#2764 "Spring Snow and Pines at Jim Day Rapids"

#2764 "Spring Snow and Pines at Jim Day Rapids"
12x9 oils on canvas

I had the whole day to do almost whatever I pleased. So I grabbed a canvas and headed outside. The geese were laying claim to the entire rocky shoreline and I wished to re-establish my presence. We need to share the shore and play by the rules that we had established over the years. These birds knew me well. It was time to pay my respects. 

I looked across the Jim Day Rapids swimming hole toward the rugged shore. There was still snow and ice on the northern and shadowed flank of that point of land. The morning light filtered through the barren trees. The dark green of rocky mosses was emerging from under the blanket of snow as spring progressed. 

The Canada geese did a swim past to check me out honking constantly in a complaining manner. The geese milled around in the outflow of Jim Day Rapids, fussing and jostling for territories. The geese never seem happy with their lot until after the goslings hatch out and they start to assemble again into large groups by mid-summer. 

I string a goose-high fence of car dealership flags from Jim Day Rapids to the corner of our home. The geese are encouraged to graze the clover on the two or three acres on the south side of that barrier. Sometimes we get a hundred geese doing just that and their guano returns to the clover and feeds the soil, not getting into the waters of Red Horse Lake. The geese are not welcome on the rocky landscape to the north where we walk. Any breach of the line of flags means I must get my pail and gloves and pick the shite up before rain washes in into my swimming hole. 

The families of Canada Geese are learning to stay on
the clover side of the car dealership flags.

I forgot to take my glasses off so I hung them on the side of my Kitty Litter Plein Air Kit. I wore a white glove on my palette hand in order to keep the oils off my skin. The palette was getting a bit messy but I do like those subtle variations of grey colours. 

The Canada geese kept on honking until I was just about finished. They did a fly-by just as I was putting on the last stroke. 

The air was certainly alive with the sounds of spring. The wind increased as the coming storm continued to approach. The cold conveyor belt is aptly named and my brush hand felt it.  

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Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick