#2931 "The Swirling Nature"

#2931 "The Swirling Nature" 
14 X 18 oils on smooth panel.
Started 11:00 am Saturday, March 1st, 2025

Where do the tenacles of the overhead virga and the weather of the warm conveyor belt end? Where do the trees, rock and water begin? Nature all swirl together and complement each other in the dance of creation. I wanted to use lots of oils and have fun... this may be a bit different, but that's OK.

These photos were taken by my good friend Cam Lindsey, whom I have known since 1985 when we moved to Schomberg, Ontario - right after the Barrie Tornado of Friday, May 31st. The locations would have only been paintable from a boat. An easel presents an unfathomable challenge in deep feet of water.

I have been with Cam to these swirling rock patterns several times. I was looking for fresh material to inspire me while the winter weather encouraged me to paint within the comforts of the Studio. Cam knows what stimulates my art, and I welcome the photos that do not require me to travel repeatedly to my favourite haunts. Georgian Bay is a special place, but quite a drive from the Singleton Sanctuary. 

The geology of the 30,000 Islands of the Parry Sound Archipelago is special. The rock formations are fascinating. The last ice age also left it mark. The region is full of the raw beauty of nature. 

The smooth panel has limited tooth to grab the oils. That is exactly what I was looking for to depict the power and beauty of the raw elements of nature. I wanted the brushstrokes to be raw, fresh, and few to depict the rough texture and emotion. 

The flagged pines were strongly backlit by the rising sun. I emphasized the colours of the morning light. I have an artistic licence to do so. 

Three palettes on the go to keep my colours clean. Nature can easily make mud. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2930 "East Side of Killbear Jumping Rock"

#2930 "East Side of Killbear Jumping Rock"
14x11 inches oils on gallery-stretched canvas.
Started 11 am Friday, February 28th, 2025

These photos were taken by my good friend Cam Lindsey, whom I have known since 1985 when we moved to Schomberg, Ontario - right after the Barrie Tornado of Friday, May 31st.. The following paintings were based on these photos. The locations would have only been paintable from a boat. An easel presents an unfathomable challenge in deep feet of water. 

I have been to Harold's Point many times. I was looking for fresh material to inspire me while the winter weather encouraged me to paint within the comforts of the Studio. Cam knows what stimulates my art, and I welcome the photos that do not require me to travel repeatedly to my favourite haunts. Georgian Bay is a special place, but quite a drive from the Singleton Sanctuary. I used the title from Cameron's email as the title of this painting. 

I painted the other side of this point in #2528 "Harold's Point at Killbear". In #2914 "Harold's Flag over Killbear", I painted the same side of Harold's point but closer to the tip. This painting shows Harold's Point from a distance, looking westward toward the setting sun. 

This is all about the weather and the sunset sky. A paddler was headed around the point while an inconspicuous spectator watched from the rocky tip of Harold's Point. 

Another weather system was on the way, as evidenced by the typical cloud layers associated with a warm conveyor belt. High-level cirrus trailed behind the deformation zone, which was already to the east of Killbear. Cirrostratus cloud comes next in the warm conveyor belt. Continued upward isentropic glide results in a layer of altostratus. Cam caught the sun as it peeked through the gap between the cirrostratus and altostratus cloud layers. Sun glinted off the rippled water, and the yellow-brick road of light led to the west. The paddler must have been on his way to see the Wizard of OZ. 

The first brush strokes and designing the painting in front of the wood stove Friday, February 28th.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2928 "Ten-to-Six February Singleton Sunset"

#2928 "Ten-to-Six February Singleton Sunset" 
6.375 (height) X 12.25 (width) and 1.625 profile (inches).
Started 10 am Friday, February 21st, 2025

This is the February sunset from the previous evening - Thursday, February 20th. It was darkly inspiring. I appreciated how the setting sunlight had slipped through a crack in the cloud cover. I pondered meteorologically what could cause that linear break in the overcast skies. 

I confirmed that a cold front was the force behind that abrupt clearing. The wind backed by almost ninety degrees with the cold FROPA (FROntal PAssage). The northerly winds represented another air mass and temperature regime. 

The swans had already settled in for a long winter's nap. They may look like they are sound asleep with their head nestled under their wing. If you look closely, at least one has its eye wide open and was in full alert. A flock of black ducks kept the trumpeter swans company or vice versa. The open water of Jim Day rapids was very restricted and limited to the areas with the strongest currents. The area had been full of wildlife resisting the weather and refusing to cross the border to the south. 

