terms of numbers of objects, colors and other elements. Sometimes they are completely identical (often seen in architecture).

 

A good example of this can be seen in this hosta leaf found in my side garden. You can draw a line down the middle of the leaf, and everything on either side would be mirror image.

Mags.

Radial Balance

I came across a school project that I had completed a few semesters ago in my Design Fundamentals class and thought it would be fun to see if I could apply these principles to everyday objects. While working in the garden early this morning, I came across a perfect example of "Radial Balance" with this blooming Lanai Blue Verbena.

Radial Balance is where all elements radiate out from a center point in a circular fashion. It is very easy to maintain a focal point in radial balance, since all the elements lead your eye toward the center.

Mags.

Gianormous Bling

Spent the day with my foxy friend wandering through The Village ohhhhhhhing and awwwwwwwwwwing over all the beautiful things the boutiques had to offer. We stepped into Prima Lighting (www.primalighting.ca) where I was like a kid in a candy shop. It was a visual feast for the eyes as we wandered around drooling over the unique and often oversized fixtures (most of these pieces, we determined, are suited for larger, mansion-type homes, not the shoe-box houses most of us live in)



My jaw dropped when I saw this gianormous, glittery gem. This photo doesn't do it justice. I was mezmerized by it's beauty as the light bounced magically off of the tightly woven crystal ball and reflected like a disco ball onto the wall. Sadly, I couldn't find the price tag on this ball of bling. Guess if you have to ask, you can't afford it.......

Mags. 

Bonsai

Beaded Bonsai trees are handcrafted with quality seed beads and fine wire, then sculpted into various shapes or forms. Each piece takes on it's own distinct personality and characteristics.

This tree was given to me by my late grandmother. She would create a variety of different trees from weeping willows to cherry blosom trees. At Christmas, she woud create beautiful poinsettia bonsai trees. Each tree would painstakingly take weeks to complete. She used to display hers in a glass curio cabinet and when the sun or cabinet lights would illuminate them, they would sparkle and shine.

Mags.

50 Million Bubbles

JUNE 3, 2010

"Hello. My name is "Mags" and I'm a Perrier-oholic. "

I'm not really a huge flat water drinker; however, I became addicted to the sparkling water in the signature green, tear drop-shaped bottle a few weeks ago on a hot and sunny afternoon. The cold, refreshing water really quenched my thirst and the carbonation danced on my tongue and tickled my throat as it took away the blandness of regular boring flat water. While I do enjoy the Lemon Perrier, I've developed a fondness for the Regular, Lime and Pink Grapefruit flavours as well. Add a little vodka to it and you've got a refreshing, low-calorie drink...........

P.S.:  Did you know that carbonated water is not only equally hydrating as flat water, but that it can also keep calcium locked in the bones?

Mags.

Anemoi

MAY 31, 2010

In Greek mythology, the Anemoi (Greek for "winds") were wind gods who were each assigned a cardinal direction from which their respective wind direction came from. As well, these gods were associated with different seasons and weather conditions. The four main Anemoi were: Boreas (north wind and bringer of cold winter air), Notus (south wind and was thought to be responsible for storms associated with the late summer / fall)., Zephyrus (the west wind and brought the light breezes associated with spring / early summer) and Eurus (the east wind and was not associated with the three Greek seasons).

The weather was rather gloomy this evening so I snapped a few shots of this Anemoi mask that I had. I tried to create a bit of drama with the lighting to give the piece a bit more of a dramatic look.

Mags.

DONE!

MAY 3, 2010

Tonight I was able to cross off an accomplishment on my "Life's To Do List".  I am now a Certified Interior Decorator! Three years of working my ass off, many "all-nighters" (thank God for coffee), endless cuttings  and stabbings  with sharp exacto-knives, getting high off of rubber cement (unintentionally of course!), endless trips to Curry's on supply runs and 2 am visits to Kinkos for emergency printer work and I am officially done!  It feels great!  I can have my life back now.  The only problem is......now what do I do?

Mags.