#2735 "Lily Pads Pondering"

#2735 "Lily Pads
Pondering" 36x12 by 1.5 inches

I often pause while I am out paddling just to float along and study the lily pads and what other nature might be around. The lily pads are rich in colour, texture and form. Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) also chose to surround himself with nature. He wrote: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." True words that I attempt to live by as well. 

Thoreau needed to concentrate more on his writing. Apparently, Ellery Channing told Thoreau in March 1845: "Go out upon that, build yourself a hut, and there begin the grand process of devouring yourself alive. I see no other alternative, no other hope for you." Just months later on July 4, 1845, Thoreau started his two-year, simple living experiment in a small house he had built on land owned by Emerson in a second-growth forest along the shores of Walden Pond. The house was in "a pretty pasture and woodlot" of 14 acres. Paradise does not need to be large. 

I built a garden shed in the summer of 2022 with some help from the Grand Kids. I had considered building a "Tom Thomson Shack" as well but that might not happen and time waits for no one. I have gotten used to "glamping" in the Singleton Sanctuary Studio surrounded by my tools and art. Life is very good. 

I thought that I could string out a series of these pads I witnessed in the eastern bay of Singleton Lake. I used lots of oil on this unusual, gallery-mount canvas. The Singleton Sanctuary Studio was quite jammed pack with curing canvases. 

It was still very much winter outside so I enjoyed my time in Singleton Sanctuary Studio in front of the Pacific Energy wood stove. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2734 "Sunflower Side of Life"

#2734 "Sunflower Side of Life"
36x12 inches oils on canvas

Sunflowers are inspirational. The bright, yellow blooms tell a wonderful story. The advice from the simple sunflower can be summarized as: 

• know your roots;
• spread seeds of happiness;
• rise and shine and hold your head high;
• turn your face to the sunshine;
• keep growing; and
• keep learning; and
• life is good .. plus you gotta laugh.

I admit that the last two pieces of advice are from me and not the sunflower, but the intentions are all good. 

Sunflowers always make me smile and I enjoy painting them very much. I was listening to the Gordon Lightfoot song, "The Summer Side of Life" when I named this painting. I had not used this name before so all is good. Every name for every painting needs to be as unique as the number. Sometimes I have missed the mark. This is the partner to #2732 "Towering Singleton Sunflowers" and #2733 "Sunnyside Sunflower Tower". There is a lot of very slow-drying oil paint on this series of sunflower canvases. 

We started attending Gordon Lightfoot concerts at Queens University in 1972 and never stopped. The lyrics and the music go together and tell stories like every piece of art should. "If You Could Read Mind Mind" is one of the finest pieces of music ever written. 

The series of sunflower paintings drying in the
Singleton Sanctuary Studio - painted all around the edges

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2733 "Sunnyside Sunflower Tower"

#2733 "Sunnyside Sunflower Tower"
36x12 inches oils on canvas

This is the partner to #2732 "Towering Singleton Sunflowers" and #2734 "Sunflower Side of Life". As with the partner paintings, these sunflowers are intended to bring some happiness into the world during these challenging times ... but challenges always bring opportunities if we take the time to look. It might take more effort to find the good but once you do, cling to that and let the rest slide by. Surround yourself with nature and that is a good start. Henry David Thoreau was right: "Wildness is the preservation of the World." 

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American naturalist, philosopher and writer best known for his book "Walden", a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings. His essay "Civil Disobedience" which was originally published as "Resistance to Civil Government" is an argument for civil disobedience to an unjust state which is equally applicable now as it was in the days of the American Civil War. Thoreau was a transcendentalist as were many members of the Group of Seven believing "society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent. It is only from such real individuals that true community can form." 

