#2629 "Grey March Singleton Sunset"

#2629 "Grey March Singleton Sunset"
10x12 smooth panel

This is the Singleton sunset sky at 5.45 pm on Wednesday March 16th, 2022. It was supposed to be a sunny day in the ridge of high pressure. The various numerical weather prediction models (NWP) were certain of that fact. Unfortunately, the NWP often does a poor job in the planetary boundary level. The atmosphere is large and complicated and that is especially true when it interacts with the Earth. The planetary boundary level is where everyone lives though and the expertise of thoughtful meteorologists can still play an important role. 

Visible satellite imagery from the time of the painting.

There were sunny skies nearby as witnessed by the visible satellite imagery. Meanwhile thick fog and stratus cloud prevailed over Lake Ontario and in the southerly onshore flow. That southerly flow included Singleton Lake. The frigid lake water of Lake Ontario kept the inversion from breaking and the lake and shorelines ended up shrouded in a "pea soup" fog and temperatures near freezing. Sunny areas meanwhile enjoyed temperatures soaring into the mid teens. 

From the US National Weather Service - Fahrenheit

There were some breaks in the stratus just at sunset after a day of heating. The sun creates convection currents along the edges of the overcast stratus. These currents gradually mix dry air into the edges of the stratus turning that cloud into stratus fractus and allowing the sun to peak through. The sun effectively nibbles at the outer edges of the stratus with convective swirls until the fog is either all gone or the sunset arrives. As a result, thick stratus always dissipates from the outer edges inward and that is what we were enjoying at Singleton Lake.

Analysing a Hand Plotted Surface Map - the first step

I learned these meteorological lessons from the advection fog banks of the Maritimes during my first posting to CFB Shearwater. The real weather was a wonderful teacher to supplement to training I received on Meteorologist (BSc) Course 33. Satellite imagery was still not commonly available in 1977. I fondly remember the expertise and dedication of the people I worked with in Shearwater - their goal was to provide a service and save lives and I learned a lot from them. Thank you. 

The eastern basin of Singleton Lake was mainly ice free. According to our records dating back to 2006, the average date for an ice free eastern basin is March 10th but those dates range from as early as February 25th to as late as April 8th. Eastern North America remained under a cold trough so 2022 was pretty much near the long term average. 

The painting panel had minimal tooth and I wanted to have some fun with lots of paint. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2628 "Spring Awakening in the Sanctuary"

#2628 "Spring Awakening in the Sanctuary"
10x8 Gallery Wrap 1.5 inches

The sounds of spring filled the air. The normal cast of characters were letting me know that in their opinion, spring had arrived. Nuthatches, chickadees, various kinds of wood peckers, crows, ravens, the red shouldered hawk, silent turkey vultures, bald eagles... everyone was around. A pair of male blue birds were squabbling over the choicest location nesting box. Flocks of Canada geese were constantly in the air overhead. 

I decided to revisit the single tap that I painted in #2626 "Singleton Spring Sugar Flow" but just from a slightly different angle. The snow was melting fast. In fact the snow was virtually gone. The sun even felt hot on my back. 

I witnessed leaf devils as I painted. The March sun is very strong and that energy is absorbed by the dark soils where the snow and ice had recently melted. Rising thermals of air that are heated from contact with the warm soil would also pick up leaves. Air rushing inward to replace the rising air creates a vortex and these spinning tubes can really swirl the leaves around. With the sunny skies, the sun was almost too hot on my back. 

The immersion of your thoughts while holding a brush within the embrace of the natural environment is a very big reason for plein air painting. The sap was dripping only very slowly which puzzled me. I left my glasses in the Singleton Studio as I did not wish to see any details. The devil lives in those details. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

 

#2627 "155 Deerfield"

#2627 "155 Deerfield" 22x28 oils

It was 8:30 am on Thursday March 3rd, 2022 and the beauty of this majestic white oak caught my eye. 

