From Wednesday, February 26th, 2003... This scene is looking west out across the hill behind the Watershed Farm home looking at a brilliant sunset. The hill was dark in sharp contrast to the blazing altocumulus. The vivid colours are what caught my eye. The familiar saying is about red skies at night for a sailor's delight - not about red clouds. Red clouds at night, sailors should take fright! I did not exaggerate the colours. I never do... honestly.
The sun peaking through the diminishing forest cover of Caledon is apparent on the northwestern horizon. When we bought the farm (so to speak) in 1993, the forest was dense enough not to allow even the setting sun to peak through it. The smoke from one of those new homes was drifting in the southerly winds and I painted that in along with the fence of the paddocks that the horses are always breaking over.
The next day we received a severe snowstorm which is the reason for the "before" in the title of this painting. At Watershed Farm, we got about 25 centimeters of snow which blew into drifts that were at least four feet deep. Linda and I canceled going to the theater in Orangeville. It might have been possible to go but quite impossible to get home again. I had to go to work the next day so I got up at 5 am. I spent almost 2 hours getting halfway down the lane with the blower on the 1969 Massey Ferguson tractor before getting tangled in a four foot drift where I could neither go backward or forward. I was stuck - really stuck. If it had not been for having to get to work, the storm would have been a beautiful thing. We had the fires going and it was toasty in the family room.
My neighbour came down with his four wheel drive tractor and two stage snow blower and by 6 pm, the lane was open. That machine did not care how deep the snow was.
The sun peaking through the diminishing forest cover of Caledon is apparent on the northwestern horizon. When we bought the farm (so to speak) in 1993, the forest was dense enough not to allow even the setting sun to peak through it. The smoke from one of those new homes was drifting in the southerly winds and I painted that in along with the fence of the paddocks that the horses are always breaking over.
The next day we received a severe snowstorm which is the reason for the "before" in the title of this painting. At Watershed Farm, we got about 25 centimeters of snow which blew into drifts that were at least four feet deep. Linda and I canceled going to the theater in Orangeville. It might have been possible to go but quite impossible to get home again. I had to go to work the next day so I got up at 5 am. I spent almost 2 hours getting halfway down the lane with the blower on the 1969 Massey Ferguson tractor before getting tangled in a four foot drift where I could neither go backward or forward. I was stuck - really stuck. If it had not been for having to get to work, the storm would have been a beautiful thing. We had the fires going and it was toasty in the family room.
My neighbour came down with his four wheel drive tractor and two stage snow blower and by 6 pm, the lane was open. That machine did not care how deep the snow was.
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