#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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