Little treasures, humble natural objects available to anyone, were collected for the purpose of drawing. Lupines are delicate violet and mauve-coloured weeds that grow in great clusters in the roadside ditches of Nova Scotia. The flower has a short life. When it blooms, it can change the look of a landscape. Gypsum supported a major industry. Large boats docked alongside Robert’s hometown of Hantsport to export the mineral to Mexico and the United States, where it was made into drywall. The rock has a distinctive white colour: it flakes easily and breaks off in irregular knob-like shapes. There are many varieties of gypsum. Some rock is shiny and veined like marble; other strands are chalky and so brittle they crumble into dust in one’s hands.

These drawings were among the last Robert was to make. They reflect the artist’s “small is beautiful” view of life. Making the drawings kept Robert in practice, like a pianist playing scales, and connected him to things that reminded him of the region where he grew up.