#2901 "Fisherman's Cove at the Narrows on Red Horse Lake"

#2901 "Fisherman's Cove at the Narrows on Red Horse Lake"
Oils on burnt sienna oil tinted commercial canvas panel - 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 9:45 am Friday, September 13th, 2024
from very near N44.527096 W76.091022

This was the third work of the three-day International Plein Air Painters (IPAP) WORLDWIDE Paint Out. There was not much of an "internet" in the autumn of 2001 to facilitate the forming of the International Plein Air Painters Organization. This plein air painting group was simply started within "Yahoo Groups". Small gatherings of artists responded to the horrific tragedy that was 911 throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, Italy and some islands in the Caribbean. In 2024 International Plein Air Painters celebrates its 23rd Anniversary. I am a Charter and Honours Signature member of IPAP joining immediately in October 2001 when approached by the founder and my friend Jacq Baldini. 

As Jacq wrote recently:

"In 2001 it (911) hit my home (New York) and I felt strongly that en plein air painting could not remain regional, we had to come together as artists, Americans and the world through creating what we loved to do, not destroying and editing artists in Countries and Regions. It definitely needed to be inclusive, a World Wide movement to start the healing of our hearts and souls where creativity lives. From the small Yahoo group of which you were a Charter Member, we advanced and in 2024 have celebrated our 23rd Anniversary." 

This is the first time that I painted the northwest shore of the Narrows. This view was looking northwesterly just to the west of #2900 "Boathouse at Red Horse Lake Narrows". The subtle current was still taking the pontoon boat on a slow cyclonic tour of the north shore of Long Reach. The boat kept turning slowly in the gyre so I just kept painting. 

The Narrows is a friendly and quaint community on Red Horse Lake located at the northwest end of Long Reach. The history of the Narrows goes back not only to the early 1800’s but for thousands of years before that as well. It has always been a wonderful and enchanting place to live and an important destination to reach and explore. 

In The Rear of Leeds & Lansdowne : the making of community on the Gananoque River frontier, 1796-1996 by Glenn J. Lockwood, from 2012, it is recorded that a road was proposed to link Gananoque to the Narrows in the early 1800s. Apparently "Such a road was built as far north as the eighth concession of Leeds by Joel Stone in 1815, with Truman Hicock arranging to build the section north to the Narrows. At best it was a poor, winding link between the front and rear of Leeds. By the time it was built the administrative boundaries of Leeds and Lansdowne Rear had already taken shape. 

On page 202 of that book: 

"At a time when travel of any distance on area roads was fraught with difficulty, the forwarding of crops to market in boats down the Gananoque from Charleston, and perhaps from other points in Leeds and Lansdowne Rear, allowed Gananoque to offer some limited competition to Kingston and Brockville for the forwarding business of the back country. As late as 1832 it is possible to find maps showing the road constructed by Joel Stone and Truman Hicock in 1815 from Gananoque to the Narrows, but it was such a winding difficult route, that its use, if it ever was extensive, was curtailed almost completely, first, by use of the Gananoque River, and then by the opening of the Rideau Canal."  

1861 Map of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Canada West

The forest provides quite a beautiful backdrop for the idyllic location. I know the owners well. I hope they like my version of their home at the Narrows which remains an important destination in 2024. 

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 

#2900 "Boathouse at Red Horse Lake Narrows"

This was the second work of the three-day International Plein Air Painters (IPAP) WORLDWIDE Paint Out. There was not much of an "internet" in the autumn of 2001 to facilitate the forming of the International Plein Air Painters Organization. This plein air painting group was simply started within "Yahoo Groups". Small gatherings of artists responded to the horrific tragedy that was 911 throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, Italy and some islands in the Caribbean. In 2024 International Plein Air Painters celebrates its 23rd Anniversary. I am a Charter and Honours Signature member of IPAP joining immediately in October 2001 when approached by the founder and my friend Jacq Baldini. 

#2900 "Boathouse at Red Horse Lake Narrows"
Oils on burnt sienna oil tinted commercial canvas panel - 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 9:15 am Friday September 13th, 2024
from very near N44.527096 W76.091022 

After painting #2899 "Grippen Lake Creek Finds Long Reach", I headed to the other end of Long Reach in order to keep the sun on my back. The Narrows is the quaint community at the end of Red Horse Lake Road. The Narrows straddles the beautiful Red Horse Lake which has been a favourite destination for eons.

