Apple of My Eye by Paul Thompson
Mar 18th, 2013 by Emma Letki, Community Arts Intern
We are pleased to reveal Paul Thompson‘s contribution to our Artist in Urban Orchard program: Apple of My Eye (pictured above).
Here is what Paul had to say about the piece: “[Apple of My Eye] is about how we view our urban landscapes in relation to food, and more specifically, fruit. That it’s sometimes easy to miss the abundance of this essential economy that is already available to us. But with a small shift in awareness, which Not Far From The Tree helps facilitate, we can see the city in a new way. I tried to achieve this with making the negative space between the two trees in the shape of an apple, a window in which to see the city in this new light. The rest of the painting tells a story of the process of Not Far From The Tree endeavors; bringing people together from all over the city to turn what would be empty baskets, into full ones. And then taking the fruits of their labour back out into the city again, facilitating community building and localizing food security.”
Paul has graciously agreed to let us peak behind the scenes and see some images of the painting as it took shape. Even in these early images you really get a sense of the vibrancy that Paul is capturing.
An early sketch of the work:
The work in progress:
The finished work:
Prints of Apple of My Eye are available for purchase at the Leslieville Arts Market with a portion of the proceeds going to support Not Far From The Tree programming.
A big thanks to Paul for his creativity and generosity. We’d also like to thank Zeesy Powers for her contributions to the Artist in Urban Orchard program, and Visha Gandhi, our former Communications Intern, for dreaming up the program and getting it off the ground.
Is there a way to buy the prints online or directly from you? I can’t find his profile on the Leslieville Market website.
Hi Avery,
Prints will be available online this evening and onward at:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaulsArtCompany?ref=si_shop
Thanks Paul!