#2254 "Grande Chute Portage Take Out"

This was Day Two of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) supported DRAW (Dumoine River Art for Wilderness) 2019. We were all eco-artists trying to assist with the awareness of the importance of wilderness in modern society.

It was really cold overnight. I had packed only my summer gear but should have included a winter toque as well. I put a shower towel over my head in order to keep warm enough to sleep. We were up by 6:45 am and ready to paint after a sip of coffee and a piece of apple pie as a breakfast dessert. The car thermometer registered plus 8 Celsius. That temperature will feel warm in January but not in early August.

I decided to paint on the west side of the Dumoine just upstream from the Grand Chute. The steam thermals were rising in twisting tongues of vapour off the warm water. Crepuscular rays were piercing the mist and steam devils. The land was dark and strongly backlit. I was striving for simply the impression of the mercurial moments that one experiences while painting en plein air. It is best to simply become immersed with the elements whatever they happen to be.

The painting location was the take out for the Grand Chute Portage. I did not expect to see any canoeists for at least several hours so I would not be in anyone's way. Most trippers plan to reach the Grand Chute in the afternoon in order to enjoy the camping and swimming along this portion of the Dumoine. A large dragonfly buzzed my head around my companion wingman. Perhaps looking for a mate. The dragonfly did not linger long and I was not bothered by any biting insects either.

This view is looking downstream across the Grand Chute Bridge. The end of Goat Island is to the left. The bridge is the dark shape spanning the chute in the centre. The fog was still very thick and the roar of the rapids was in my ears. Mist filled the air. Apparently Goat Island was so named because early settlers thought that they would like some fresh milk. Goats left on the island would quickly learn that there was no way off and the shepherd would know where to find their flock. The herd of goats and the goat milk supply did not last for long though. Apparently wolves in the neighbourhood also liked the goats.

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#2253 "Dumoine Ledges Rocky Pool"

This was the first day of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) supported DRAW (Dumoine River Art for Wilderness) for 2019.

After completing #2252 "Dumoine Chute Below the Ledges" I simply turned around to look more northward upstream across the ledges. The swimming is very rocky in this basin but there is a great potential for a very forceful shower under the waterfall to the left that I painted. The roar of the rapids fills the air with sound and mist. The location was refreshing in many ways. I was bathing in both the Dumoine forest and the Dumoine mist.

I was still standing in the shade of the cedars and munching on blue berries. There were just a few large horse flies doing the biting thanks to Dragonfly Wingman. The horse flies prefer your skin to be wet right after coming in from a swim. After you dry off the horse flies were not even a big problem. Otherwise life is very good.

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#2252 "Dumoine Chute Below the Ledges"

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS http://www.cpaws-ov-vo.org/) supported DRAW (Dumoine River Art for Wilderness) 2019 started on Wednesday July 31st. We were all eco-artists trying to assist with the awareness of the importance of wilderness in modern society. Thursday August 1st was the first day of painting.

The August sun had turned the day really hot. It was time for a midday swim. Mark and I headed down the trail on the west side of the Grand Chute to our favourite swimming holes. The series of rocky ledges mark the Grande Chute at this portion of the Dumoine. The swimming in the first rocky basin is not as nice as the sand beach in the next turn of the Dumoine downstream. The painting among the rocks is fine though. I picked some of the plentiful blue berries as I painted. There were still several heavy steel bars drilled into the Dumoine granite from the days of the lumber mills and log drives.

All of the Dumoine River must flow through this narrow channel. The flow was down to just below the mean for the date. The flow typically peaks in April at about 400 cubic metres per second. This flow was only about 35 cubic metres per second which is still a lot of water. The forest was dark but inviting on the east back of the Dumoine. The area had been thoroughly logged over several times in the past. Nature will regroup and rebuild thought if given the chance. I was bathing in both the water and the forests of the Dumoine.

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#2251 "Dumoine Daisies"

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) supported DRAW (Dumoine River Art for Wilderness) 2019 started on Wednesday July 31st. We were all eco-artists trying to assist with the awareness of the importance of wilderness in modern society. August 1st was the first day of painting.

The August sun was intense and I needed to retreat from the UV glare. I headed into the shadows on the southeast side of the Grand Chute Bridge. A selection of wild flowers in various stages of growth and decay were all I needed. There were some small clusters of purplish blue flowers that I could not identify. Little bugs landed in the paint and occasionally buzzed around my head and were slightly indifferent to my Dragonfly Wingman.
I tried to rescue the bugs and was sometimes successful. For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#2250 "Dumoine Grande Chute Misty Morning"

This was still the first morning of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) supported DRAW (Dumoine River Art for Wilderness) 2019. We were all eco-artists trying to assist with the awareness of the importance of wilderness in modern society.

