#2891 "Dumoine Sandy Beach in the Mist"

#2891 "Dumoine Sandy Beach in the Mist"
Oils on canvas panel 4 X 6 (inches).
Started 7:15 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.466175 W77.767978.

The morning fog was lifting with the August sunrise. I was still drifting in my canoe and painting up a storm on small panels. I thought that I would revisit the sandy beach since the visibility had greatly improved. This westerly view of the point includes the two white pines that dominate the sandy point. 

The red cyclonic swirl included in the accompanying graphic required that I pick up the paddle instead of the brush every so often. I had to reposition the canoe so that the selected view was still in sight without me turning my head like an owl. 

I started painting at this exact location with #2889 

"Dumoine Campsite Sandy Beach Foggy Sunrise"  at 6:30 am. The cyclonic gyre spun the canoe to be in front of Pincushion Island for #2890 "Foggy Sunrise at the Dumoine Pincushion Island" which I started to paint at 7:00 am. I paddled across the swirl to get back to where I had started the day. 

The drift of the canoe got me thinking about how the sandy shores might have been shaped after the last ice age ended about 21,000 years ago. The following graphic explains the main details.

The Dumoine River narrows at this location causing the central current to be stronger in midstream. Some interesting meteorology can be applied to that current. Science can explain how the sandy soils might have been sculpted over the eons when the Dumoine had an even stronger flow than it was in 2024. The meltwater from the retreating glacier and ice sheet could have easily carved the landforms as witnessed along the Dumoine. 

The larger sandy island would have formed during the strongest outflow of meltwater. The flow diverges at the col in the deformation zone. The slackening of the flow where the current splits would deposit the bulk of debris in that location. 

The debris would also spread out along the axis of dilitation of the deformation zone, The bulk of the deposits would still be located near the col with lesser amounts tapering off on the "wings". 

As the meltwater flow weakened and was more easily diverted to the right by the Coriolis force, the remaining sand and rock would be dropped by the divergent flow at the redirected deformation zone. This glacial debris would form the smaller Pincushion Island which would also be located further upstream closer to the outflow than the larger island.  

The axis of contraction of the deformation zone for each island can be identified. The debris carried by the meltwater is oriented along the upstream axis of contraction. Some of the material is deposited in the approach to the col which can be clearly seen was the case for Pincushion Island. 

Of course, I was not on-site during these proposed events, but the science makes sense. I find it very interesting, and I admit to possessing a very eager imagination and a strong inquisitiveness about the natural world. 

This is number twenty-eight 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 

#2890 "Foggy Sunrise at the Dumoine Pincushion Island"

#2890 "Foggy Sunrise at the Dumoine Pincushion Island"
Oils on canvas panel 6 X 4 (inches).
Started 7:00 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.464658 W77.769022.

A Google Earth View of Pincushion Island and the painting location 2890 as well
as the cyclonic gyre that was guiding my canoe toward the next painting location 2891. 
The green deformation zone will be explained in another post... 

As far as I know, there is no official name for the small isle that I refer to as Pincushion Island in this flatwater section of the Dumoine. Pincushion was the only land that I could see when the canoe drifted a bit downstream - caught within the cyclonic gyre of the current. I grabbed another small panel and kept right on painting in the fog. My view was looking southwest toward John's Cabin but in reality, I could only see a matter of yards. Even the island would become masked at times by the thick peas-soup fog. 

Fog always reminds me of the wonderful time when we lived in Nova Scotia. The Maritimes is the very best place to be posted if you really wish to learn about the weather. Fog comes in various meteorological flavours and they are all challenging to forecast. Anyone who has never had a bust forecast with fog is either misguided or has no memory whatsoever.

A moment when the fog was more of a mist...

I recall once briefing the flight crews for some nighttime flying exercises at Shearwater, YAW. With a straight face, I had suggested in all honesty they had about four hours to complete their missions before the advection fog rolled in. 

The Corporal and I were leaving the Command Post after our portion of the briefing when we discovered that was not the best advice. Wisps of fog barely illuminated by the Shearwater lights, were racing inland on an onshore wind. We spun around and presented the amended forecast that "C0X0F" conditions (ceiling zero obscured with zero miles visibility in fog) were imminent. Ammended forecasts for fog were a way of life even though we tried and kept learning. But the fog was always right. Halifax has over 100 days of mist or fog each year. 

