Monday, June 29, 2015

Richard L Hearn Generating Station


The station was built in 1951 and decommissioned in 1983 after 30 years operation. It is Toronto’s largest and most remarkable heritage building. It is a late-deco behemoth in red brick with translucent windows; its 70-storey smokestack remains one of the 10 tallest structures in Canada. In the 70s, the plant was converted to burn the natural gas for generating electricity till early 80s. This reduced pollution and efficiency but increased operating costs. The power production then stopped in 1983. The plant is now abandoned and sometimes was used in a number of movies for production.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Another Rainy Saturday

I couldn't sketch outdoor today because of this rain. It kept raining and raining, the forecast said it would be raining till tomorrow. So I only could did it inside the car. Some folks sat under the canopy of the café for chatting and enjoying the chilly rainy Saturday afternoon. I enjoyed watching and sketching them, listening the sound by the rain hitting the car and a cup of coffee. Where is Mr. Sun?

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Sketching Toronto's Disappearing Landmarks : McLaughlin Planetarium

This summer, the Toronto Urban Sketchers are working on a special project, sketching some of the disappearing landmarks in the city to create an illustrated book that will commemorate their place in the history of the city, before they are demolished. Amongst the many endangered historical buildings in the city is the McLaughlin Planetarium.

Located right next to the Royal Ontario Museum, the planetarium opened its doors to the public, in 1968.  It stayed in operation for 41 27 years until it was sold to the University of Toronto in 2009. The planetarium has since been closed and sadly,  the University of Toronto apparently plans to demolish it to build a new site. A couple of us met on site to sketch the building before it disappears. We were fortunate to have a beautiful day during the sketching session, and we produced quite a few rendition of the building and its surroundings, as you can see below.