Officially, the sunset occurred (at Kingston) at 5:43 pm with the sun positioned at 257° toward the west. That matches well with the accurate time on the camera as 5:51 pm. The time on the camera was within one minute of that on the computer. The otherwise cryptic title makes more sense with this background information. 

Everything that I was working on in the Studio was really wet with thick oils, so I decided to have some fun with something new. I would have very much preferred to have completed this en plein air, but time did not permit that. The photo also can't capture the colours, but I hoped that the memory was still fresh enough that I could do nature justice within the Studio. Temperatures will soon be mild enough to permit me to paint for extended periods out in the forest. 

 For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2927 "February Red Cedar After the Storm"

#2927 "February Red Cedar After the Storm"
14 X 11 Oils on stretched canvas.
Started at 11:00 am Wednesday, February 19th, 2025

I used a photo taken almost exactly twelve years previous on February 9th, 2013 at 11:30 am. The goal of this painting was to record the colours of the snow layered on the boughs of the red cedar. The other mission was to have fun with the oils on my palette. There was much less snow on the red cedar as compared to a dozen years before. 

The Carolinian forest separates the Singleton Studio from the provincially significant wetland to the north. One can almost see through the naked trees to the marsh beyond. The rest of the Singleton forest can be seen in the distance. I enjoyed how the light played between the tree trunks and the snow surfaces. Snow is not just white!

The red cedar is a vital shrub for wildlife. The snow depth is a minimum under the thick boughs of the red cedar. I always thought that the thick branches were the reason for the snow depth minimum. In "Our Green Heart", Diana Beresford-Kroeger describes the photoactivity of leaf mould to explain the lack of snow under a tree in the winter. Even cedar trees shed shed their scale-like leaves. The weave of branches is also a safe shelter should a hawk or shrike appear. 

The eastern red cedar is a sacred tree for indigenous peoples serving many medicinal purposes. The wood and leaves contain antibacterial compounds, and the leaves, bark and twigs contain analgesic flavonoids. It was used as a tea to relieve coughs, colds, and canker sores. I plant red cedars strategically. They also help the deer get through the rough winter weather. 

 For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2929 "The Other Side of Jones Light"

#2929 "The Other Side of Jones Light"
16 x 20 Oils on stretched canvas. 
Started at 10:00 am Thursday, February 27th, 2025.

These photos were taken by my good friend Cam Lindsey, whom I have known since 1985 when we moved to Schomberg, Ontario - right after the Barrie Tornado of Friday, May 31st. The following paintings were based on these photos. The locations would have only been paintable from a boat. An easel presents an unfathomable challenge in deep water. 

I have been to this location several times. I was looking for fresh material to inspire me while the winter weather encouraged me to paint within the comforts of the Singleton Studio. Cam knows what stimulates my art, and I welcome the photos that do not require me to travel repeatedly to my favourite haunts. Georgian Bay is a special place but quite a drive from the Singleton Sanctuary. I used the title from Cameron's email as the title of this painting. 

I painted Jones Island Range Rear Lighthouse from the other side of this view in #2329 "Jones Island Lighthouse Point". It is a smaller 8x10 canvas. Both works are all about the sky. 

This is a weatherscape with some backlit flagged pines thrown in for good measure. The Jones Island Range Rear Lighthouse is strategically positioned at an intersection of the rule of thirds. This is a good rule which I often employ. I prefer to ignore any dictums based on personal whims and the marketplace. 

A weather system was approaching the Georgian Bay archipelago on the morning of Thursday, July 23rd, 2020. The high-level cirrostratus were arranged in gravity waves that the southerly winds of the warm conveyor belt shook like a bed sheet. A deck of altocumulus were also arranged in gravity wave arcs. The mid levels of the atmosphere were conditionally unstable, turning those lines of clouds into cumulus bubbles. The backlit convective clouds were darkest in their centre, consistent with the morning light. Cirrus (in the upper left) is not optically opaque, so it does not vary significantly through its expanse. 

Weather systems move slower in the summer with the weaker jet stream characteristic of the warm season. Inclement weather would not arrive for another day. 

The pines anchored to the otherwise barren rock were heavily flagged toward the east. All of nature revealed that the view was looking southerly. 

I tried to keep the brush strokes painterly while staying true to the landscape. 

#2929 "The Other Side of Jones Light" was painted within the Singleton Studio.
 I employed up to three palettes to keep my colours clean...

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2926 "Winter Snowbirds on the Wing"

#2926 "Winter Snowbirds on the Wing" 
16 X 20 oils on stretched canvas.
Started at 11:00 am Tuesday February 18th, 2025 

During the late winter of 2023, I painted a flock of snowbirds as artistic step number 2742 "Snowbirds" (below). 

There were 49 birds in that flock. It was very easy to get lost in the feathers and the wing beats. I tried to keep the brush strokes as alive and fresh as the souls in those little birds. 

There were only five birds in the 2025 painting. These little birds possess a lot of personality that twinkles in their eyes and even on their beaks. The bird on the lower right has a wry smile on its beak with an eye turned toward the artist... 

Both of these snow bunting paintings are based on images taken by my friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer. John provides a tremendous source of inspiration during the winter when the windchill encourages me to stay within the Singleton Studio. 

Snowbirds are busy little buntings. They can make those chilly and snowy winter days come alive with frenetic energy. I wanted that energy in the painting. They can flit across the landscape in flocks of hundreds of birds at speeds approaching 45 km per hour.  The restless buntings constantly flush along like drifting and blowing snow in the winter. Birds leapfrog over each other as they forage

Sadly, their numbers are declining - populations declined approximately 38% between 1970 and 2014. Habitat loss is certainly a major factor. There are five snow buntings in this most recent painting. 

Snow Buntings may forage and migrate in flocks but become more solitary when it comes to defending nesting sites during breeding season. Snow Buntings breed in the high Arctic among rocky crevices where their crisp white plumage blends in with the snowy landscape. In the winter, they acquire rusty tones that help them blend in with their more southern winter homes of bare ground and crop stubble. We see them in southern Ontario wearing their winter browns, and that is the way I painted them. We only see them in January and early February, typically the coldest portion of the winter. 

Male Snow Buntings head to their high arctic breeding grounds when the ground is still covered in snow and temperatures still dip to -30 degrees Celsius. That doesn't seem like a good time to arrive, but males need to arrive early to make sure they get one of the limited nesting spots in a rock crevice. Females join them 3 to 4 weeks later when things start to warm up.

The Snow Bunting places its nest deep in cracks or other cavities in rocks. Although such nest sites are relatively secure from predators, rocks are cold. The thick nest lining of fur and feathers helps keep the eggs and nestlings warm, but the female must stay on the nest for most of the incubation period. The male brings her food almost every 15 minutes to keep the nest-bound female healthy.

Although breeding and nonbreeding Snow Buntings look quite different, the change from nonbreeding to breeding plumage isn't caused by growing in a new set of feathers (molt). The change from brownish to pure white happens when males rub their bellies and heads on the snow, wearing down the brown feather tips to reveal immaculate white features below.

The oldest recorded Snow Bunting was a male, and at least 8 years, 9 months old when he was recaptured and rereleased in 1979 during banding operations in Alaska, the same state where he was banded in 1970.

#2926 "Winter Snowbirds on the Wing" was completed in front of the high-efficiency Pacific Energy wood stove with the tunes playing on a vintage 1977 Radio Shack Realistic stereo. I am old school! 

For increased fuel efficiency, the fire uses outside air piped into the back of the wood stove for combustion. I plumbed an inverted "warm air trap" to prevent chilly outside air from gravity-forced drainage into the firebox. The principle is similar to the trap on water plumbing. Using this approach, outside air drawn into the firebox is combusted and sent up the chimney in a closed system. There is very little smoke produced by the efficient Pacific Energy stove. As well, the precious firewood is not wasted. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2925 "Winter Male Cardinal in the Forest"

#2925 "Winter Male Cardinal in the Forest" 
16x20 Oils on stretched canvas
Started at 10:30 am Saturday, February 15th, 2025

I was attracted to the brilliance of the male cardinal puffed out in the winter chill. . When the weather is particularly cold, cardinals will shiver and tense their muscles to generate heat. Downy feathers located at the base of each flight feather will fluff out, increasing the R-value of the plumage to protect against the cold. The hair-like down keeps an insulating layer of air trapped around their body.  As a last resort, they can drop their body temperatures in order to survive the coldest temperatures. 