This huge white oak was miraculously saved during the construction of the many condo buildings that now surrounded it. Highway 15 was no longer a quiet country road but a major highway directing increasing amounts of traffic to and from Kingston. I did not include the noise of the sirens and traffic in the oils. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2626 "Singleton Spring Sugar Flow"

#2626 "Singleton Spring Sugar Flow"
7x5 inches oil

It was supposed to be raining so I was pleasantly surprised to have an excellent window of opportunity to paint outside. I thought that I would continue with the maple syrup theme and have some fun on a small canvas. 

What a difference a day makes. When I painted #2625 "Listening to the Sap Drip", the snow was abundant and still crunchy. The snow crystals were ripe and ready to melt. A day later, the snow was mushy in the small areas where it still remained. My footsteps that were in six inches deep of snow the previous day were now wet leaves with only soggy snow outlining those prints. The moss at the base of the maples and along the ridge was even a little bit greener. 

Chickadees and wood peckers joined into the conservation today. The chickadees wanted some seed but I did not have any at the time. The crows were having a long distance discussion. Some of the crows in the group chat were really quite far away. Canada geese had returned in greater numbers and were adding to the cacophony of the spring soundtrack. 

The immersion of your thoughts and brush into the natural environment is a very big reason for plein air painting. The sap was really dripping. I would need to empty the pails after I finished the painting. I left my glasses in the Singleton Studio as I did not wish to see any details where the devil is said to reside. 

I would revisit this single tap in #2628 "Spring Awakening in the Sanctuary". 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2625 "Listening to the Sap Drip"

#2625 "Listening to the Sap Drip"
20x16 inches oil 

As I started to get into the artistic zone with this painting, I slowly became aware of the sounds in the Singleton Sanctuary. The steady drip of the sap into the bucket suddenly became loud and the drum beat for the brush strokes. The sun had just come out and the trees responded to the warmth. My friend, the red shouldered hawk flew over and screeched at me. I heard the trumpeter swans conversing in the open waters of Jim Day Rapids. I could also hear the sounds of the wind through the trees but this day the wind chill was minimal. The sun felt delicious on my back. There was not a biting insect to be seen or felt. Maybe I don't need hearing aids... Turkey vultures are silent and I could not hear them anyway but I did see the very first above the Singleton Sanctuary - the earliest ever and a couple of weeks ahead of their average return to paradise. 

Water vapour image revealing shallow frontal
wave rippling along the quasistationary front
bringing rain to melt the snow

I wanted to capture the feel of a maple syrup spring. Rain was on the way and this snow would not last long. I left my glasses in the Singleton Studio as I did not wish to see any details. The shagbark hickory that I included in this composition is one of my favourite trees. We went to great effort to preserve and protect a very large and old shagbark hickory in front of our home. It is possible to live in harmony with nature when enough is more than enough. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2624 "Spring Cumulus in Winter"

#2624 "Spring Cumulus in Winter"
16x20 inches oil

The cold front had passed through earlier in the day. Strong and blustery northwesterly winds were causing blowing and drifting snow. 

Various meteorological fields depicting the
weather of that March sunset

The spring sun was still strong enough to ignite the unstable boundary layer. The sky was full of vigourous cumulus and virga suggesting that spring and the growing season was really just around the corner. There was an organized structure to the cumulus that was laying down the heavy sunset snow flurries. 

The family farm just south of Athens, Ontario seemed overwhelmed to me by the turbulent weather – a mix of spring and winter. Benoni Wiltse, a United Empire Loyalist, and his brothers settled the community in 1792. Their village of "Farmersville" was renamed to Athens in 1888 by Arza Parish in honour of Athens, Greece. Both "Athens" were educational centres with grammar school, a model school for teacher training, and a high school. 

The increasing costs of fuel and fertilizer in the spring of 2022 were added burdens to the family farm but perhaps those threats could be alleviated by a return to the old ways and land stewardship. Looking after the land might soon become more profitable in the long run as compared to the high yield but costly pouring of petroleum products into the soil. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2623 "Red Cedar Shelter"

#2623 "Red Cedar Shelter" 
12x10 panel

This red cedar tree is a treasure. The winter storm had really laden it down with snow. The cold easterly conveyor belt even pushed those branches toward the west. 

Water Vapour View of the Storm
moving away and advancing to the East

The cedar kept the snow to a minimum under those protective boughs. The birds were able to find the seed and typically spent all day hopping around. The birds would all flee into those boughs and virtually disappear whenever a hawk came by. 

I plant a lot of red cedars as the deer will browse on them as well in order to get through a challenging winter. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2597 "Mattawa Woodland Cascade"

#2597 "Mattawa Woodland Cascade"
60 x 40 (inches) by 1.75 inches thick

At one time I would have interpreted this inspiration in a photographic realism style. Now I am trying to go deeper than the surface and incorporate the life, vitality and dynamics of nature. To be sure, the elements should feel like what they are, but my interpretation needs to go beyond to a place where it should go. I painted this to record the shapes and colours and brush life into them. 

In progress on "Mattawa Woodland Cascade"
in the Singleton Studio during
the wind chills of winter.

It is important to be yourself when you paint. You can't and should not be someone else anyway. I stressed this when I taught art. I focussed on the materials and the techniques and never messed with anyone's style of interpretation. I encouraged individuality. 

As a result of being yourself, there is a significant probability that your art might not be commercial or even saleable. This is a concern if that non-saleability is during your lifetime. Otherwise, no worries and paint on if you can remain inspired. I spent more than 35 years earning a sustainability plan which allows me just that within the sanctuary of the Singleton Forest.

Art is a way of life and one never knows just where it will go. Enjoy the ride and be positive and creative.  We are all stewards of the land, privileged to appreciate its beauty during our lifetime but responsible for leaving it better off for the future and all inhabitants. I started painting in 1967 in oils and never stopped... this cascade is another step along that journey...

The Mattawa River is a river in central Ontario.  In early June 2016, the spring rainfall had brought lots of water to make the rapids passable. The boulder fields at the low water outlet of the rapids did provide a few obstacles but we made it through just fine. Two hundred years ago there would have been much more traffic on this water highway. The Mattawa would have been one of a very few routes into the heart of the continent. We were virtually alone in 2016. 

We spent one night camped beside the river at Elm Point at the mouth of a mountain stream. My son and I explored up the slope behind the campsite to find the source of the very chilly water that fed the stream beside our tent - this cascade of a waterfall. We were the only ones to go swimming. The water was beyond chilly - it was downright cold! It took a couple of thermos bottles of hot tea to raise the core temperatures of our bodies. Memories are made that way. This memory was on the easel most of the winter from before Christmas 2021 into February 2022. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2622 "Sap Flowing at the Twin Tap"

#2622 "Sap Flowing at the Twin Tap"
14x11 inches oil

The sun was mainly out between the streets of stratocumulus in the February sky. 

I thought that if I went into the forest on the lee side of the ridge, that the cold northwesterly winds would not find me. Aside from the wind, the plein air conditions were perfect. The wind did locate me and my right, brush hand could really feel it. I must admit that the wind chill hurried me along but perhaps that is a strength rather than a concern. I did not fiddle with the details. 

I decided to revisit #2613 "Singleton Maple Twin Taps" and attempt a similar subject matter in plein air. The sap was just starting to flow. The first part of the harvest is always the sweetest. Freezing nights and warm but not too warm sunny days really gets the pressure on the sap to get it flowing. We harvested about 15 gallons of sap that day. 

The squawks of the crows and ravens accompanied the shrieks of our resident red-shouldered hawk. The sound track of spring was starting to play a bit louder in the Singleton Sanctuary. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2621 "Jim Day March Sunset"

#2621 "Jim Day March Sunset" 14x18 inches

This is another Singleton sunset across Jim Day Rapids. I wanted to interpret the divergence of the shadows and crepuscular rays of light. There were a multitude of colours and I used three palettes at one time in an effort to keep my oils clean. 

The cold winter was continuing with not much open water in the fast moving current of Jim Day Rapids. Swans, otters and a host of other creatures enjoyed that swimming hole. 

Some meteorological images for this time including
the Night-time Microphysics RGB (lower left) 

Winter weather with a cold front was just beyond the horizon. COVID quarantine was still important as the virus continued to mutate. Thankfully, the weather brought me fresh subject matter every day and I did not need or wish to go anywhere. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.

