Showing posts with label digital photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label digital photography. Show all posts

Monday, December 18, 2023

STONEACRES: Gone, but Not Forgotten

Sorry, I know it's been awhile ... Have spent the part year wrapping up mum and dad's estate (with my brothers) and I have moved to a new home in Eastern Ontario ... 

Today, I want to share some parting photos shot during my final year at our childhood family home, along with an article written last year, (never published). It sums-up, to my mind, what Stoneacres was all about, from the distant past to the present day. Our family owned and improved it for 70 years. 

'Stoneacres' may be gone, but it will never, ever, be forgotten, by me. I really loved that unique house and property. That one-of-a-kind fine old stone house was made so special by so many, but most importantly, by Mum and Dad's constant care and up-keep. It really was a wonderful place to grow-up ... 

I've not been back since I left the area in June. I doubt I'll ever return. That chapter is over. In a few days, I'll be adding a new post that introduces you all to my new home. I was lucky to find it. To my mind, it too is an unsung beauty.

In the meantime, please ENJOY this WRAP-UP of 'Stoneacres', my childhood home - 

Stoneacres - with Persian Lilacs in Bloom

STONEACRES: A LOVE STORY - Collaboration by Jeff Mahoney & MLHolton

The house and the grounds it is on have a name, two names actually, which tells you something about it right away (my house, for instance, doesn’t have a name; just a draft).

'Stoneacres' is grand, and its history is deep; pre-war deep - as in pre-War of 1812 deep. Napoleon was an actual emperor, not just a pastry, when it got its first build. Grand and historical, yes, but not pompous, theatrical or affected. It started as a settler homestead in 1810.

House in 1958
Every bit of this now magnificent edifice (interior and exterior) has been defined by the vision of those who have lived and built it over the centuries. 

Hard-working hands added a new stone addition in 1850. An overall restoration began in earnest in the 1950s when Margaret Lindsay Holton’s parents bought it.  

Her parents gave it the name of 'Stoneacres'. One look at it, you know why. Self-explanatory.

View: Niagara Escarpment & Lake Ontario
 

 

A solid, stately, Georgian vision-on-a-hill greets the eye in simple pleasing rhythms of field-stone and glass accented with some of the finest coursed, dressed stone you’ll find. 

A “land" mark, yes, but one that rides the hill overlooking the lake almost like a ship rides a wave. Like Noah’s ark, this ship abides while all else around it - symbolized by the traffic whizzing by below - drowns in floods of change. 

That’s the stone. The acres - it sits on 10 of them - alludes to the picturesque surroundings.

'Stoneacres'. That’s the one name.  

Margaret Lindsay Holton, (she goes by 'Lindsay'), a multi-disciplined Canadian artist, has another - “it's a love story.”

“When mum and dad bought this stone shell of a place in 1953, there was no plumbing or electricity. An out-house out-back and a well in the basement served the old farmer who lived here well enough. It was derelict. Today, the house & property is a monument to the grit, love and determination mum and dad had - to draw-out its potential."

Newly painted walls & Dad's trim
They added their own addition - a 3-bay garage - in the 1970s.  

Lindsay's parents also transformed the interior. The existing Georgian centre-hall plan has been brought up to scratch.

They restored the two existing fireplaces ~ and added two more. Uncovered the boarded-up bread oven. Built distinctive shutters for the century-old windows on stone sills (six-over-six wood sash), added solid wood doors with period cast-iron locks, installed electricity, laid down beautiful wide-plank flooring, added 16-inch baseboards, installed period door trim.

Lindsay grew up in this fine old house. She shows me the fine antique four-poster she slept in as a child.

A love story? Yes, it was. Lindsay’s parents met in England during that other war, World War Two. Her father was in the Canadian tank corps. He was billeted to Mary Margaret Lindsay Allan’s parents house in London. Love at first sight, they married on her nineteenth birthday in 1945. 

Mary Margaret, (aka 'MM'), came over to Canada by ship, the Aquitania, as a war bride. The newlyweds first lived in downtown Hamilton but they both longed for something rural - and romantic.

While driving by the house, 70 years ago, the century-old lilacs in bloom at the front of the house sealed the deal. 