Here are some Thoreau quotes that help to get me through a day:

• This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
• It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
• Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
• If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

I prefer to surround myself with nature and science and look up to the well-rooted tower of shining sunflowers that turn towards the sun and spin that solar energy into something green and growing. These are undeniable truths and by respecting those, life must be blessed. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2732 "Towering Singleton Sunflowers"

#2732 "Towering Singleton Sunflowers"
12"x36" oils on canvas

The sunflower is one of the most easily recognizable flowers in our world. One of the unique characteristics of these flowers is that they turn their face to the sun. The blossoms of the sunflower enjoy the direct rays from the sun. Sunflowers stand tall, plain, honest, and upright. Sunflower is the common name for plants in the genus, Helianthus. This genus consists of about 70 species of perennial and annual flowering plants. The popular domesticated sunflower that many people are familiar with is the Helianthus annuus. These tall and strong sunflowers can grow up to 14 feet tall. I have grown twelve-foot-tall sunflowers in the Singleton Sanctuary. 

This is the partner to #2733 "Sunnyside Sunflower Tower". The third in the series is  #2734"Sunflower Side of Life". 

The sunflower and this painting are intended to bring some happiness into the world during these challenging times ... but challenges always bring opportunities if we look. It is important to dwell on the positive and perhaps serve as an example of how we can live with and encourage nature. 

My wife called this "Big Bird" when she first saw the painting. Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the long-running children's television show Sesame Street. The television Big Bird was tall but certainly not the twelve-foot giants of my Singleton Garden. 

I enjoy the meaning and symbolism of sunflowers. A tower of sunflowers resulted when I stood in front of the easel because I started from the bottom and built them upward to the sky. The process reminded me that perhaps I was convectively unstable. These blooms ere uncharacteristically backlit with the flowers turned away from the sun. It can happen and the lighting was electric. 

Life is not always about the showy and bright flowers. The subtle, darker web of the twisted stems and leaves also supports the vortex of life as we all turn toward the light… like the sunflower in real life. I was concentrating on connecting the dark to the light with big brushes and strokes of energy. 

"The sunflower is mine, in a way" said Vincent Van Gogh. I know that he would share though. I almost share my birthday with Vincent except that his was 100 years earlier than mine. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2731 "Lyndhurst Estate Road"

#2731 "Lyndhurst Estate Road"
16x20 oils on stretched canvas

I went for a paddle to Lyndhurst on Sunday, October 23rd, 2022. The waterways get quiet after Labour Day and I was all by myself. The water was like glass and I was intrigued by the reflections of the cottages along Lyndhurst Creek. I much prefer the slow-lane approach to life. A paddle or a walk through the forest reveals more of nature and the beauty of the area and is silent as well. 

Estate Road branches northward from Red Horse Lake Road
and parallels the western shore of Lyndhurst Creek

The featured cottage is owned by my friends Pam and Neil. They always have a friendly word to share when I go paddling by. They watch for me and comment when they have not seen me paddle by for a while - nice people. 

I wanted to attempt something different without having to stand outside in the raw breeze and the cold and damp. Early January is a fine time for work within the Singleton Sanctuary Studio in front of the Pacific Energy wood stove. I used a lot of paint on this canvas and quite enjoyed the hours inside while the January wind howled. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1371 "Jim Day Reflections"

#1371 "Jim Day Reflections"
8x10 inches oils on canvas

It was a mild December day in 2013 and I had some time to paint after my chores were done. I decided to head down to the edge of Jim Day Rapids. The lone female merganser was still diving around to keep me company. I was in the artistic zone when something quite large startled me with a huge splash at the ice's edge. I probably startled it even more. It might have been either the otter or beaver that I had watched earlier in the morning. The bluebirds were still hanging around even though there had been some frigid, winter weather.  

I was interested in the grey colours of the sky, distant trees and snow. The warm shades of the exposed marble at the water's edge were the only hints of warmth in this view of my swimming hole. No swimming for me until the middle of next May. A chilly east breeze developed ahead of an approaching system. My hands got really cold and that cold conveyor belt hastened my painting along. 

From Art our local historian: "We don't know who Jim Day was or how his name got attached to the rapids. There was a James Day and Caleb Day enumerated in the 1810 census of Rear of Leeds & Lansdowne, but I don't know where they were located, or if that is the Jim Day that the rapid is named after. In many cases there were squatters and tenants who lived on other people's property, so they never appear in the land records. So a Jim Day may have lived there, but there is no record." 

