Steven Rhude - Paintings/Drawings

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others just a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself." - William Blake Olive Trees #1, coloured pencils, 24" x 18", Steven Rhude Olive Trees #2,  coloured pencils, 18" x 24", Steven Rhude Orchard in Scarborough, pastel, 18" x 24", Steven Rhude Abandoned Orchard, graphite, 24" x 18", Steven Rhude Spruce Branch #1, graphite, 20" x 20", Steven Rhude Spruce Branch #2, graphite, 14" x 22", Steven Rhude  Apple Tree, brown chalk, 24" x 18", Steven Rhude Willow,  red chalk, 18" x 24", Steven Rhude Embankment in Scarborough, red chalk, 18" x 24", Steven Rhude Olive Tree Trunk, brown chalk, 40" x 28", Steven Rhude Italian Field, ...

Observance, Job's Cove, o/c, 40" x 40", Steven Rhude, Emma Butler Gallery As I see it, there is a modern exuberance of shape and form to the boat, the buoy, the shed, and the lighthouse. Qualities both abstract and figurative. Ironic, since these objects predate modernism by centuries. So in them, there is a sense of the minimal before the minimalist. Modern before the modernist. Formal before the formalist. Their maker’s intent wasn’t to create something beautiful; more like something utilitarian. However, it just so happens their intent was beautifully realised.   Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS

Study for Job's Cove, oil on copper, 10" x 14", Steven Rhude NL GenWeb Historical information Conception Bay North - Devil's Cove Name Change Petition (Devil's Cove to Job's Cove) 1812 The following is from "Place Names of the Avalon Peninsula of the Island of Newfoundland" (1971) by E.R. Seary, which also states that this petition was published in "'The Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser' on 11 June 1812 and subsequently". Devil's Cove, 29th May, 1812. We the undersigned Inhabitants, conceiving the utility and benefits resulting from an early conception and sense of Religion instilled into the tender minds of our Children, and of the rising generation, do unanimously resolve to change and alter the barbarious, execrable, and impious name of "Devil's Cove", into the ancient, venerable, and celebrated name of "Job's Cove" ; and that the public News-paper of St. Joh...

"The distances to the winter houses varied. Some families moved only two or three miles; this was the case at Cape Ray. At Old Perlican, families went inland about eight miles." [1] The Practice of Winter Housing - by Maureen Hanrahan, Special to the Telegram, 1/3/04 Reaching Old Perlican, o/c, 24" x 24", Steven Rhude, Emma Butler Gallery Reaching the Town of Old Perlican, he got out of his car. It was mid day and incredibly hot. He was fair skinned and had to watch it. While remembering how his wife would say "you burn taking the garbage out!", a mangy old dog came up and circled him. Its ribs were showing. What the hell... he could use a tour guide, so he named him Dry Bones . What a sorry looking dog. Perlican Island was as barren as the dog. An interpretive panel informed him it was a nesting ground for the Black - Legged Kittiwake . How exotic. Thirsty and hungry, he drove back up the street to the combined gas, grocery, and wine store, an...

"So one of us would take him for a drive a few miles along the highway, then pull to the side and ask him if he knew which way to go. He would always direct us back to his house, without one wrong turn and would be over joyed when, rounding the last turn, his house would come into view. For some unexplainable reason, when he entered the home his brain would not process the familiar surroundings he had lived in for so many years, and refused to believe he was, indeed home. Then the cycle would begin again. Sadly, or thankfully some would say, for him, he passed away.   Almost a year afterwords, I was walking down our driveway to retrieve the mail. Halfway down the hill, to my utter astonishment, I saw uncle Harvey, dressed in his corduroy jacket, and the toque on his head, step off the stoop of his back door, and walk to his work shed, and disappear inside." From Ghost Stories of Newfoundland and Labrador - Edward Butts   Study for Passing Through Dildo, oil on copper...

The Art and Science of Dyke Construction Their dykes are made of large Sods of Marsh cut up in square pieces and raised about five feet higher than the common surface, of a competent thickness to withstand the forces of the tides, and soon grow very firm and durable, being over spread with grass and have commonly foot paths on their surface. Otis Little, 1748  Study for The Dykelander, oil on copper, 14" x 10", Steven Rhude Steven Rhude, Wolfville