#2331 "Grand Banks"

This boat had been up on the blocks for a while. The "Grand Banks II" was registered in Ottawa. Perched on the wooden blocks and braced by steel legs, the Grand Banks was on also up for sale. It needed a bit of work but looked reasonable. There were at least two deep dents in the steel prow of the bow - a reminder perhaps of a couple of the 30,000 islands in the area. It had radar and other electronics for sure. At one time the "Grand Banks II" had a yellow superstructure. The elements of Georgian Bay had blistered the more recent white paint revealing the buttery blonde underneath. I deliberated whether I should preserve the neatness of the fresher paint but ultimately decided that honesty was more appealing than makeup.

The cold front had swept well to the southeast. The morning fog had lifted and the afternoon sun was converting some of that moisture into cumulus clouds. It was a beauty of a day to be on the waters of the Parry Sound Archipelago.

The Boat was there in the Google Map Image from July 27, 2019

I drew the boat with the brush allowing for artistic impression to creep in with any imperfections. The feeling of the place needs to enter the work and that can be stifled when one tries for photographic perfection. I got into the groove of observing shapes, patterns and colours and forgot that when assembled, they would comprise a vessel. I also had to make the boat fit on the canvas and that required some effort and a tiny bit of artistic licence.

The physical Grand Banks is the portion of the eastern North American continental shelf in the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast of Newfoundland. The Grand Banks are relatively shallow ranging from just 50 to 300 feet in depth. The cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream creating the thickest advection fog one might ever see. The ecosystem of the Grand Banks was especially rich. Over-fishing caused the collapse of several fish species including cod, leading to the closure of the Canadian Grand Banks fishery in 1992. Sad...

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#2330 "Archipelago Cirrus"

The September sky was full of cirrus. There were some mare's tails, gravity waves, and deformation zones. The gravity waves must always be perpendicular to the winds at cloud level just like waves on a lake. Those cloud relative winds are quite different than what we observe form a point on the ground. Subtle variations in the wind that moves the entire weather system along create this interesting patterns. These characteristic cloud patterns are the key to really understanding the weather. The stretching of the cirrus into elongated arcs reveal the deformation process unfolding in the atmosphere gravity waves embedded in the deformation zones reveal which way the cirrus is being stretched. In this case the anticyclonic vortex is almost overhead. The col in the deformation zone was far to the north with the cyclonic circulation beyond that.

I can explain all this if you wish. I have started to do just that on my Art and Science Blog. The first post in that series was from February 18th, 2020 called "Cloud Shapes and Lines in the Atmosphere".

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#2329 "Jones Island Lighthouse Point"

This is another view of Jones Island Range Rear Lighthouse as seen in September 2019. Once again I drew the Jones Island Lighthouse with the brush just as I did in #2308 "Jones Lighthouse Parry Sound Archipelago". I owned any imperfections and that is okay. Perfection is overrated anyway. The bright, white lighthouse stood out like the beacon that it was intended to be.

The high cirrocumulus were producing mare's tail wafts of ice crystals that drifted earth bound in the sheared winds of the approaching autumn storm. There were also several thin bands of cirrus. The leading band of cirrus was the deformation zone of the warm conveyor belt of the storm. .

I needed to paint more of the rocks hurled by the the ill tempered God Kitchikewana. I liked the way the water and the colours rippled along the waters edge of Jonses Island. The water levels were high but they had been even higher in the past as evidenced by the lines etched into the rocks.

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#2328 "Granite Pines and an Autumn Storm"

In order to capture the essence of the Georgian Bay Archipelago I needed to paint more of the rocks hurled by the very ill tempered God Kitchikewana.This particular rocky island was the home of beautiful fox snakes and lots of poison ivy. I liked the way the water and the colours rippled in the shallows and the shadows.There is every colour of blue in my arsenal to be found in this scene of rocks and weather. The convoluted deformation zone and Langmuir streets of cirrus foretold of the approaching autumn storm that was going to continue to flag those weather pines. The landscape was in constant motion even though it was anchored to the bedrock.