#0705 "Beside the Barn"

#0705 "Beside the Barn" 11x14 inches

I painted this looking from the shadow of the shed toward the north wall of the barn at Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township. Linda had wanted a painting of the yellow flowers and I was not in the mood for a close-up detail work. The wind was also blowing the flowers around and it would have been quite impossible to paint a detailed flower close-up without a photo. The late September light was soft. The dog and the cat were watching me from the shade of the shed. It was an idyllic afternoon. 

I had some fun working on the windows and the multiple panes of dirty glass. The cobwebs added character to the old barn which I lovingly maintained. There were a lot of memories in this barn. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#1230 "Spruce Forest"

#1230 "Spruce Forest" 14x11 Oils

I was painting with my friend and fantastic artist Lawrence Nickle in the early summer of 2012. On this outing we were on Reazin Road south of Burks Falls. Sometimes, something that looks like wilderness right beside the beaten path. 

The beaten path in this case was the very busy Highway 11 which was the four lane highway that was the thorough fare into Cottage Country. Reazin Road was a dead end and it afforded Lawrence and I a relatively quiet and undisturbed place to paint. 

Lawrence was ready to paint when I returned to Burks Falls so we headed out to Reazin Road again. This time I wanted to focus more on the trees than the forest. The spruce trees are characteristic of this area of Ontario and was my main attraction for this painting. The patch of daisies seemed to expand during the day. 

Lawrence would hold the panel on which he was painting in his left hand. The oils would invariably find their way on to his hands and legs and clothing. That is the way that oil paint is. The paint finds a way to spread itself around. The system that I developed over the years from trial and error, avoids almost all contact with the paint and I paint right to the very edge as well. The system is simple but it took me decades to perfect... I can be slow sometimes... 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#1231 "Magnetawan Morning"

#1231 "Magnetawan Morning" 11x14

I headed out early to paint. My friend and fine artist Lawrence Nickle was going to rendezvous later. 

The deer flies were really active even at 6 am. I set up my easel at a little opening just upstream from the falls were Lawrence and I would meet later in the day. As I painted to the swirl of deer flies and the cedar wax wings fluttering in the bushes at my feet, I heard a lot of sloshing sounds in the water. I knew it was a very large creature and guessed what it might be. I did not see the bull moose until it was in the middle of the lake to my right. My camera battery died at that very moment but I still managed a couple of images. 

This is the reality and beauty of plein air. Expect the unexpected and surround yourself with nature and inspiration. 

Bull Moose feeding

I used this very same title for another painting (by accident) #1141 "Magnetawan Morning". It can be a challenge sometimes to have unique titles but I try....  

Finished and the sun was getting higher

Lawrence Nickle's Mobile Studio

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#1068 "Blue Sky Lake"

#1068 "Blue Sky Lake" 11x14 inches

Art is all about making memories for me... and of course trying to learn and get better. 

Some of my fondest memories were from when I painted with Lawrence Nickle for several plein air sessions before he passed away in January of 2014. Lawrence attended one of my "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" presentations with a meteorological co-worker of mine. Our friendship was instantaneous. Full time meteorology, running my apiary, maintaining Watershed Farm and life kept us from painting more together - but we still managed some great weeks. 

This particular painting comes from the June 2009 trip. We always painted around Burk's Falls and visited his favourite painting locations. He liked to have someone else along for safety and security. None of us are getting any younger and accidents can happen. 

Daytime heating had taken over as the dominant force lifting the surface air parcels to saturation. The cumulus clouds were now more vertical and had flatter, more uniform bases. Lawrence aptly called this lifted condensation level the floor of the clouds. He also called the Group of Seven's treatment of clouds as painting boulders in the sky. There is much truth in his observation! 

The title is after the name of the lake and also largely the condition of the sky. By noon, the bugs were not nearly so ferocious as they were first thing in the morning. 

My friend Lawrence Nickle and some of my work
from our time together. 

There is a favourite art quote that I often use... these words certainly apply to Lawrence as well as myself. 

Art is making a thing and then trying to make a better one. And you keep doing this until you die. And that is a pretty good life. 

Lawrence was a terrific artist and friend and I have one of his paintings to keep these memories alive. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.