The mist was still lingering in the Dumoine Valley. I decided to head up on to the Grand Chute bridge to paint. The bridge had been resurfaced with enough thick planks and there was not a big risk of getting one of the big spikes through a tire. There was not much traffic yet although it would certainly increase soon enough in time for the coming long weekend. I have completed several paintings from just about this location but every day is different. It was going to be a blue bird day after the fog and mist were gone. The biting bugs were not a problem thanks largely to my Dragonfly Wingman.

A solemn cathedral of tall forest framed the canyon of the Dumoine reminding me of the nave of a church. Everyday can be a religious experience in the beauty of the wilderness.

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#2249 "Misty Down the Dumoine Chute"

I did not move after painting #2248 "Grande Chute Foggy Sunrise". This time I looked more down the Dumoine channel and into the canyon. It was still foggy and dark in the deeper portions of the valley. The tops of the fog were turning into bright and white cumulus billows.
The sounds, colours and lighting were as turbulent as the current. The best I could hope for was an impression of the tumultuous scene. I used a lot of paint on this smooth and slippery surface.

As has been my custom for a few years, I scratched my name in the wet paint and dotted the "i" with a stab of cadmium red.

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#2248 "Grande Chute Foggy Sunrise"

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS ) supported DRAW (Dumoine River Art for Wilderness) 2019 started on Wednesday July 31st. We were all eco-artists trying to assist with the awareness of the importance of wilderness in modern society. The climate is changing faster than meteorologists ever thought possible. The ice caps are collapsing and sea levels rising. Forests ecosystems are being clear-cut for profit while pest and climate change threats make them susceptible for uncontrollable fires. The assaults on wilderness appear to be ramping up and not down.

The remaining nature corridors are becoming more fragmented as land is viewed as a simple commodity for profit instead of an ecosystem. The local north-south nature corridor known as the Algonquin to Adirondacks or A2A corridor needs our help before it is too late. As we are witnessing daily in the news, what took nature hundreds of thousands of years to create can be destroyed in a heart beat. This and much more are the concerns of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

DRAW 2019 was like a prolonged forest bath interspersed with real swims in the currents of the Dumoine. This was my third year of participation. My routine was to start painting before 7 am and not stop until 6 pm. The midday period of flat lightning was spent swimming as were some periods between paintings. It is important to enjoy and record the beauty of a place before it is gone.

Mark, Bonnie and I were up at 6 am for an early start to CPAWS-DRAW 2019 (You gotta love those acronyms). The fog was really thick. We drove to the Grande Chute after a quick coffee and a couple of slices of toast. I was painting on the Dumoine by 6:30 am.

I went to the same ledge where I painted in 2017 and captured #1959 "Morning on the Grande Chute". The fog was so thick that I decided to look more across the valley than down the canyon. The August sun was quick to turn the fog into mist. The fog will be mist (humour intended). The fog, mist and water were all swirling in the shafts of sunlight. The sounds, colours and lighting were as turbulent as the current. The painting may look abstract but it captured the feel of the place without trying to polish the brush strokes.

I had my Wingman on to protect me from the biting bugs. My dragonfly friend really worked. The deer flies certainly backed off even though the mosquitoes sometimes still drew blood. 

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#0480 "Home, Home on Mo-Raine"

This is the Watershed Farm homestead as it appeared in the late spring of 1993 when we bought the farm so to speak. No one died though in this grand adventure. The farm house had been vacant for a few years and needed a lot of love. The only access to the home and barn was along a muddy lane beside the fence posts. The new gravel lane from the 12th Concession had not even been thought of yet.

The house was very, very rough with a stream running across the mud floor basement with dead mice and frogs and toads as well. I watched a garter snake crawl through a crack in the foundation to bask in the spring sun. The furnace ran almost all of the time except when if conked out and needed to be primed to be restarted at which time it belched black, sooty smoke. The heat exchanger in that furnace was cracked. The water pump was in the basement and was rather noisy after the lone toilet was flushed. There was no insulation in the walls and many things did not work - if they ever did. The chimneys were unsafe and needed to be removed or replaced. They were on the verge of falling into the house. We would need to put another lane into the property but I knew a local genius for that kind of work - George Craib. The family loved the challenge and by the middle of March, it was home.

My friend George Craib (a more honest or hard working man would be hard to find) offered to blend the farm into the landscape... so that we could build fresh. We had no money... but he was right and we should have lived in the barn with the raccoon too. At least for a while.