The anguish of the sinking boathouse at the Narrows always catches my eye. One end of the once-level structure continues to sink into the mud of the shallow bay. The boat launch is paved into the water. The homes always seem to have some activity going on with people talking and moving stuff from here to there. The slam of a screen door punctuated the activity while I painted. The sound carried well on the September morning. The bustle of activity and the Carolinian Forest provided quite a beautiful backdrop for the idyllic location. 

The subtle current took the pontoon boat in a slow cyclonic tour of the northwest shore of Long Reach. This time the pontoon boat was on the other side of the "jet stream current" as compared to the outlet from Grippen Creek. That gyre is consistent with the current which is half blocked at the exit to the next portion of Red Horse Lake. The entrance to the rest of Red Horse Lake was indeed "narrow" but back in the 1950s, it was double what it is now. 

In The Rear of Leeds & Lansdowne : the making of community on the Gananoque River frontier, 1796-1996 by Glenn J. Lockwood, from 2012, it is recorded that a road was proposed to link Gananoque to the Narrows in the early 1800s. Apparently ... 

"Such a road was built as far north as the eighth concession of Leeds by Joel Stone in 1815, with Truman Hicock arranging to build the section north to the Narrows. At best it was a poor, winding link between the front and rear of Leeds. By the time it was built the administrative boundaries of Leeds and Lansdowne Rear had already taken shape. 

On page 202 of that book: 

"At a time when travel of any distance on area roads was fraught with difficulty, the forwarding of crops to market in boats down the Gananoque from Charleston, and perhaps from other points in Leeds and Lansdowne Rear, allowed Gananoque to offer some limited competition to Kingston and Brockville for the forwarding business of the back country. As late as 1832 it is possible to find maps showing the road constructed by Joel Stone and Truman Hicock in 1815 from Gananoque to the Narrows, but it was such a winding difficult route, that its use, if it ever was extensive, was curtailed almost completely, first, by use of the Gananoque River, and then by the opening of the Rideau Canal." 

I have yet to locate a map detailing the path of that early and historic road. Perhaps it might still be found somewhere... I would love to add more to the history of the area in this post should anyone wish to share their experiences and knowledge. 

1861 Map of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Canada West

The history of the Narrows certainly goes back much further for thousands of years. Red Horse Lake and area has apparently always been a wonderful and enchanting destination. We call it home...

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 

#2899 "Grippen Lake Creek Finds Long Reach"

 

#2899 "Grippen Lake Creek Finds Long Reach"
Oils on medium burnt sienna oil tinted commercial canvas panel - 8  X 10 (inches).
Started 8:45 am Friday September 13th, 2024 from very near N44.512189 W76.109307 

This was the first work of the three-day International Plein Air Painters (IPAP) WORLDWIDE Paint Out. There was not much of an "internet" in the autumn of 2001 to facilitate the forming of the International Plein Air Painters Organization. This plein air painting group was simply started within "Yahoo Groups". Small gatherings of artists responded to the horrific tragedy that was 911 throughout the United States, Canada, Brazil, Italy and some islands in the Caribbean. In 2024 International Plein Air Painters celebrates its 23rd Anniversary. I am a Charter and Honours Signature member of IPAP joining immediately in October 2001 when approached by the founder and my friend Jacq Baldini. 

International Plein Air Painters has always had the purpose of uniting artists who have a love of painting outdoors from life without the regional restrictions of political or artificial borders. The first Annual Great WORLDWIDE Paint Out was in September 2002. The paint-out is scheduled on the Friday through Sunday of the weekend closest to the tragic anniversary of 911. The 2024 Annual Great WORLDWIDE Paint Out will be the 22nd such event. I have not missed a year painting at least one of the three days. For several years I helped to organize larger, all weekend events at Rockport and Kingston, Ontario. Starting in 2019, COVID has changed the world in many ways similar to 911. Now I tend to just stay home and paint. Until this September, we had avoided COVID at Singleton... but that's another sad story... 

