Meet Mark Seabrook

For some time now I have been wanting to introduce one of our most colourful Manitoulin Island artists, Mark Seabrook, who along with his wife, Michelle Hrynyk, graciously opened up a sector of their ample property in Tehkummah for our Sorraia Mustang mares.

Outside the Ravenseyrie Studio & Art Gallery, Mark Seabrook stands next to
one of his magnificent paintings on display in the hallway of
the Gore Bay Harbour Centre

In my journal entry titled, A New Phase of Conservation for Ravenseyrie, I wrote in detail about our decision to suspend breeding and the need to separate males from females.   Making that decision was difficult but has enabled us to keep all our remaining offspring as part of our continued preservation of the Sorraia and Sorraia Mustang horses, removing the pressure to sell horses into less than ideal situations.  Relocating the mares to a completely different range made it possible for us to leave Ravenseyrie a wide open landscape with fencing only on the parameter of the preserve rather than chopping it up with the type of fences capable of keeping "wild" stallions from accessing "wild" mares when the tempting aromas of estrus raise amorous testosterone to feverish levels.

A priceless photo, from the glory days when Sorraia stallion, Altamiro, first pursued the
affection of Ciente (Kiger Mustang of Sorraia type) in the early years of
the Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve
photo:  Leslie Town Photography

While looking for suitable range land that could sustain wild-living equines, we were fortunate to be introduced to Mark and Michelle by the project coordinator of Manitoulin Streams.  Having purchased the many-years-fallow farmland along the Manitou River, Mark and Michelle were exploring ways to "use" the acreage that would keep the grasslands from being overtaken by scrub brush and forest - something that had already begun to occur.  It appealed to Mark's love of the untamed wilderness to imagine wild horses living on that land, integrating with it, not subduing it like field crops would, yet keeping it from returning to a tangled forest.  A perfect fit for what we had in mind!  Mark and Michelle are a very "forward thinking" couple and immediately understood that by opening up their land to our mares, they were setting a standard in our part of the world that has already been widely embraced in Europe -- using large herbivores to assure grassland habitats that have become essential to the survival of an amazing number of plants, birds and small mammals are not lost when old family farms are no longer being used for agricultural pursuits.

Ravenseyrie mares living well on the wilderness sector of
Mark Seabrook's property
Tehkumaah, Manitoulin Island

   
In the nearly two and a half years that our mares have been living on the Twinravens range, it has been wonderful to get to know Mark and Michelle better and share in each others lives.  What a pity, though, that Twinravens is an hour's drive away from Ravenseyrie, or I would be able to interact with the mares and Mark and Michelle more frequently than my weekly Mare Monday visits.

For much of the year, the Twinravens range supports all the needs of the mares and they live self-maintained.  While Kevin and I continue to make sure the range is safe and secure for the mares and sufficiently stocked with extra forage to see them through the long island winters, it is a comfort to know that Mark and Michelle keep a look out for them to alert us should there be some need arising requiring human intervention.  I gave Mark a pair of field glasses and he makes good use of them monitoring the mares from a distance, while Michelle (who feels a bit more comfortable around horses) likes to now and then walk out onto the mares' range and enjoy the wonderful trails their hooves have made through the different sectors.

Sometimes Mark comes to visit with me at my Ravenseyrie Studio and Art Gallery located in the Gore Bay Harbour Centre.  Those visits are always filled with mutual appreciation, discussions of art and music and how poetic life on the island is.  Mark is a very humble man and through our many discussions he never told me that just a few months before we put our mares on his property, a film crew came out to Twinravens to make a documentary of him and his work.  It was by chance that I stumbled upon it during some online research.

Mark Seabrook:  The Spirit Within 

A screenshot of the webpage hosting the Mark Seabrook documentary

The documentary is titled, Mark Seabrook / The Spirit Within and while I am not seeing a way to embed that video directly into the blog, you can click on the title and it will take you to the webpage where you can view it.

Three of the Mark Seabrook paintings from this author's personal collection

I am definitely a groupie when it comes to Mark's work and have several of his paintings on display over my checkout counter at work with a sign directing people to the multidimensional Whytes gallery across the hall from mine where some of these captivating paintings can be purchased.

If you watched the documentary, you know that Mark Seabrook is well trained in the "Woodland Style" of First Nations painting and obviously adept at putting his own "essence" into traditional Native American motifs.  As much as I admire those "Woodland Style" paintings, Mark's more exploratory works are the ones I get weak in the knees over.  Mark's love of abstract and modern art, specifically the work of Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko serve as inspirational influences as he explores integrating his overwhelming affection for Nature and occasional appetite for more urban sensations.

As it happened, on one of my Monday visits with our mares, Mark was at home, and working up some of his small canvas board acrylic "sketches".  He had already painted his backgrounds and was now in the process of layering on heavier pigments in a manner adapted from Jackson Pollock's "drip" technique.  I'd been waiting for such an opportunity to photograph Mark "in action" (the technique he uses is quite an athletic workout!) and he was generous enough to let me document some of that day's efforts before I took my picnic lunch out to check in with the mares on the range adjacent to where Mark's "Art Bridge" is.  With Mark's permission, I am able to share some of those "paintings in progress" with you:

The artist, Mark Seabrook

Two "in process" paintings by Mark Seabrook

Once dry, Mark returns to ponder over these small canvas boards and lets the painting itself tell him what to add next.  Here is a finished piece of one Mark did earlier in the summer and which is now in my personal collection:

Untitled acrylic painting by Mark Seabrook, summer 2015

Captivating, don't you think!  A mythic story unfolding before our eyes!


Now that you've had opportunity to experience some of the evocative paintings of Mark Seabrook, perhaps you are, like me, anticipating the day when the forms of those Ravenseyrie mares that Mark so loves to see (and hear) galloping over his beloved Twinravens landscape show up in equally compelling artworks.  Mark is not as familiar with the forms of horses as he is those of birds and bear and fish...but he is observing and practicing and one day we are sure to see something come of this!

The lovely Sorraia Mustang mare, Esperanda (Altamiro x Ciente)
perhaps one day Mark Seabrook will immortalize her in a painting

Before ending this journal entry, I want to also tip readers off to some of the fantastic music Mark was making in the 1990's with the aboriginal band, No Reservations, (which was featured in the documentary on Mark).  Here is a link to one super track that Mark has a good guitar solo on, More Than I Can Say.






And a bit of live video:




This group should have gone places!  They had all the right "stuff" if you ask me.  But as it happens in so many bands, internal conflicts and deleterious use of creative energies facilitated its eventual breaking up.  Their last album, Hollywood Indian  (my favourite song on this one is "Civilized Man") still has some limited copies available which can be purchased through Whytes gallery.

Winter's Lover

Kevin Droski snowshoes off toward the forests of Ravenseyrie on a fresh Winter's morning

With no television here at Ravenseyrie, it is through bending my ear to CBC Radio or exchanging pleasantries with the locals that I gain a sense of how winter is perceived by a great number of people.  Around Christmastime winter weather is sentimentally embraced - the rest of the season it is considered a malicious impediment to the normal rush of human routines.  Indeed, winter weather presents us all with certain challenges and hardships whether you dwell in a well appointed city or in the tangled wilderness.  As usual, perception is often the determining factor in how smoothly one is able to cope with occurrences that fall outside of the narrow comfort-zone of what we have learned to call "normal".

 

Many times throughout the archives of this journal, I have written about the tempering Kevin and I endure as "Eastbluffers".  We did not know this when we purchased the property up on Gore Bay's East Bluff overlooking the North Channel of Lake Huron, but the local folks consider the easterly bend of Scotland Road a somewhat exotic high-hinterlands - an intriguing place to venture to when out and about on a leisurely drive, but not necessarily a place to live year 'round.  When we first moved in, I remember one genteel lady commenting that surely we did not intend to live up here in the winter, did we?  Another woman, who years ago spent some time up on our very property, exclaimed that she could never live here because she couldn't abide the nearly ever-present wind.

Fresh snow allows the wind to have an expanded identity

These reservations surprised us as we knew in bygone days there was quite a thriving little community of hardworking family farmers who lived up on the East Bluff.  They were Scottish immigrants so this part of the bluff was called "Scotland".  There had been a small school house in the field across the street from our house and I was told some mighty fine barn dances were had among the various farms in "Scotland".  Must have been quite exciting times, then!  Now, most of the farms have been sold to off-island folks who use them as "hunt camps".  There is one intrepid fellow who lives up here year 'round, two lots to the east of us, who though a relative newcomer to the island seems to be made of the same sturdy stock as those Scottish immigrants.  I guess Kevin and I are stout enough, too, as we take it all in stride and enjoy the feeling of aliveness living here provides.

Kevin Droski at work picking up manure from the holding pasture where two colts are presently sequestered

Despite its obvious hardships, Kevin and I truly enjoy winter, being outdoors, physical labour, and living in an environment that knows no taming.  Our love of this way of life means we move with the moods of winter and do not attempt to oppose it - there is no perception of "Man against Nature" here.  We are not at war with the drifting snow, the bitter winds, or the deep, penetration of sub-zero temperatures any more than we feel antagonistic toward the black flies, mosquitoes or excessive dry conditions that are present during different seasons up on the bluff.  We follow the lead of the horses and the other animals and plants that have adapted to the extremes of a landscape such as this - we take each day as it comes, finding something meaningful and worthwhile in every nuance.

Snow Buntings at Ravenseyrie

I think the reason we appreciate this way of life is because we are "in love" with the creative urges of the universe and how they are manifested so energetically in wild places like Ravenseyrie.  When you are in love, everything is beautiful and fascinating and feels like an extension of yourself!

"Spontaneity became a way of life, the real became natural and the natural became real.  And above all infinite affection, love, dark and quiet, radiating in all directions, embracing all, making all interesting and beautiful, significant and auspicious."  -Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj from the book, I AM THAT       

  

This is the second winter that I have had a disruption to what used to be the routine of running my Ravenseyrie Studio and Art Gallery down on the Gore Bay waterfront.  After six years of year 'round business, in November of 2011, I put everything in storage while the building I lease space in underwent major renovations.  It had been expected that I would be able to move back in and reopen to the public in the spring of 2012, so it seemed a five month sabbatical was in order.  Little did I know that construction on the Wharf building was going to last well over a year!

The Wharf building, still under renovations - on its way to being a spectacular centre for arts and culture

It was not what I expected, but it has worked out well, providing me with a lot more time to spend with the horses and researching all things related to Sorraias even deeper.  The extra free time also prompted me to pick up again the pleasure of playing my old wooden recorder.  Time away from the public also allowed me to more easily cope with some of the physical aches and fatigue associated with my progression through "the menopause".   As it turns out, I was glad to have the reprieve from all the responsibilities and obligations with a public business.

Our small home's living room affords a little space for relearning to play the recorder

But, a year without an income and art has surely had me feeling very "itchy" to pick up where I left off!  Thanks to some dear friends, I have been fortunate to arrange a situation where I am now squirreled-up in an upper room of a vacant house where I have set up just my easel and paints.

A nice room for a temporary studio

In this room I am spending roughly four hours each week day working on creating new images for the gallery when I am allowed to move back into my new improved space on the waterfront.  I've had a desire to work with some portraiture, combining nature and the human element within a blending of abstraction and realism.  As many have heard me say time and again...I am a writer first and an artist second - and no where does it show more than when I begin to attempt to draw or paint humans!  I will spare you close ups of my gross failures...instead I will share with you a few sketches that I worked up after my friend, Hardy Oelke (who is not only an author and a co-preservationist of the Sorraia type horses, but is also a highly accomplished artist) gave me some great guidance on how to make my portraits more structurally correct before I get to floating lively watercolour pigment on paper.  Thus far I have been working mainly from photos of my own, dear Kevin - who is soooo wonderfully interesting as a subject (and delightfully accommodating to his wife's habit of snapping photos of him during all times of the day!)

Taking a break from winter chores are Kevin Droski and his canine friends

A man like Kevin Droski dwelling in a rugged wilderness environment presents plenty of fodder for potential artistic compositions!  Here is one example of the many great "looks" Kevin naturally has that inspire me to want to try to work into a painting:

Great expression, good shadow and light...wait a moment, Kev...let me take a reference picture!

After much failure, turning to a fresh page in my sketch book and starting all over, here is a drawing that only has a handful of things that ought to be corrected:

 (Update 01Mar13)Here is a follow-up effort of the same pose, showing a little more improvement, but still a ways to go for a true likeness of Kev:

Perhaps tomorrow, I will try another drawing of this same pose or maybe feel brave enough to move into attempting to paint this particular pose within a context of abstract and realism.  Or maybe I will begin a painting instead working with this other sketch (once I get things more "structurally correct"):

Or maybe, as I do when I am weary of practicing scales and fingering exercises on the recorder, I will instead play a favourite song, one that I am good at.   Some favourite tunes to play on my recorder are the French-Canadian folk songs L'Hirondelle and Entrez Devote Companie or the jaunty jig The Irish Washerwoman.  A favourite song in painting form would look like this one that I did while taking a break from all that mind-taxing study of drawing portraits:

Self-Actualized Raven by Lynne Gerard / opaque watercolour on paper

When I come home from my little creative endeavors at the temporary studio, nothing chases away the glum feeling of artistic inadequacy better than being with the horses!  It doesn't matter if the wind is up and I must pull my toboggan-load of hay to the shelter of the forest, or if that enchanted late-day sun has me following light and shadow with frozen fingers holding the camera --being outside with these fabulous friends makes me feel once again that anything is possible with enough earnest devotion.

Up ahead, just within the forest the family band enjoys their hay

How can one resist falling in love with Winter when she presents such poetic snow-dressed evergreens?!

The walk back to the house with my empty toboggan is especially satisfying knowing the horses eat well in comfort

Sorraia stallion Altamiro framed between the enchanted late day sun and the swarth of Red Osier Dogwood at Ravenseyrie

Sedudor (Altamiro x Zorita) embraced by sunlight and shadow

Often, if there is enough light left to the day, I will fetch some branches to bring to Destemido and Legado who are patiently waiting in our "holding pasture" to be moved to their new life away from Ravenseyrie.   These two colts are destined to "seed" the sub-preserve on the property of Mark Seabrook and Michelle Hrynyk here on Manitoulin Island.  We had anticipated moving these fine colts in late autumn, but (just as with the Wharf Building) certain unexpected occurrences set things back a bit.  We now await acquisition of our own stock trailer which is projected to be ready for us in mid February.  And when last year's male foals are pushed out of the family band they, too, will travel to Tehkummah in the south central region of the island to join Destemido and Legado in their bachelor herd.   

One day Legado was so eager to seek out the boughs I was bringing that he slipped his head into one as I was putting it over the fence and wound up wearing it!  It didn't upset him one bit!  Perhaps it reminded him of the many wanderings through the forest he had done when living in the big wide open of Ravenseyrie.  When released at Mark and Michelle's place, he and Destemido will once again have access to ample pasture and the shelter of a forest.  I'm excited for them!

 There have been a few European Starlings which have decided (like our annual flock of Snow Buntings) to hang around the horses and glean for bits of grain and grass seeds that are missed by dexterous equine muzzles.  On an especially cold day, one smart thinking Starling decided to snug into the ample winter coat on the rump of Destemido.  While I have seen birds perched on horses in other regions of the world, this is the first time I have witnessed this phenomenon at Ravenseyrie.  It is something I hope becomes more frequent, especially during the times of year when the biting insects are especially bothersome to the horses.  What a mutually beneficial relationship that would be - easy food for the birds and welcomed relief for the horses!

European Starling on the rump of a Sorraia colt at the Ravenseyrie Sorraia Mustang Preserve on Manitoulin Island, Ontario Canada

There is plenty about wintertime (and all the seasons) that Kevin and I feel a great fondness for.  Living up on the East Bluff in the historic region of "Scotland" is all the richer for its particular hardships that people living in more "civilized" settings are not exposed to.  I consider myself Winter's lover - and due to that, even the very difficult times inspire me to see it all as a beautiful unfolding of our unified relationship.  And because you have read these words and viewed these photos...you perhaps are touched by this "infinite affection" and maybe cannot help but fall in love with winter, too!