These particular boulders have indeed been chiseled by the forces of nature. Notwithstanding the interesting myth of Kitchikewana, ice was responsible for the appearance of these rocks. The glaciers had left a lot of chatter marks before they melted away 11,000 years ago. The glaciers quarried the erratics from upstream possibly creating a "valley glacier" in doing so. As a glacier moves, friction causes the basal ice of the glacier to melt and infiltrate cracks in the bedrock. The freezing and thawing action of the ice causes further cracks in the bedrock. This produces large pieces of rock called joint blocks. Eventually these joint blocks come loose and become trapped in the glacier. When the glacier eventually melts, these transported boulders are left behind as erratics. One does not fight against the elements or nature.

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#2327 "Parry Sound Weathered Boulders"

I needed to paint more of the rocks hurled by the the ill tempered Georgian Bay God Kitchikewana. The Parry Sound Archipelago is full of rocky areas. It is not just flagged pines and large skies and weather.

I liked the way the water and the colours rippled in the shallows and the shadows of this rocky cove. It is important not to think of the names of any of these subjects. Everything is composed of simple shapes and colours and one needs to be immersed in the moment to actually really see and interpret the reality. It is very easy to get lost in those rocks - just as easy as losing your way in a forest or in the sky when you are trying to capture a scene.

These particular boulders have indeed been chiseled by the forces of nature. Notwithstanding the tale of Kitchikewana, ice brought most of these erratics here. Ice has more recently split them into smaller junks. One does not fight against the elements or nature. I feel the best way forward is to work with nature and not try to subdue or control the fundamental forces and its creatures it in any way. Just my opinion of course in my attempt to stay in touch with my roots.

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#2326 "Cirrus Lines"

Every sky is another challenge. I keep trying different techniques to realistically interpret the complexities of the many layers and depths of the atmosphere - with a minimal number of strokes of the brush. Too many brush strokes can steal the life out of the painting. Polishing the brush strokes makes everything flat. I want the oils and the scene to be alive and vigourous with the three dimensionality of the real world.

In the Singleton Studio with the tunes and the wood stove.

This is a meteorologically very interesting overcast sky filled with cirrus. There are cirrus Langmuir streets parallel to the winds bringing the heat and moisture to the Parry Sound Archipelago. There are cirrus gravity waves in the stable layers of the warm conveyor belt that are everywhere perpendicular to those winds just like waves on a lake. There are multiple deformation zones but the most obvious one and the only one I fully included is the one just above the horizon. This particular deformation zone certainly leads the next and deeper layer of warm conveyor belt moisture. Deformation zones are the leading edge of the moisture at a particular layer and result from the stretching of the air laterally. Deformation is a beautiful process and is the key to unlocking a lot of the dynamic features that drive the weather. There is also cirrocumulus instability producing mare's tails shafts of ice crystal virga. Cirrostratus is the backdrop of this meteorological tale that mutes the deep blues that would have been observed in an unclouded sky.

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#2325 "Kitchikewana Rocks"

This is just one of the potential sixty thousand or more rocky points created by the ill tempered God Kitchikewana. Each of the thirty thousand rocky islands of the Parry Sound Archipelago must have a minimum of two points jutting into the water of eastern Georgian Bay. I do not think I will get to all of those painting points but I visited this one at least twice - once in this painting and again in #2326 "Cirrus Lines". Every canvas is a challenge to embrace regardless of the subject matter.

The white pine on this particular point was very exposed to the onshore winds off Georgian Bay and was heavily flagged. The branches on the lee side of the point stretched far and wide. Those branches on the windward side were short and stubby or actually twisted to the lee by the wind. This is what I wanted to say with this painting even though I focused on the rocks tossed by Kitchikewana. The humour in the title was meant to imply that Kitchikewana could have been a rock-star.

