by Laura Zerebeski

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Sulphur Piles

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These are Vancouver's famous sulphur piles. I know a lot of people get bugged by the intrusion of industry on nature, but it's really a quintessential Vancouver scene caught on one of those perfect late-afternoon winter days. There were a lot of things I immediately loved about the source photo: the contrast of the mountains, the lines, and how the machinery mirrors them but is really kind of dwarfed by them. I loved the touches of extremely bright color in the freighter and the sulphur itself, and the freighter really is called "Wisdom Line" - how perfect. I did it as a triptych because there was a lot to focus on and I wanted to get the sense of panorama in there. One thing I changed with my style was breaking away from the longer, looser brushstrokes. This one has a lot of shorter choppy Van Gogh-y brushstrokes to capture the snow on the mountains and the weird little highlights you get in winter. Also, I avoided putting on any accent clouds in the sky just because the middle plane is busy enough. One last thing: a fascinating sulphur fact that I discovered is that sulphur = brimstone. I always wondered what brimstone was. It always seemed to be associated with hell and punishment, e.g. hellfire and brimstone, Revelation 20:10: "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, etc." Interesting that Vancouver is kind of a major clearing house for it. It's also considered to be a major alchemy ingredient. I was a little concerned about the brimstone connection until I read this one: "In alchemy the names given to the three essentials are Body, Soul, and Spirit, or respectively, Salt, Sulphur , and Mercury." So I guess in alchemy, at least, sulphur also symbolizes the soul. That's a relief. And one more stretch o' meaning: as a very lapsed Catholic, triangles always used to symbolize the holy trinity for me - Father, Son, HG, and all that. Okay, I'm just getting carried away now. It's not that deep - but you've got to admit the sulphur bit is interesting!

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