"Done like dinner" in the canoe. 

This is number twenty-seven 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 

#2889 "Dumoine Campsite Sandy Beach Foggy Sunrise"

#2889 "Dumoine Campsite Sandy Beach Foggy Sunrise"
Oils on canvas panel 4 X 6 (inches).
Started 6:30 am Saturday, August 3rd, 2024
from very near N46.463425 W77.771853.

     The yellow push-pin reveals where my canoe was bobbing.       

I was up at 6 am and on the water in minutes. It was even foggier on Saturday morning as the Dumoine got deeper into the warm sector of the summer weather system. 

The water was calm so I decided to paint from my canoe. I was quietly floating just off the sandy beach where most trippers land their canoes. The view was toward the west-northwest. No canoeists had used that campsite for several days. 

I was in the artistic zone and even forgot to take photos of this painting in progress.

This is number twenty-six 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. 

Painting "done like dinner" on the shore when I realized I had not taken any "in progress" photos.

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 

#2888 "Downstream Dumoine with Pincushion Island and Overcast Cirrostratus"

#2888 "Downstream Dumoine with Pincushion Island and Overcast Cirrostratus"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 11:00 am Friday, August 2nd, 2024
from very near N46.471706 W77.766986.

I paddled out into the rapids after finishing #2887 "Rapids Downstream from the DuMoine River Rod & Gun Club". The current was fun! I let the back eddy take me into the anticyclonic gyre to the west. The shoreline was packed with logs and debris deposited by the eddy. My intent was to paint the tangle of logs but instead, I was drawn into another skyscape disguised as a landscape. I was tired of the detail of the rapids and needed to relax a bit while sitting on a stump up from the shoreline. 

Note the location of #2887 "Rapids Downstream from the DuMoine River Rod & Gun Club" at the exit of "Richard Rapids". The outflow from the rapids must have been torrential when the meltwaters from the ice sheet were gushing southward about 14,000 years ago. The anticyclonic gyre required to carve the sandy soils was large.

The altocumulus sky of #2886 "Dumoine Gravity Waves in the Southern Sky" had been replaced by overcast altostratus in the two hours that had elapsed since 9 am. The layers of moisture within the warm conveyor belt were coalescing into one. 

The sky reflected from the calm portions of the flatwater found in that section of the Dumoine River. Fitful breezes pulsated the other sections where the wind could penetrate the protected valley. The rippled water reflected the darker hues of the forested valley walls in the distance. 

The bands of calm and rippled water shifted down the waterway suggesting that gravity waves were flowing down the valley following the tug of gravity just like the current of the river. I theorized that the rippled bands were associated with the downdraft portion of the atmospheric gravity waves within the valley. The calm water surfaces would be associated with the crests of those waves. I watched these bands propagate downriver as I painted. The weather and its impacts on the scene are always interesting. 

I did not sleep well the night before. The air vanished from my discount mattress. By midnight I was flat on the rugged terrain. I decided just to tough it through. I wanted to make the most of painting in this section of the Dumoine. The camera does not lie though and I was looking pretty rough at the end of a day of painting with nil sleep the previous night. Anything is worthwhile for both art and nature!

This is number twenty-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. 

Another painting "done like dinner" as I was sat on the Dumoine River tree stump. 

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 

#2887 "Rapids Downstream from the DuMoine River Rod & Gun Club"

#2887 "Rapids Downstream from the DuMoine River Rod & Gun Club"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 9:45 am Friday, August 2nd, 2024
from very near N46.470117 W77.766628.

I thought I had best change my location for a change of scenery. I paddled into the rapids just upstream from the flat water of the Dumoine that straddles John's Cabin. 

I had just hopped out of my canoe and set my easel in the water when the next batch of canoes appeared at the head of the rapids. I was only in a foot or so of current but the rocks were smooth and polished. I had to be careful not to stumble. I tied my canoe to a branch beside me and proceeded to paint. The waves and rapids were a bit chaotic but I tried to stay focussed. 

My friend Maggie paddled by in her kayak and caught me in the act of painting. Otherwise, I would never have photos of me painting. Art is typically a solitary adventure for me. Thank you Maggie!

My friend Wally Schaber informed me that this current was called "Richard Rapids" after a logger who had a shanty below on river to the right according to the Hamilton brothers timber limit map dated 1860. Wall also mentioned that this was one of his favourite rapids: "With the long rock peninsula you can go around and eddy turn on the corner or back ferry in behind or try to squeeze through the 4 foot gap in the rock on the near shore." Sounds like fun!

This is number twenty-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. 

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 

#2886 "Dumoine Gravity Waves in the Southern Sky"

#2886 "Dumoine Gravity Waves in the Southern Sky"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 8:45 am Friday, August 2nd, 2024
from very near N46.463300 W77.768106. 

Gravity waves filled the sky in the wake of the deformation zone that had passed overhead and into the eastern sky. This skyscape was looking southerly. The deformation zone had crossed the sky in a hurry to be followed by this sea of altocumulus. The orientation of the wave crests was parallel to that deformation zone and perpendicular to the mean flow in the atmosphere. This seemingly simple fact revealed a deeper truth that the impulse of weather was approaching. The flow at cloud level was perpendicular to the gravity waves - westerly.

Some people refer to the "mackerel sky" full of altocumulus clouds as a harbinger of a storm. That saying is quite right but it is also important to note the orientation of the deformation zone. If that cloud line in the sky parallels the mean flow and is thus perpendicular to the wave crests of the altocumulus, the storm is actually past and clearing skies are on the western horizon. 

Another group of red canoes paddled by on the western shore of the Dumoine while I painted. I used my trusty toothpick to capture them. Red appeared to be the preferred canoe colour for the trippers. 

The details of the clouds are not obvious in the photo...
but they were there. Honest!

This is number twenty-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. 

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 

#2885 "Dumoine Trippers with Deformation Zone Horizon"

#2885 "Dumoine Trippers with Deformation Zone Horizon"
Oils on canvas panel 5 X 7 (inches).
Started 8:00 am Friday, August 2nd, 2024
from very near N46.463300 W77.768106. 

The morning sun was just clearing the forest canopy to the east. I had to turn my back to the heat and the glare of the Friday sunrise. 

A group of Dumoine trippers came into view so I scratched those red canoes into the composition as they passed. Theirs would be a fun paddle going with the flow. 

Although the sky only occupies a small portion at the top of the panel, this painting is all about meteorology and the weather - the mean flow I witnessed guiding the canoeists. 

There was a deformation zone on the western horizon foretelling of a short-wave trough in the upper atmosphere. The swirl in the atmospheric flow might be very subtle but the linear pattern that it must produce is characteristic of the energy that produces weather. A deformation zone perpendicular to the mean flow foretold of the approach of an impulse of atmospheric energy. This was one of the most important lessons that the atmospheric patterns taught while working at CFB Shearwater and later the Atlantic Weather Centre in Bedford, Nova Scotia. 

Cloud watching in the Maritimes revealed that to understand the weather, you needed to move with the wind. Clouds are shaped by the subtle variations in the wind and not by the mean flow! Once you appreciate that fact, the cloud shapes make sense and the forces controlling the weather are revealed.

These concepts go back to the 80s but try as I might, they never really caught on. It was the era of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) and there were meteorologists in positions of authority advising "recent hires" like myself to look for another line of work - perhaps nuclear physics. I took the unpopular opinion that humans could process shapes and patterns better than even a modern computer and certainly better than a Commodore 64. The Commodore 64 introduced in 1982 boosted 64 KB RAM and 20 KB ROM. Wow... Many fellow meteorologists were buying those early computers but they were not in our budget with a young family. 

Please don't misunderstand me, NWP certainly was a powerful tool and getting increasingly better with each passing year but given the following concepts, humans still had an important role to play. Simply, 

atmospheric patterns are shaped by the deviations from the mean wind/current. The average of the flow simply moves the weather across the landscape. The subtle departures from the mean wind do all of the scuplting of the moisture patterns - an important reason why I embraced the emerging water vapour satellite imagery. 

I used the weather and the wind as metaphors for life… shaped by diversity and not the average flow. It was my mantra to try to embrace and understand change. Like the weather and the wind, the elements of life are never still 

I tried to explain this throughout my career with varying degrees of success and failure. Mostly the latter. Our move from Nova Scotia to the Atmospheric Environment Service's Training Branch in Toronto was supposed to give me the opportunity to teach these concepts. Large-scale dynamic lift was never accepted as a solution to a question in Training Branch's Meteorology 101. Appropriately… cloud shapes reveal the real mystery but I never got the opportunity to teach that. 

The following Classic Deformation Zone Conceptual Model allows the inference of eight important meteorological features given a simple line in the sky. 

Classic Deformation Zone Conceptual Model

I was unsuccessful for several reasons and returned to operational science as quickly as possible. There was even one memorable class at COMET around 2015 that just could not grasp what seemed so intuitive... and correct to me. The following graphics were presented at Boulder for a COMET class in another one of those efforts. The graphics pictorially explain how a local wind increase compared to the mean wind creates a latitudinal deformation zone. The answer is always "blowing in the wind". 

The first slide sets the stage for the observation of winds in earth frame of reference. These winds can be separated into two distinct components. The mean or average wind immediately to the right of the "equals" sign moves the weather across the landscape. The winds observed from a frame of reference moving at the speed of the mean wind within the green box, are responsible for shaping the atmospheric signatures. 

The next graphic is associated with the pattern that results when the wind as measured in the earth frame of reference is decreased. A very characteristic deformation zone perpendicular to the decrease in wind speed is created. The green box of the winds measured within the atmospheric frame of reference is repeated with the classic deformation zone conceptual model aligned with the axis of contraction. 

The next graphic is associated with the pattern that results when the wind as measured in the earth frame of reference increases. A deformation zone parallel to the increase in wind speed is created. The green box of the winds measured within the atmospheric frame of reference is repeated with the classic deformation zone conceptual model aligned with the axis of dilatation. 

The following classic jet streak graphic created by my friend Professor Moore in 2004 for his COMET Module, puts both of the above wind speed changes into the proper atmospheric situation. The wind speed must increase to achieve the maximum wind observed at the core of the jet. The wind speed decreases downstream from the jet core. The above graphics allow us to understand the quasi horizontal moisture patterns created in terms of linear deformation zones. 

And yes, the approach of a jet core can be witnessed by a deformation zone that forms perpendicular to the flow. The sliver of sky in "#2885 "Dumoine Trippers with Deformation Zone Horizon" revealed that a jet core was approaching with the prevailing westerlies. The jet core is past if the deformation zone parallels the flow. 

These concepts also applied to the trippers paddling with the current of the Dumoine. Deformation zones and swirls abound in all fluids. I saw the same patterns when I paddled during those formative years. The incomparable Bill Mason was already in the process of writing the practical books on those topics. See "Path of the Paddle" and other books by Bill Mason and his family. I was seeing the same patterns but using meteorological terminology to describe them. 

See "A Jet Streak with a Paddle". I never give up attempting to understand and explain the miracles and beauty of the natural world. Those attempts include both works in art and science. 

The dynamics of fluids can also be recorded in the landscape. The location and shapes of the islands located within the flatwater portion of the Dumoine actually were the result of the meltwater from the last ice age nearly 20 thousand years before. The large island and Pincushion are the products of the col of a deformation zone but I will leave that for another post. 

This is number twenty-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. 

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 

#2884 "Foggy Dumoine Sunrise Forest"

#2884 "Foggy Dumoine Sunrise Forest"
Oils on canvas panel 5 X 7 (inches).
Started 7:45 am Friday, August 2nd, 2024
from very near N46.463300 W77.771817. 

I was up and gone from the camp early on Friday morning. The fog was even thicker than the previous day as the warm and moist air mass became more entrenched over the Dumoine watershed. 

I paddled to the sandy beach of the Dumoine campsite and painted looking toward the sun which was just starting to poke through the taller white pines in the forest. 

This is number twenty-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. 

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 

#2883 "Dumoine Langmuir Cloud Streets"

#2883 "Dumoine Langmuir Cloud Streets"
Oils on stretched canvas 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 3:30 pm Thursday, August 1st, 2024
from very near N46.466853 W77.768269. 

I was chasing the shadows of the Dumoine forest and moved my easel back to the canoe beach beside the large white pine. The sun was firmly in the western sky and the large tree cast a cool and pleasant shadow for me. 

The southeasterly winds in the lowest levels of the atmosphere had generated parallel Langmuir streets of stratocumulus. The clouds were backlit by the afternoon sun. The winds were consistent with the ridge of high pressure passing to the east of John's Cabin. The parade of weather systems never ends. 

The valley of the Dumoine River trailed away to the south and the hills became progressively more muted in colour. 

This is number twenty 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