Persian Lilacs at the Front
Building up a family, along with the house, occupied so much of their lives over the decades, Lindsay thinks of the house as a kind of living embodiment of who they were. They were, says Lindsay, "hard-working idealists" - "true classics of that Great Generation.”  

“And they both left 'feet first',” she says with a smile. Both died peacefully in Stoneacres, leaving it for good when their coffins were carried out. Her father went in 2002 in his 79th year. MM just this past February, age 96.

Since MM's passing, Lindsay has been 'sorting' through their long family life there. Memorabilia, books, papers, records, the furniture. There is so much. The place, as Lindsay walks me through it, is rife with stunning antiques. A Queen Anne sideboard, an earlier Tudor chest, Chippendale side chairs, Georgian end-tables, Williamsburg chandeliers. Much more. There are studded brass chests from Africa and a leather-wrapped tribal sword from the Sultan of Zanzibar. 

Sorting, Packing, Sorting, Packing ...

Lindsay’s mother, it turns out, spent her early years in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. MM's father was a colonial administrator involved in the transfer of German East Africa to British East African rule. Those colonial facts shimmer in the artefacts, startling remnants of a by-gone era. “Mum did speak some Swahili,” Lindsay adds. 

MM's family returned to England pre-WW2. 

Lindsay’s father was a gifted cabinetmaker. Among her parents' effects, Lindsay found an old leather-bound Rudyard Kipling anthology awarded to him when he was 17 - in 1939 - by the head-master of his school for 'Excellence in Woodworking'.  

Fireplace built & trimmed-out by Holton

He, in time, ran his own fine furniture-making business so successfully from the basement of 'Stoneacres' he had to open a larger shop in Hamilton in the 1980s. 

Many may still remember it: Holton Fine Furniture on Canada Street. 

There are many examples of his work in the house today, including gorgeously turned mahogany plant stands, tables and chairs ...

Let’s go outside. 

Once fallow and denuded when the Holtons arrived, there are now sweeping gardens that offer a painting-like vista. A great thickness of trees dominate the rippling lawns. Expressive weeping willows loom over the wild duck pond at the back. 

The pond is a brilliant mint green in the summer months and, Lindsay assures me, "it's a perfect skate in winter." 

It's quite the place.  A lovers dream made real. 

Indeed, a 'love story': Stoneacres.

Spring Thaw - At the Pond

--- Additional photos: Copyright MLHolton.

Back Garden PREPPED for the SALE

Back Hall - Trimmed & Painted

Dad's version of Sir Edwin Luyten's Garden Bench

Had to start camping out as furniture was distributed or sold ...

A late spring storm!

View from Upstairs to the Pond

View from the Well to the Pond. Mum & I put up the last martin-house ..

My Stargazer Garden Bench - ready for storage, and now at my NEW PLACE ...

Porch window. During the summer, mum would put her baby carriage out there ...

My childhood bedroom - empty. (Loved that view from my room ...)

Final snow before sale of Stoneacres

Finishing-up paperwork by the kitchen fire.

Last supper in the diningroom with an old, dear friend.


   
Mum & Dad's Bedroom - empty.


Heirloom - sold ...

Front Steps - Built by Dad

.... sunlight and shadows - everywhere ...

Full Moon over the House - (Photo taken from the back lawn.)

Front Door

Final Christmas Tree at Stoneacres - With mum.  
___

Mum and Dad - in the Garden at Stoneacres

 



Friday, January 18, 2019

'A View from the Easel' - MLHolton Lakeside Studio

Posted on Hyperallergic, January 18th, 2019

Lakeside Studio (2004-2012) of MLHolton, Lake Ontario, Great Lakes, Canada
NEVER SAY NEVER! --- Today, I received a most charming note from Deena at HYPERALLERGIC (a popular on-line art culture website) saying that my studio photo submission, from over FOUR YEARS ago, had just been published in their 'A View from the Easel' feature. She quaintly apologized for the long delay ...  

Better LATE, then NEVER, I say! --- It doesn't really matter that I am no longer at that wonderful location. I am not far away from there though and I still am on this wonderful body of water.

The lake is such a daily reminder of what is truly GREATER. ... Our amazing planet twirls, spins and wobbles, flying through space. The lake rises and falls to the tug of the rotating moon. Even with our limited scientific knowledge, it all remains most magical, mystical and mysterious.