Note how small the spruce and two jack pines were back in 1993. They have grown a lot in the last several years. The title is a bit of a take on "Home, Home on the Range" which was popular song of the cowboys and cowgirls from the 1950's. My Brother and I watched all of those early cowboy shows. It seemed appropriate for me especially since the farm is at the very top of the Oak Ridges Moraine which is becoming under increasing pressures for development as Toronto surges northward.

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#0506 "Behind the Cold Front"

This painting could also be called sunny breaks as it depicts in oils exactly what sunny breaks should look like. This sky was behind the second cold front of the day and although there were some energetic cumulus in the sea of stratocumulus, there wasn't anything to give more than just a sprinkle. Shafts of virga did reach toward the ground but mostly evapourated in the cooler and drier air. Clearing skies were only a few hours of continued subsidence away.

I added the title and date in different ink when
I got home and discovered what day it actually was...

I was enjoying a week of painting, canoeing and camping by myself. The kids were back in school and no one else could get the holiday time to come with me. I worked a lot of over-time as a meteorologist. I always said "yes" to the replacement plea from the office. The big storms were always the ones that seemed to draw me to the Ontario Storm Prediction Centre. Storms both large and small always had something to teach and I was always eager to learn.

No one has figured out how to tax personal time off yet and I took all of that over-time as time off. I made sure to spend most of that on the family but a few days were spent painting too.

I had just set up camp on the south end of the large island on McCrae Lake. It was idyllic and there was no one else on the lake beside the loons.

This sky is from mid afternoon Tuesday September 12th, 2000. Stratocumulus cloud produces one of the most dramatic skyscapes possible but little in the way of weather.

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#0535 "Summer Pasture"

This is a sister for "Bee Pasture" (#0510). It was painted looking east only about 20 feet from the site of "Bee Pasture". I wanted to paint the Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot and there was a nice clump of it in the pasture immediately to the west of the family room.
There is also some trefoil and emergent golden rod as well as some other colourful stuff I could not identify. It was bloody hot - about 34 Celsius and the sweat trickled constantly down my back as I painted. There were some bees working the trefoil.

I will harvest that honey later in the week. I love to watch the comings and goings of my bees. What made this honey special was that I did not interfere with the work of the bees. The honey from each frame went into its own jar and was never blended with the honey from other frames. The bees know what they are doing. 

I threw the ball for the family Chesapeake to keep her happy and entertained. She was sprayed by a skunk last evening and deserved some fun. Every now and again I could still smell that skunky smell but I don't think it was the dog. The Chesapeake was the Chief Security Guard for Watershed Farm.

From Monday, July 23, 2001... pre 911.

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#0555 "Red in the Breast!"

This is a red-breasted nuthatch that comes to our feeder at Watershed Farm - one of many actually. I even had him land on my hand once. The nuthatch thought he was landing on the hand of the Bird Man which I made for Watershed Farm.

The Bird Man Feeder was built out of 4 inch sewer pipe, the head unscrewed and seed was poured in to fill the arms right down to the carved wooden hands.  It held about 30 pounds of seed.  The Bird Man swiveled with the wind so that the birds could land into the wind as they prefer to do.  We had had all kinds of birds visit the Bird Man!  If you dress in the same colour of coat and stand beside the Bird Man, the birds will land all over you and feed from you hand.  I have even had a woodpecker feed from my hand.

The Bird Man was on duty 24/7 and in all kinds of weather like every keen meteorologist. The Bird Man even fed his friends during freezing rain storms as pictured to the right with a chickadee in each hand. St Francis would be impressed. The title was selected because if I hung upside down all of the time, I would be red in the face. This perky and clever little bird is only red in the breast! This 16x20 canvas was started Thursday, December 06, 2001.

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#0552 "Deep Woods Barn Owl"

This is a 4-month-old female barn owl raised in captivity and displayed at the Burdette Gallery Fall Show, Saturday October 13th, 2001. I was there with my art and did some photography of this barn owl and the other birds of prey on display. I don't enjoy painting from photos anymore but sometimes, it is unavoidable. I've never seen a barn owl in the wild and this one was sitting right in front of me. The range of the barn owl barely edges into southern Ontario.

The jack pine and white pine background is from the front yard at Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township. I wanted to get the feel of the thick woods without painting every needle. Once again, I played ball with the family Chesapeake at the same time. It kept me and the oils pretty loose.

The colours of this painting come alive in the dark ... just like the owl.