There is considerable history to accompany the rapids. I still occasionally find old bottles and artifacts at the bottom. 

Historic Map of Jem Day Rapids possibly dates from 1795
when a canal route from Ottawa to the St Lawrence or Lake Ontario
 was being investigated. The map is very accurate and the reference
 is not to Jim Day.
The truth may never be known but the history is fascinating. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1372 "Singleton on Ice"

#1372 "Singleton on Ice"
9x12 oils in canvas

The eastern Ontario weather was amazingly mild for early December with temperatures reaching 10 Celsius under overcast skies with blustery southwesterly winds. The ice on Singleton responded and drifted around with the winds. The air was full of the sound of ice edges crunching together. There was not much open water. The mergansers and the few small flocks of blacks and mallards stayed in the small patch of open water in the middle of the lake. Generally, the lake was covered with jostling sheets of ice of different ages, thickness and colours. My homemade canvas had a lot of "tooth" which really grabbed the brush and the oils. I really enjoyed the feel of that canvas. 

I experimented with another camera set setup focused on taking pictures as the painting developed. This is nothing new, even in 2013 except that it was a first for me. The act of simply "clicking" the shutter took me out of the artistic zone and I found that a bit (a lot) frustrating. I did some things and took some shortcuts that I wouldn't have normally done. I was acutely aware that the camera battery was dying and the rain showers along the approaching cold front were getting closer as well. I persisted though as I wanted to see how the experiment would turn out. This painting is more about the experiment than the art. I need to automate this entire process somehow. I did automate the painting video making with a foot-activated switch. Even that minor activity took me out of the zone so I decided it was better to just paint. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1391 "Curious George"

#1391 "Curious George"
4x4 by 1.5 inches in depth oils on Gallery-wrapped canvas

Gallery mount canvases can be attractive and have several advantages. The gallery-wrapped canvases use thicker stretcher bars and are very sturdy. The canvas is wrapped all the way around the stretcher bars and stapled on the back. One can simply hang a gallery-wrapped canvas without framing. The problem is in applying paint to the canvas edges. I always continue the subject matter to the back of the canvas. I do not cut any corners. The final piece of art is all that really matters. 

The problem is in handling a canvas that is covered with slow-drying oil paint on five sides. It is a perfect recipe to smear the brush strokes and get paint on all kinds of surfaces including your hands and clothing. Never a good idea. I have built several little contraptions to take care of this little problem for me and they work just fine. I rarely get paint on my hands although I have had strong winds blow my pallet backward into my shirt... 

The device is mounted on any easel with the canvas attached. I can turn and twist the painting surface in any direction in order to paint whichever of the five edges I wish. Necessity is indeed the Mother of Invention.  

I am still using these devices a decade later

I decided to give my little contraption for small canvases another try. This is George the Hereford bull eating an early supper on Foley Mountain. I am not really certain his name is "George" but it seemed to fit. I later confirmed the name of the bull from the owners: "George" is actually "Herman". I guess that either name fits equally well. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1411 "Spring Shadows"

#1411 "Spring Shadows"
11x14 oils on canvas

The great blue herons had arrived at the Singleton Sanctuary along with the red-winged blackbirds and an increasingly larger number of ducks and geese. The sounds of spring were certainly in the air. 

The temperatures were above freezing and it was time to get back into plein air painting. This was my first plein air painting of the year - 2014. The winter was abnormally cold and snowy compared to our recent history El Nino. Most people would find it hard to believe that this winter is actually a result of global warming and a weaker jet stream. The jet stream has weakened by about 15% in the last 15 years as a result of the warming Arctic. 

It is also vital to consult the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) which is a recurring climate pattern involving changes in the temperature of waters in the central and eastern tropical. The sea surface temperatures were a bit on the cool side for winter 2013-14 but the anomalies were not strong enough to be classified as a La Niña event. La Niña winters tend to be colder and snowier for eastern Ontario.

The developing 2014–16 El Niño event would influence tropical cyclone activity around the world and contribute to record-breaking seasons in the Central Pacific and Eastern Pacific tropical cyclone basins.