Friday the 13th is rumoured to be an "unlucky day" in western superstition. It was certainly a bad day for the Knights Templar in 1307 when they were arrested by officers of King Philip IV of France (no relation). The knights were imprisoned and tortured with more than 50 eventually being burned at the stake. 

It takes a couple of months to process the global data.

In 2024, Eastern Canada was under the influence of a large Omega Block which spanned both the Polar and Arctic jet streams. The easterly flow on the south side of the Omega Block really showed up in the water vapour imagery on Friday the 13th, 2024. This time, it was the planet that was burning up under the impacts of Climate Change. It was an unusually long and persistent blocking pattern that brought clear skies and calm winds to Eastern Ontario for most of the month of September. The weather was very unseasonably hot from when I was a kid but it was a perfect day to be outside painting and surrounded by nature. 

I used the pontoon boat as my painting platform. I stopped on the outside of the weak flow from Grippen Lake. The gentle anticyclonic circulation swirled the boat toward the northwestern shore of Long Reach. I had to turn to keep my subject in view and compensate for the twisting of the boat. It was a pleasant way to paint that quiet September morning. Sometimes I felt a lot like an owl swivelling my head. 

There had been a remarkable Belt of Venus at sunrise but that was long gone leaving only autumn haze in the western sky. I appreciated the way that the white pines stretched into the sky. 

That fatal Friday in 1307 evolved into some very bad years that spelled the end of the Knights Templar. The scorching day in September 2024 was just another one of the hot days that turned into months. Those very tropical months morphed into roasting centuries for the planet. It was another step in the demise of nature as humans enjoyed it before the Industrial Revolution. 

The 21st Century is becoming identified as the "Century of Fire". Climate change is still a better descriptive term as the weather adjusts to the new normals. Some areas will indeed become hotter and drier while some will be washed away by torrential hurricanes and winds. Coastal areas will be flooded as the ice caps melt. All of this was predicted very accurately starting around 1800 but politicians were not listening...

Gobla Data for July 2024. July 2024 was the second warmest month (for global average temperature) on record, only 0.04°C behind the record set in July 2023. It was simply another month of global extreme heat. The "one-point-five" line in the sand was in the rearview mirror as the politicians 
accelerated the fossil fool race car over the cliff of no return... just my opinion of course.

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 

#2898 "Dumoine Severe Backbuilding Anvils on the Southern Horizon"

#2898 "Dumoine Severe Backbuilding Anvils on the Southern Horizon"
Oils on commercial stretched canvas 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 3:30 pm Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466881 W77.768433.

The towering cumulus clouds to the south of John's Cabin were exploding into strong thunderstorms. The cumulonimbus clouds were potentially severe with back building anvils growing upwind into the prevailing southwesterly flow. I did not witness any "over-shooting" updrafts poking through the tropopause. The convection must be especially strong should the updraft possess so much energy that it explodes right into the stratosphere. Such thunderstorms demand respect and are best avoided. Modern radar and air traffic controllers guide the planes to vector around these dangerous storms.

It was still sunny on the Dumoine
when #2898 was finished... There
was a lot of weather but most would just 
recall that it was a beautiful day!

It was certainly pounding down rain along the path of these thunderstorms. Such storms can also produce flash floods should they follow the same path. The probability of "training of thunderstorms" along identical paths like train tracks is enhanced when the feature focusing their development also aligns with their direction of movement. These storms were certainly following the west-to-east oriented surface warm front as described in the 9 am painting #2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves". 

The thunderstorms themselves are steered by the average wind through the most buoyant portions of the updraft. Severe thunderstorms that evolve into supercells actually create their own wind regime and tend to steer to the right of the mean flow as they evolve. There was a significant chance that these cells I observed were moving eastward along the west-to-east warm front with each of the five thunderstorms I observed dropping their load of rain along similar paths. 

Climate change and a warming atmosphere allow 7 to 8 percent more water vapour to be held therein with each degree Celsius increase. This additional moisture in the atmosphere is increased fuel for convection which also converts into heavier precipitation events. Greenhouse Earth has witnessed an increasing number of these catastrophic severe rain events.

The old frontal thunderstorms typically track southeastward while those along 
the warm front will train along the frontal boundary potentially following 
very similar paths dropping significant precipitation over a small area. 

Most of the time over the sparse population of Canada these torrential, convective training events occur over remote locations with nil impact on infrastructure. The probability of severe training thunderstorm events has increased with climate change and a warming climate along with Canada's increasing population and the associated infrastructure. The July 21, 2023, Halifax Record Rain Event is an example of such an event. 

The vigorous towering cumulus that developed between John's Cabin and the bases of the thunderstorms were triggered by outflow boundaries from the strong convection. The heavy rainfall with those storms draws air down to the ground along with the extreme precipitation. This air spreads outward from the heavy rain. Those outflowing boundaries interact with the undisturbed winds in the atmosphere creating areas where the air converges. That convergent air must go up and in an unstable and moist environment, those updrafts create the fresh convection as I included in my painting. 

There were still some gravity waves in the sky. I strongly suspect those were at the tropopause which was like a stable "bed sheet" being shaken by the thunderstorms. 

I had been painting since 6 am and it was pushing 5 pm when I finished this final weather observation of the day. I was just a bit tired and retired to the fire pit at John's Cabin to visit with the other participants of CPAWS DRAW 2024. 

When asked, I do my best to explain the lessons displayed in the sky... I do not intend to be 
dull or boring but it just comes naturally. I try to help if I can. 

This is number thirty-five of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

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

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2897 "Dumoine Convection on the Southern Horizon"

#2897 "Dumoine Convection on the Southern Horizon"
Oils on smooth panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 3:00 pm Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.467033 W77.768292.

                 Painting in the shade.               

I had a smooth panel that I thought would be fun for a mid-afternoon skyscape. I set up my easel in the shade of the shoreline white cedar tree which I had painted earlier in #2882 "Dumoine Shore Twisted Roots". Panels that have no "tooth" to grab the oils encourage the artist to be perhaps more painterly. The oils are easy to turn into mud on a slippery surface. This encourages the artist to resist the urge to overwork a canvas. Simply lay the right colours in and leave them alone. Move on...

Some convection was developing on the southern horizon along the surface warm front. The towering cumulus clouds were fueled by the warm and moist airmass. The cells were tipped over by the southwesterly winds aloft. 

There was a stable layer at higher levels that supported gravity waves. Those cloud bands confirmed the southwesterly winds aloft. The stable layer was the warm frontal surface. If we knew the height of that front above the Dumoine, we could estimate the location of the surface front to the south. The slope of a warm frontal surface is typically about 1 in 200. This means that if the gravity wave clouds in the stable layer were 1 to 2 kilometres above John's Cabin, the warm front would be about 200 to 400 kilometres away to the south. 

This is number thirty-four of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

#2897 "Dumoine Convection on the Southern Horizon" "done like dinner".
Do I have the energy for one more painting? 

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

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2896 "Dumoine Campsite Screen of Pines"

#2896 "Dumoine Campsite Screen of Pines"
Oils on commercial canvas panel 10 X 8 (inches).
Started 11:00 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466989 W77.768072.

The trees that lined the northern edge of the Richard Rapids Campsite caught my eye. It was almost cool in the shade of the Dumoine forest. I enjoyed how the Dumoine peeked through between the tall trees.

I sat down to paint in a chair that had been left at the campsite. 

Art can be work and I have the tee shirt to prove it. 

This is number thirty-three of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

The following map details many of the places where I painted during CPAWS DRAW 2024. I was busy. 

I was painting at the yellow stick-pin in the above image.

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

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2895 "Dumoine Campsite Deluxe Firepit"

#2895 "Dumoine Campsite Deluxe Firepit"
Oils on the rough side of a masonite panel 10 X 8 (inches).
Started 9:15 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466725 W77.76774.

I suspected that this would be my last full day of painting at CPAWS DRAW 2024 so I did not wish to waste a moment. Numerous jobs that I needed to attend were waiting for me back home. 

After completing #2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves", I moved the easel a bit inland to chronicle the fire pit. I typically paint a fire pit on every CPAWS DRAW. I also wanted to stay in the shade and the August heat was going to make painting a challenge. 

On the first night at this portion of the Dumoine just south of Richard Rapids, I watched a large blaze from this fire pit. The fire pit could handle such a blaze, even though it was certainly unadvisable and impractical. The flames would have also consumed a lot of wood. If one wants to be comfortable, just sit closer to a small fire. It also makes conversation and viewing the stars that much easier. 

This is number thirty-two of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

#2895 "Dumoine Campsite Deluxe Firepit" "done like dinner"
on the rough side of a masonite panel.
Resist the urge to overwork a canvas. Lay it in and leave it alone, move on...

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

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves"

2894 "Dumoine Gravity Waves on Gravity Waves"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 8:45 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.467042 W77.767350.

It was time to retreat from the strong August sunshine and heat. I paddled upstream to the Dumoine Campsite and set up my easel in the shade on terra firma. I stood at the sandy slope beside the gnarled roots I had painted in #2882 "Dumoine Shore Twisted Roots" on Thursday, August 1st. The trees that surround the large fire pit provided the shadows and shelter that I needed. I had painted from the canoe for more than two hours and standing on the shoreline with my field easel was a welcomed change. 

The low horizon reveals that the focus of this painting is the weather - surprise, surprise. There were two trains of gravity waves in that sky that caught my interest. There were also gravity waves on the flatwater of the Dumoine that reflected the sky.  The morning light coloured the clouds and I wanted to capture those hues before they disappeared with higher sun angles. 

The larger bands of altocumulus clouds were evenly spaced with relatively smooth and straight edges. These gravity waves were aligned perpendicular to the southeasterly flow at cloud level. The flow followed a wave pattern upward into the cloudy crests and then downward into the trough below the lifted condensation level for that portion of the atmosphere. The stable layer sponsoring these waves was the warm frontal surface of the air mass. The amplitude and wavelength of the gravity waves are explained in the above inset overlaying the actual skyscape that I painted. 

These clouds are so common that the patterns and the science of their creation are typically underappreciated. The large size of these gravity waves prompted comparison with larger swells with longer wavelengths like those witnessed on the ocean. The energy that created those atmospheric swells was considerable and some distance away. An animation of the wind flow plays in my mind's eye whenever I see them. A similar process plays out on the surface of a lake with waves and wind. 

More subtle gravity waves were embedded on top of the larger waves. They are represented by the black waves in the inset above and the blue squiggles superimposed on the actual sky photo. These smaller-scale gravity waves revealed a wind component from the southwest. These winds would have been in the airmass above the warm frontal surface. Those winds veered in direction above the frontal surface.  Winds that veer with height are characteristic of warm air advection. 

Classic Warm Front Conceptual Model

None of this is going to be on any exam. It is just that I find clouds interesting and they reveal the weather. In this case, the surface front associated with the weather pattern was a hundred kilometres or more to the south and oriented west to east - more or less based on these cloud observations. I recall the surface winds (of the cold conveyor belt) as being light. It was going to be a great day for plein air painting but there would be weather along the warm front probably staying to the south of John's Cabin.

The following conveyor belt conceptual model of a mid-latitude weather system depicts my location and view given the characteristics of the cloud and the wind. 

This is number thirty-one of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

#2894 "done like dinner" and time to grab another canvas

Note that the gravity waves on the surface of the Dumoine River were swells and perpendicular to the current. Conditions were calm and those bands of reflection on the water's surface were not wind waves. The energy required to generate gravity waves can originate from either fluid at the stable interface that separates them. 

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

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2893 "Morning Fog Lifting over Pincushion Island"

#2893 "Morning Fog Lifting over Pincushion Island"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 7:50 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466828 W77.768075.

 Photo from my canoe at 07:57 am 

The sun had cleared the forest and forced me to turn my gaze to the west away from the blinding glare. I was still just floating around in my canoe being directed by the gyre.

I simply pushed my canoe back from the sandy shore and into the cyclonic eddy. I allowed the gentle current to decide what I would paint. I went with that flow and did another view of Pincushion Island. This time the fog had lifted and I could see John's Cabin and the white birch trees that lined the shore. At one time, a thick fog hung over the hill behind the cabin and that was when I locked in that portion of the scene. 

At 7:50 am the fog was thick overhead and the scene was quite dark. The lighting was changing by the minute which can add a lot to the plein air experience. 

The location of painting #2893 and the yellow star is actually a 50-foot-long arc - a portion 
of that part of the cyclonic gyre that drifted my canoe. 

This is number thirty of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

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

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick