#2159 "Dumoine Rapids"

After completing #2158 "Dumoine Secret Waterfall" I turned my attention downstream from the Dumoine Ledges. The patterns of the boulders and trees on the eastern shore caught my eye in between swims in the refreshing current. The rocks of the rapids turned the tea stained water into white foam under the brilliant sunshine.
The real subject of this painting was the wall of trees that comprised the forest on the east bank of the Dumoine. The forest would have been almost impregnable but once inside the sky would be lost to the the forest canopy. It would have been dark on the forest floor. Sounds would be absorbed by the millions of trees. It would be easy to get disoriented and lost. I tried to paint both the forest and the trees. This is what the first explorers of Canada found and is what makes the nation so special. The sound of thunder was fast approaching as I wrapped this painting up. It was perhaps my favourite of the day and came as Mark Patton and I were about to get soaked by a heavy thunderstorm.

A garter snake prowled underneath a log on which I was drying my towel. A large American toad exited from under the same log when the snake got too close. I think the toad might have been too large for the snake to handle but who knows how hungry the snake might be? I called the toad a "Canadian Toad" and used it to illustrate my get well card for Robert Bateman. Apparently Bob loves toads just as do I. 

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I visited this painting again in #2188 "Dumoine Dances"...