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#0722 "The Spa"

The family Chesapeake was relaxing in her spa during a game of ball. The water was always topped up by the eaves trough and she would overflow it when she stepped in. We would hit the ball toward the north, trying for a home run across the fence. When she was young, she would play this game until we got tired. During the last week, she could only manage one or maybe two retrieves. She never stopped though.

The family played with her constantly. She controlled the pace of the game strategically. She would feign not knowing where the ball landed if it got into the tall grass. She would not make the retrieve until you approached to point it out to her. Of course this assumes that you actually knew where it was. She would give a "humpf" of triumph when she pulled the ball out of the grass. She also slowed the game down by wading into her spa to cool off. This was her first spa. We purchased a larger, black plastic spa several years later that she could actually lay down in. I think she still fancied her original spa better than the fancy new one from the TSC Store in Alliston.

The family Chesapeake was the star attraction of every gathering at the farm of which there were many.  She entertained young and old and had a great time doing it! She also protected Watershed Farm. What a dog! She will always be missed.

The "dot" on the "i" of my signature Chadwick is intended to be a green tennis ball in honour of the family Chesapeake's fetish. She only liked green tennis balls.

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#0580 "Homestead Lilacs"

This was painted on the front yard of Watershed Farm looking north ... toward the sounds of thunder and very blustery winds. The canvas was breathing in an out with the wind. It was difficult to control the brushstrokes on the billowing canvas. The family Chesapeake was with me chasing the green tennis ball in the tall grasses of the apple orchard.

These lilacs were likely planted around 1860 by Thomas McAfee who owned Lot 24 then. They were also probably located just to the south of the original settler's homestead. It would have been a much different existence back then. We are still using the same well though and the water was still sweet.

There were one room pioneer homes on both Lot 23 and Lot 24 back in 1860. On Lot 24 of Watershed Farm (as I named it in 1993), the house had been built at least 300 yards from the farm because of the fear of fire as was a common practice in those times. The houses were also built in the center of the land so that they didn't have to travel as far to reach the fields. It was just east of the corner where the old lane turned up to the barn. All that remains of this house is some stone/cement foundation in the ditch. This also explains why there is this thick grove of lilacs in that location. It also explains the placement of the well just to the southeast of the home site. There are probably many artifacts buried on the site. At this time little else is known about the families who grew up on Lot 24.

This plein air painting date was also the 17th anniversary of the Barrie Tornado, which killed 12 people (also on a Friday). These thunderstorms also went severe producing large hail in Barrie and a tornado near North Bay. It was my day off so I could enjoy the weather without any pressure.

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#0496 "Mid-Summer Barn"

This is a group of perennial flowers in front of the northeast corner of the Watershed Farm bank barn in early August 2000. A heavy thunderstorm had just passed through and everything was clean. Lots of leaves were even washed off the huge black willow tree which was just to the right and out of the view of the painting. This is plein air view was looking southwest toward the barn across the parking area from the old entry.

We bought the farm (so to speak as we did not die) in March 1993. What an adventure. The farm house had been empty for a few years. Vandals had broken windows and doors. Antique hardware was stolen. Frogs and snakes lived in the mud-floored basement and crawled through cracks in the stone foundation. The heat exchanger on the furnace was cracked. Cluster flies swarmed everywhere. The balloon framing of wood-house used long, vertical 2" x 4"s for the exterior walls. These long "studs" extended uninterrupted from the sill on top of the foundation, all the way up to the roof. There was no insulation in those walls. The home needed some attention.

The barn was in slightly better shape although the raccoons called it home. The stone and cement foundation was cracked. We believe the barn was built around 1860 perhaps by Thomas McAfee who owned Lot 24 then. The barn originally sat on the ground. Joe Duggan jacked the barn up, completing the job on November 19th, 1919. John James Coulter (the first) died in 1919 at the age of 87 years old - the year the barn was jacked up and that is how Roy Coulter, one of his grandsons, remembers the date.

There were one room homes on both Lot 23 and Lot 24 back in the middle 1800's. On Lot 24 of "Watershed Farm", the house had been built at least 300 yards from the farm because of the fear of fire as was a common practice in those times. The houses were also built in the center of the land so that they didn't have to travel as far to reach the fields. It was just east of the corner where the old lane turned up to the barn. All that remains of this house is some stone/cement foundation in the ditch. This explains why there is a thick grove of lilacs in that location. It also explains the placement of the well just to the southeast of the home site. There are probably many artifacts buried on the site. At this time little else is known about the families which grew up on Lot 24.

We loved Watershed Farm (I named it) and the adventure. We raised our family there on the 12th Concession of King Township.

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