#2395 "Downstream from Talon Falls"

My son and I and a group of new friends were paddling down the Mattawa like Big Joe Mufferaw in mid June 2016. There was a lot of painting material to be discovered around every bend in the historic Mattawa, the "junction of waterways" or the "river with walls that echo its current". We took the southern route and had the time of our lives! There was enough water to run all of the rapids except of course for the major falls. 

After taking the Talon Portage, we paddled up to take a closer look at the impressive Talon Falls. On the way back the expedition leader Bob took a nap while his wife Silvia managed the canoe. That is one of the benefits of being the paddler in the stern. I used a lot of oil with fairly large brushes on this small and very rough panel. Shakespeare once said that it was “A poor thing, but my own”. He meant that something unique crafted with your own touch is worth more than any rich thing that belongs to someone else. There is some personality in these bold tiny portraits even though you cannot really see the faces. 

The Mattawa River provides a natural connection between the Ottawa River and Lake Nipissing, following a 600 million year-old geological fault line through the Canadian Shield, visible at Paresseux Falls. 

Over 10,000 years ago, after the melting of the ice sheets that used to cover Ontario, the Great Lakes emptied into the Ottawa River via the Mattawa River instead of via Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Canada's first known, and Ontario's only major, deposit of brucite marble, a colouring agent used in paper production, is located on this river near Talon Chute. 

I had returned to painting some wonderful memories since COVID-19 required self-isolation. I was using the rough side of an historic piece of masonite. An artist friend had passed away and his spouse offerred me his remaining panels to use. I promised to use them all in his memory. 

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