As the morning warmed, the icy snow was no longer stronger enough to support me and I would suddenly drop a foot or two to the harder ground underneath. Some steps could be like an abrupt elevator ride to the ground floor. The shadows from the trees that stood behind me, played across the scene. I can and will do better with the next outside painting as I get my plein air legs back after a winter of studio work. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1412 "Spring Gray"

#1412 "Spring Gray"
16x20 inches oils on canvas

These are the large maple trees on the very edge of Jim Day Rapids looking northward. The sky and snow were gray. The trees were gray. The squirrels were gray. They were all different shades of gray though so I had fun.

I set my palette down on the snow and it was soon covered by springtail fleas. These tiny fleas are quite harmless and appear every spring. Quite a few of these fleas are entombed in the painting to give the thick oil even more texture. The sounds of spring filled the air in contrast to the gray of the day. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1413 "April Bouquet"

#1413 "April Bouquet"
11x14 inches oils on canvas

There were not many flowers growing in early April in Eastern Ontario -especially along the eastern bay of Singleton Lake. This bouquet is comprised of wind and snow-whipped dry grasses and a few cattails. There was still some snow and a lot of ice to wrap the bouquet in. A chilly breeze developed that hurried me along in my plein air work. 

The tree swallows arrived back while I painted. They are on time for a typical year but a bit fast given the winter that we were experiencing. Canada geese, wood ducks, buffleheads, hooded mergansers and some black ducks lined the edge of the ice or bobbed up and down in the waves while I painted. The geese got agitated and started to "honk" whenever I stepped back to see if I was doing the subject matter justice. Those experiences add tremendously to the plein air experience and made me smile. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1543 "Sunrise Rainbow"

#1543 "Sunrise Rainbow"
8x10 inches oils on smooth panel

A strong thunderstorm was headed north-eastward across Lyndhurst just after a Sunday dawn in the fall of 2014. Singleton Lake was on the southern flank of that storm. 

A shower of small raindrops probably falling in advance of the forward flank downdraft, was enough to create a morning rainbow. The sunrise light on my back was refracted and reflected internally in the nearly spherical, smaller rain drops, back to my eye. As the old sayings go... 

"Rainbow in the morning gives you fair warning".

The sun is in the east in the morning while the shower and associated rainbow were in the west. Since weather generally moves from west to east, the saying appropriately alerted the weather-wise that rain was approaching. 

There are many more sayings that originate from the days when people were more in tune with their environment. 

"Beware the bolts from north or west; In south or east the bolts be best." This saying reveals the same reasoning as the above. 

"Rainbow to windward, foul fall the day; Rainbow to leeward, rain runs away." If the wind is coming from the direction of the rainbow, the rain is heading toward you. Conversely, if the rainbow is in the opposite direction, it has passed you. 

I had planned to paint en plein air on the following Monday morning but although it was sunny, the wind chill was brutal. I painted inside in front of the wood stove. There would be no victory in freezing one's hands yet again. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1645 "Carding Mills Bridge"

#1645 "Carding Mills Bridge"
16x20 oils on canvas from 2015

The Carding Mill was on the southern edge of Lyndhurst on the north side of the current bridge. A second dam at this location is gone and at one time it really changed the appearance of the land. Jonas Street still follows the same curve as it heads northward but the trees that currently occupy the site, have all grown up since the time of the carding mill. 

The storehouse, carding mill and carding mill bridge at the lower millpond
 in Lyndhurst, as photographed by John Buick Harvey in May 1907.

What struck visitors about Lyndhurst in the mid-1800s was not that it was a growing village, for it was not, but rather that it offered a promising site for a village. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1694 "Mallorytown Cloud Streets"

#1694 "Mallorytown Cloud Streets"
5x7 inches oils on smooth panel 

This is the cloud and plein air demonstration that I did for the Thousand Islands Artists Association (TIAA) in late November 2015. I simply backed up the red, Subaru Forester paint-mobile and set up my plein air kit in the yard behind the Mallorytown Library. I did not want the 15 or so participants to have to walk anywhere. Inspiration is everyone if you look for it. 