The sunlight filtered through the tangle of buckthorn branches that offered excellent protection to the male cardinal. I struggled with the eye of this little bird. On the last day I devoted to this painting, a subtle flick of the brush put a friendly smirk on the face of the bird. It might have been an accident or on purpose, but I put my brush down and left it alone. Step away from the easel. 

The bright red plumage reminded people of the crimson robes and caps worn by the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church. A group of Northern Cardinals is even referred to as a college, conclave, or Vatican.

Cardinals get their trademark red plumage from their food. While they mainly feed on grain and seeds, cardinals also eat insects and a wide variety of fruits like wild grapes, dogwood berries, and mulberries. These fruits contain carotenoids that create the reds, oranges, yellows, and pinks found in avian feathers. Apparently, you are what you eat. 

A "bald" cardinal as pictured above is just molting. Every year, birds replace their worn-out feathers, typically substituting a few feathers at a time. Sometimes, cardinals lose all their head feathers at once, giving them a decidedly punk-inspired look in late summer after breeding. 

Female cardinals are among the more vocal female North American songbirds. They often sing while sitting on the nest to tell their male when to bring food and when to stay away. The bright red male could lead predators to the nest. 

During spring and early summer, male cardinals are extremely protective of their breeding territory against intruders and other males. They can be so obsessed with protecting their turf that they often attack their own reflection in windows, car mirrors, or other shiny surfaces. Females are also known to exhibit this aggressive behavior, and for both sexes, it can last for weeks.

The females build most of the nest by bending and weaving twigs, grasses, and bark strips into a cup shape.

The Northern Cardinal is among the most abundant songbirds in North America. Both male and female are beautiful birds that are conspicuous and a joy to see. The Northern Cardinal is the state bird for seven states, the mascot for innumerable sports teams, and the subject of considerable folklore. 

They are year-round residents wherever they live and keep their crimson plumage no matter the season, providing a welcomed splash of color during snowy eastern winters. Their song is characteristic and easy to identify. 

Surprisingly, the Northern Cardinal’s original range was mostly southern, with the species beginning its expansion northward in the early 1900s. This epanion of range is thought to result from:

• A warming climate:
• Growth of towns providing an increased edge habitat and
• Yard feeders during winter.

In 1983, the American Ornithologists’ Union, which is now the American Ornithological Society (AOS), added "northern" to the bird’s name to differentiate the species from other, more southern species also bearing the name cardinal, including the Yellow Cardinal.

The bird’s scientific name is Cardinalis cardinalis, but cardinals have had many colloquial names depending on their region, including: Common Cardinal, Cardinal Grosbeak, Red-bird, Cardinal-bird, Cardinal Redbird, Crested Redbird, Top-knot Redbird, Virginia Redbird, and Virginia Nightingale.

The oldest known wild cardinal lived to be 15 years and 9 months. They can live to be over 28 years old in captivity.

This is another Studio painting as a winter storm was howling outside...

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2924 "Winter Robin"

#2924 "Winter Robin"
20 X 16 oils on stretched canvas.
 Started at 11:00 am Wednesday, February 12th, 2025

This is another image taken by my friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer. John provides a tremendous source of inspiration during the winter when the windchill encourages me to stay within the Singleton Studio. 

Robins are adaptable birds known for their bright red breasts and beautiful songs. The American Robin is one of North America’s most familiar and widespread songbirds. Found in forests, fields, parks, and backyards across North America, the robin is also the official bird of three states: Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

Robins have been starting to spend all year within the Singleton Sanctuary and no longer migrate. Robins eat a lot of fruit in the fall and winter.  They sometimes become intoxicated when they eat honeysuckle berries exclusively,

Robin roosts can be huge, sometimes including a quarter-million birds during winter, although I have never witnessed such a dramatic gathering. In summer, females sleep at their nests while males gather at roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting.

Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day. Apparently, the early robin does get the worm. Robin are vulnerable to pesticide poisoning as they like to forage on lawns...

The oldest recorded American Robin was 13 years and 11 months old.

• Song: Only male robins sing, and their song sounds like "cheer-up, cheerily". They sing to establish and defend their territories. 
• Diet: Robins are omnivores that eat a variety of foods, including earthworms, berries, fruit, and insects. 
• Habitat: Robins live in a variety of habitats, including woodlands, gardens, and urban areas. 
• Adaptability: Robins can quickly learn how to find food and shelter in new areas. 
• Nesting: Robins build their nests using grass, moss, dead leaves, hair, and wool. 
• Territorial: Robins are known for being territorial and fiercely guarding their nests. 
• Symbolism: Robins have been a symbol of good luck, happiness, rebirth, and renewal. 
• Folklore: In Norse mythology, the robin protects from storms and lightning. In Celtic folklore, the robin is known as the Oak King of Summer. 
• Robins are also known for their running and stopping behaviour. They are early nesters, heralding the arrival of spring. 

