Motor Home Fanny Getting Ready

"Fanny" the motor home is getting ready for the road. Doing cleaning, adding batteries, water and even did some painting! Cleaned up a wall that had silver nitrate stains on it, a new coat of paint helps make things look cleaner. 

Also removed a bunch of stuff, mostly books, that were not required. Took the new cat SingSing for a look see in Fanny as well. She seems to handle the noise of the diesel engine better than Dimsum the male cat.

Hoping to take a 2 day trip to Calgary to test everything soon. Will travel without the darkroom trailer. Later on when the trailer "Freddy" is ready, will take both "Freddy and Fanny" out to make photos for the wet plate ambrotype project AMBROTOS KANATA. Hoping to do my first British Columbia photo making trip then.

Painted wall

Cleanup in progress

Attempting to Paint Darkroom Trailer Counter Top

Decided to paint my counter top (after sanding), in the wet plate darkroom trailer. The stains from Silver Nitrate were very bad, and anytime you touched the counter some of the black filth followed you. I decided to try a paint job. I got some old paint from the basement and did 2 coats, will do 1 more tomorrow.

Not sure this will work but it seems better so far. 

Note* I also did a bit of painting on one wall in Fanny the motor home, covering up some silver night stains there as well. Silver nitrate is NASTY, it gets on everything.

Paint attempt, second coat!

Freddy and Fanny Back to Life!

Getting the motor home FANNY ready for the AMBROTTPE making season. Working on the darkroom trailer FREDDY this week as well!

Tarps off, batteries in!!!!

 

Link: 2 AMBROTYPES of the Plant Rejected

The 2 Ambrotypes I wrote of early were rejected by the Strathcona Art People. I was told that because I did not live in the region I did not qualify. Never mind that I worked over 30 years in the region and the facility was an integral part of the community. 

Nothing says art and the search for art like RULES RULES RULES. These people need to bend a few RULES to have a collection of art that really matters. As the Thais say "Up to Them!!"

This is the second rejection for this work. I guess it is not as strong as I feel. At least in the eyes of the art folk making the buying decisions.

 Link To Ambros offered for sale

2 Ambrotype Works Offered for Sale

Applied for this sale of work awhile back. Should know by May if they will buy anything .

Two works submitted. Any sale money earned would be used to buy Silver Nitrate for the AMBROTOS KANATA project. Here’s hoping the work is bought for the Strathcona Public Collection.

Petrochemical Plant 14x14 inch Ambrotype, $1000 CAD

Petrochemical Plant Boiler Stack 11x14 inch Ambrotype, $800 CAD

Making of Ambrotype imagery

From the Strathcona Curator of Public Art

——————

Dear Gerry,

Thank you for submitting your work to the 2026 Art Acquisition Program. We sincerely appreciate the time, care, and generosity involved in sharing your artwork with us. The quality and diversity of submissions make this year’s program especially engaging to review.

Artists selected for acquisition will be notified in May 2026, with final purchases subject to Strathcona County Council approval in June 2026.

We are grateful for your interest in the program and for contributing to the richness of contemporary artistic practice in our community. Whether or not your work is selected this year, we encourage you to continue applying to future opportunities with Strathcona County.

Thank you again for your submission and for sharing your work with us.

Warm regards,

K…. ……
Curator, Public Art
Strathcona County