The 30,000 Islands of the Parry Sound Archipelago have an interesting legend. Kitchikewana was a god large and powerful enough to guard all of Georgian Bay. Alas, this god had a bad temper. His tribe felt that Kitchikewana was in need of a wife to calm him down. The tribe held a party with prospectus brides. Kitchikewana was smitten by a lady named Wanakita. The god started planning the wedding after the party but apparently did not tell Wanakita. When the wedding was ready, Kitchikewana invited his beloved to return but Wanakita told him that she was already engaged. The enraged Kitchikewana destroyed the wedding preparations. More importantly he grabbed a huge ball of earth and threw it toward present day Parry Sound thus creating the Thirty Thousand Islands. The indentations left behind by old Kitchi's fingers form the five bays of Georgian Bay: Midland Bay, Penetang Bay, Hog Bay, Sturgeon Bay, and Matchedash Bay. Kitchikewana then laid down and still sleeps on Giant's Tomb Island. A large statue of Kitchikewana can be found on the main street of Penetanguishene.

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#2324 "Parry Sound Rocky Mound"

The title of a painting typically comes to me as I stroke the oils. What can one say about a rock? Plenty! I have read and reread about the geology and history of rocks. It is very interesting but I typically forget it all and am equally fascinated when I read it again. The rounded shape of this island made me think of the word "mound" - a rounded mass projecting above a surface. The colourful swirls in this particular mound is what really caught my eye. Here is why.

The patterns in the rock reminded me of my artist friend Ed Bartram. Ed lived in King City near Schomberg and Watershed Farm on the 12th Conccesion of King Township. This painting is my small remembrance of an artist who shared in the joy of the Georgian Bay rocks and the archipelago. The rocky swirls gave the painting both a rhyme and a rhythm. Ed gave me an autographed copy of his book, Rockscapes. I gave Ed a copy of my Weather of Ontario.

The 30,000 Islands of the Parry Sound Archipelago have an interesting legend. Kitchikewana was a god large and powerful enough to guard all of Georgian Bay. Alas, this god had a bad temper. His tribe felt that Kitchikewana was in need of a wife to calm him down. The tribe held a party with prospectus brides. Kitchikewana was smitten by a lady named Wanakita. The god started planning the wedding after the party but apparently did not tell Wanakita. When the wedding was ready, Kitchikewana invited his beloved to return but Wanakita told him that she was already engaged. The enraged Kitchikewana destroyed the wedding preparations.

More importantly he grabbed a huge ball of earth and threw it toward present day Parry Sound thus creating the Thirty Thousand Islands. The indentations left behind by old Kitchi's fingers form the five bays of Georgian Bay: Midland Bay, Penetang Bay, Hog Bay, Sturgeon Bay, and Matchedash Bay. Kitchikewana then laid down and still sleeps on Giant's Tomb Island.

A large statue of Kitchikewana can be found on the main street of Penetanguishene.

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#2323 "Windswept Rocky Shore"

Every painting needs a rhyme and a rhythm. I like how those words go together as well. The words use the same letters but mean very different things. Language can be interesting and stimulating. In any event there are at least 4 thousand rocks above the surface of the waters of the Parry Sound Archipelago according to Staff Commander John G. Boulton of the Royal Navy who surveyed the area in 1891. The spacing of these pieces of granite may look irregular but from a distance there must be a pattern. The same phenomena happens in the atmosphere. There is a wavelength in every fluid whether it be the weather, the atmosphere or molten rock. The winds certainly erode the rocks and weathers the trees but the regular wave patterns in these rocky swirls are cast in stone - so to speak.

In addition, the patterns in the rock reminded me of my late artist friend Ed Bartram. Ed lived in King City near where we lived in Schomberg and later at Watershed Farm on the 12th Conccesion of King Township. This painting is my small remembrance of an artist who shared in the joy of the Georgian Bay rocks and the archipelago. The rocky swirls gave the painting both a rhyme and a rhythm. Ed gave me an autographed copy of his book, Rockscapes. I gave Ed a copy of my Weather of Ontario. We are all in this together.

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