The robin is the largest North American thrush 1.5 times as large as a bluebird.

This painting was completed within the Studio in front of the wood stove listening to tunes... life is very good! 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2923 "Tuppence a Bag"

#2923 "Tuppence a Bag" 
14x20 inches oils on a cradled smooth mahogany panel.
Started February 10th, 2025

  A "tuppence" is another word for two pence, an early form of British currency. A single pence is worth 1⁄100 of one pound. Depending on the value of the British pound, it is roughly equivalent to the Canadian penny. However, to be exact, one pound sterling equalled 1.78 Canadian dollars while I took painting artistic step number 2923 of my journey. That makes two pennies or a "tuppence" precisely 3.56 cents Canadian - essentially "hardly anything" or "worthless". Money managers make their living on fractions of every penny that moves so it is prudent to be accurate. 

We feed the birds in the winter. They know us well and wait for us to come around the corner of the garage with our white bucket. Sometimes they flutter to greet us and take a seed from that bucket. 

Aside from being our welcome friends, the birds are also our avian defences against biting insects including ticks. A mix of classic birdseed, sunflower seed, cracked corn, whole corn and rolled chop keeps everyone happy and healthy during the winter. The birds will accompany us and sometimes land on our clothing as we go about our day within the Singleton Sanctuary. It is wonderful to just have the birds around. The Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab has been a game-changer. It identifies rare birds by song within the Sanctuary and we continue to learn. 

The title of this painting was selected before I picked up a brush. It is from Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins". The song “Feed the Birds” describes an old lady on the steps of the cathedral selling bags of crumbs for people to feed the birds. The cost of each bag was a tuppence. Mr. Banks wanted his children to invest their pennies in the bank so that the cash would accumulate into nickels and then maybe dimes. Mary Poppins encouraged the kids to invest their tuppence into charity and watch it grow differently through the profits of human kindness. Money managers missed that lesson about the little things like tuppence, bread crumbs, birds and kites that bring joy and meaning to life. The economy is shallow and may accrue dollars but it makes no sense. One of the major flaws of the economic system is that no value is placed on the environment or nature until it is extracted or harvested. Oh my...

Apparently “Feed the Birds” was Walt Disney’s favorite song. Songwriter Richard Sherman recalled playing the song for Walt in his office:

“Usually after the hectic week, Walt would ask us how we were doing, and we’d tell him what we were working on. Then he’d ask us to play it, and I’d sit down and play, and he’d look out the window and get wistful. Then he’d turn around and say, ‘That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?’”

Here are the lyrics from Richard Sherman's song... 

“Early each day to the steps of St. Paul’s,

The little old bird woman comes

In her own special way to the people, she calls,

“Come, buy my bags full of crumbs.”

Come feed the little birds, show them you care

And you’ll be glad if you do

Their young ones are hungry, their nests are so bare

All it takes is tuppence from you

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,

Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag

“Feed the birds,” that’s what she cries,

While overhead, her birds fill the skies

All around the cathedral the saints and apostles

look down as she sells her wares

Although you can’t see it, you know they are smiling

Each time someone shows that he cares

Though her words are simple and few,

Listen, listen, she’s calling to you:

“Feed the birds, tuppence a bag,

Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag.” 

Life is not all about money. The economy is only a manmade system that describes how people produce, consume, and exchange goods and services. The economy is not about charity, kindness, joy or life.  In the final analysis, the economy has driven the Earth to where we find ourselves today, on the brink of extinction with fossil fuels propelling mankind full steam ahead. Consumption makes a few people very wealthy while destroying the wilderness,  nature and so much more. The economy is not real but is responsible for climate change with people in charge. 

Green initiatives and a circular economy could have made a huge difference if they had been implemented five decades ago. Sadly those in authority felt that more profit could be made in a consume and throw away society. Evil does not describe those acts adequately.

Some wise people have thought deeply about art and money. Art is a way of life for me and money just gets in the way. Art, whether music, dance or painting is your muse, gets sullied by cash. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick