architecture – Colin Turner's Work

Buncom, Oregon

Chinese miners first settled Buncom in 1851 when gold was discovered in Sterling Creek. The outpost (now a ghost town) is located twenty miles southwest of Medford along a very scenic, very twisty road. We often hike the nearby Sterling Mine Ditch Trail. Built (with hand tools!) in 1877 to carry water from the LittleContinue reading “Buncom, Oregon”

Like Anywhere Else

“That desolate place, not even a town but a corner — the intersection of two roads on their way somewhere better — that was home. The street names are Jackson and Bradshaw but that doesn’t really matter. On my last trip into the area, I discovered every landmark gone. The city that used to castContinue reading “Like Anywhere Else”

Gold Hill House

Last week, Google Maps had worked. Why not use “Street View”, I had thought, to go on a virtual road trip and draw what I saw? Although it was a decent idea, the details were vague. As it turns out, a closer look means relying on other material. A specific style of architecture, Queen Anne,Continue reading “Gold Hill House”

Street View

I’m exploring a sloppier style. Some results are better. Some are worse. I did try a new idea, though. It involved taking a virtual road trip by way of Google Maps. I can use “Street View” wherever I decide to go, look around, stop and draw what I want. Travel is rare these days soContinue reading “Street View”

Overdue

Shortly after I moved to Oregon fifteen years ago, my dad and his wife (at the time) paid us a visit where my wife (at the time) and I had settled down. Some sightseeing was in order. We drove to Golden, a ghost town north of Grants Pass. Afterwards, we stopped off for lunch atContinue reading “Overdue”

The Ghost Within

In March of 2020, I finished illustrating my third novel, IMAGE. Seventeen of the pictures were of antiques, the eighteenth of nothing at all. It took almost a year for me to complete another sketch: a sloppy rendering of a car. I needed to learn to get the chaos under control. With that accomplished, IContinue reading “The Ghost Within”