Take a look at the other studios in the article. Deena made solid editing choices. I am very happy to be included  ...  Hyperallergic, January 19th, 2019.   

I am now offering this print for sale on Fine Art America - Have a gander! 

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

The New Year ... 2018

Woohoo. Winter came in with a blast over Christmas. The landscape in Southern Ontario is truly a 'Winter Wonderland'. Continued COLD temperatures mean that the snow hasn't gone slushy, or cruddy, yet.  It truly is 'perfect' - especially for x-country ski enthusiasts. I've got a few primo shots from a few outings over the break, but only one ready for today.

Happy New Year to All. 
May 2018 prove a better year for planet Earth, our miraculous & enchanting home ... Do your bit!

Snow Fest, Copyright by MLHolton 2018

Wednesday, July 5, 2017

New Photo Collages: 'Colonial Heritage' by M.L.Holton (2017)

The following works are a Tribute to my Dear Dad. 

When I was starting out in the 'Canadian fine furniture design & making' trade eons ago, my father gave me a monthly subscription to 'The Antiques' magazine. I just LOVED it, and I have been saving decades worth of that subscription ever since. The time has come, however, to finally purge this coveted magazine inventory. To that end, I wanted to do something that honoured my Father - and his wonderfully inspiring gift to me - all those years ago. 
Colonial Heritage - Panel 1 - ORIGINAL - by M.L.Holton (2017)
These cut-outs mounted in photo-collage form, then lightly painted over by me, (series of 4 panels),
were culled from the editions. Artists' - mostly American - like Sargent, Whistler, Wyeth, Marsden, and Avery, etc., with some - mostly anonymous - outstanding 'craftsmen' demonstrate the outstanding art work and finesse of a very specific time period (mostly): the colonial period in North America.

In some respects it is amazing to consider how far we've come. We've now got electricity, gas-powered engines and feminism. And yet, in most instances, the actual level of craftsmanship and SKILL that produced the above art and artifacts has diminished, ten fold. Too few today truly appreciate the time, apprenticeship and discipline needed to do this kind of mind-linked eye-hand-heart skillful work. It's just not much done anymore - in North America anyway. 

We live in the digital age  ...  In response, I've zapped the above ORIGINAL with a few easy clicks of a photo app to achieve 'alternate representations'. In some ways, these 'abstractions' are better - more 'contemporary' - of the 'here & now' - circa 2017.  To be sure, the photo-REALISM of the original photo-collage stands as a somewhat sad reminder of how much has really been lost. (Better to forget, no? and just doodle with simple straight lines, busy circles & bright colours ...)

Let me know if you have a preference from the following ... Thanks. mlh


Colonial Heritage - Panel 1.1 - by Canadian artist, M.L.Holton (2017)

Colonial Heritage Panel 1.2 by M.L.Holton

Colonial Heritage Panel 1.3 - by M.L.Holton
Colonial Heritage - Panel 1.4 - by M.L.Holton
Colonial Heritage - Panel 1.5 - by M.L.Holton
Colonial Heritage - Panel 1.6 - by M.L.Holton
Colonial Heritage - Panel 1.7 - by M.L.Holton

Kindly note, there are 3 more panels in this 4 panel series. 
All Reproduction Rights are RESERVED.
If interested in one of the abstract prints, signed and dated by me, let me know.

Some of this collection is now available on my Fine Art America Retail site, 
consider a print and/or consider as pillow or tote bag! Looks pretty sharp!

(I will be retaining the originals photo-collages, in memory of my dad.) 

Saturday, May 27, 2017

Canada 150 Tulips - GLORIOUS!

Canada 150 Tulip - Copyright - M.L.Holton, Canada

Canada 150 Tulips2 - Copyright MLHolton, Canada

Zapped Tulip with 'painting' app ... Copyright, M.L.Holton, Canada
Ok, call me corny, but I love how these look. White with 'ribbon' red thorough out. Planted last fall, and gratifying to see them come up healthy and hardy this spring ... 'Canada', as a nation state (only 150 years young), may have a ways to go yet - but with Good Will, GOOD things remain possible ...