Radar View of the Towering Cumulus Flurries

The northwesterly streets of stratocumulus were barely deep enough to waft a few small snowflakes - but they did. There were a few embedded towering cumulus clouds that had broken through the cap of stability. These cloud castles produced locally much heavier but very transient flurries. The cloud streets were fairly close together meaning that the unstable planetary boundary layer was quite shallow. When I sketched out the composition, I could see a blue sky between the rows of clouds. There were a few cloud tops that were brilliantly illuminated and I protected those areas. The birch trees stood out against the much darker backdrop of naked trees. The strong wind from the storms of the past two weeks had stripped all of the foliage from the forest. 

I described the approach to the painting process during the demonstration and added a bit of "why" as well. The conversation strayed to common inquiries one receives while plein air painting.  "How long does it take?" "How much does it cost?" "My great Aunt painted beautiful work."

George Washington 1796
Lansdowne-Portrait 

Art was never about money for me. Art was always about learning and the life journey. The goal was to become a better artist and maybe an improved person as well. I related the story about the price of art in the olden days. 

In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but on how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.' Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint. The church and state were typically the only patrons who could afford all of the limbs. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1792 "Thomson Shack Cumulus"

#1792 "Thomson Shack Cumulus"
8x10 oils on smooth panel

I spent the day painting at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The air mass was very unstable. The cumulus clouds were billowing up as early as 10 am. There was heat and moisture in the low levels of the atmosphere - lots of energy to spend on those upwardly mobile billows. 

After painting #1791 "Circle of Friends" I simply painted from beside the car overlooking Tom Thomson's Shack. It was certainly not my typical plein air habitat but it would have to do. Thunderstorms were certain to develop. 

Tom would have been the first member of the Group of Eight had he survived until 1920 when the Group was formed. I thought that it was only appropriate that I did something "Tomish" on the 50th anniversary of the opening of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The weather never let me down before so I slashed in the cumulus clouds billowing up over his relocated shack just to the east of where I stood. The panel was smooth and slippery and I used a lot of paint. It was intended to be a sketch waiting for the afternoon sun to better illuminate the General Store which I had planned to be my main effort for the day. 

Tom Thomson's Shack as moved to the McMichael

The clues in the atmosphere for the late afternoon thunderstorms were abundant. The blustery westerly winds accompanied the development of the cumulus. Otherwise, the sky was clear allowing abundant daytime heating to fuel the atmosphere. I always counted on the July sun to create severe pulse-type convection. These storms would also have some cyclonic vertical wind shear so I expected them to be a bit more significant than mere pulse events. I would have to keep an eye to the north when I painted the General Store during the afternoon hours. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#1827 "My Three Trees"

#1827 "My Three Trees"
12x10 oils on rough panel

It has been a while since I painted, and I need to return to it. The trees on the outside edges are maples while the centre tree is butternut. It was a beautiful November day more like early autumn than early winter. The sun was quite warm on my back and I needed to get the brushes going again. 

This butternut tree was doomed due to an invasive fungus from Asia. I find it easy to identify butternut trees since everyone I have seen in the last decade has been infected. The butternut canker is a fungus that infects and kills healthy butternut trees of any size or age. The effects of butternut canker were first noticed in the late 1960s. The fungus usually kills trees quickly. Diseased areas called "cankers" develop under the bark and eventually surround the branches and main stem. The cankers restrict the flow of water and nutrients and "strangle" the tree. Fungal spores can be spread by splashing raindrops, by insects and birds, and by infected seeds, making the fungus hard if not impossible to control. Butternut canker kills most trees it infects. However, some trees have few symptoms and live much longer than most. Researchers believe these trees may be genetically resistant to butternut canker, or some environments may increase a tree's tolerance to the disease. These standing trees need to be retained to support the recovery of the species. They provide researchers with valuable genetic information about butternut, as well as seeds for planting and twigs for grafting. 

I have planted several of the disease-resistant butternuts and one tree, in particular, is showing promise. I planted that tree in 2008 and it is still doing well. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick