Bolton Farmhouse, North Hill (Vanishing Landscapes)

A while ago there was a farm near the suburb where my parents live, near the road was the farmhouse and some other small barns. I wanted to capture these scenes before they were demolished, in fact the bulldozer was already there ready to go. It would not be long before the house was razed, and the nearby barn actually burnt down. This is part of the 'Vanishing Landscapes' series of paintings done in the late 1990's around Caledon.

The signature I use on the paintings was developed a little before the time of this painting. When I started in the late 80's I used a PD initials with the year in a circle. Apparently putting the year on the painting was bad for business according to a friend of the family, so I started using the scrawl, without a date. Inspired by Monet and others, I wanted a signature that was impossible to read, it could be Paul Daton or anything with a PD and small t ! Just around the year 2000 I briefly used a new signature, which was my name in upper case printed neatly using blue paint. In 99.9% of my paintings the signature is in some shade of blue, usually meant to complement the sky or highlights.

5x 8 1/4 " (12.5 x 20.5cm) cold press. 1997 or 1998