#2799 "Dumoine Pine Multi-story Apartment Building"

#2799 "Dumoine Pine Multi-story Apartment Building"
10x8 oils on rough masonite panel

I was just packing up after completing #2798 "Dumoine Wetland Thunderstorm" when I noticed this shaggy dead pine standing alone just to the south. The thunderstorms had momentarily backed off by tracking to my north so I decided to lay this composition in. Perhaps even finish it before the cumulonimbus regrouped to the west. 

This standing dead pine had seen a lot of bird families in its life and it was still providing homes for goodness knows how many insect eaters  - an avian air force. It might look quite derelict but it was a towering mansion of an apartment building offering great views and a varied menu for its occupants. 

I was able to get it largely done on location before the next line of thunderstorms approached. The rough surface of the masonite panel was not conducive to any detail which is perfect for plein air painting anyway. I leave my reading glasses in the car and squint a lot while painting. The view from slitted eyes only allow the values of the scene to come through. Just the tones that really matter. There is really no need to see any of the unnecessary details. The story can be told in bold strokes with larger brushes. 

The sound of the thunder was getting louder and I was standing in front of a lightning rod. Time to exit. 

On the way back to the camp I drove through wildly swaying trees that draped over Dumoine Road. Heavy rain turned the fine sand into a slippery muck with deep ruts. I was not in a rush and there was no one else on the roads during the violent thunderstorms. 

6:12 pm August 3rd, 2023 showing the pulse 
of energy rippling along the warm front with
a comma shape of severe thunderstorms

Back at the CPAWS Camp the sun had just emerged in the wake of the comma pattern of thunderstorms. The tarps were down and covering some things that should not get wet... all was good except for a birch tree broken at its trunk and showing a rakish lean. 

CPAWS-Ottawa Valley has hosted DRAW Retreat for Artists since 2017. DRAW is a clever acronym for Dumoine River Art for Wilderness. I have attended every year except during COVID. There is no better cause. The goals are admirable and ones that I deeply share. The goal is ultimately to make a lasting difference like A.Y Jackson and the Ontario Society of Artists did in the case of Killarney Provincial Park. The impacts of climate change are already being felt. There is no time for dithering. 

This is the seventh of twenty-seven paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2023. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPWAS and keep the wild in the wilderness. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. To go to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Collection on  Fine Art America, click here. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2798 "Dumoine Wetland Thunderstorm"

#2798 "Dumoine Wetland Thunderstorm"
8x10 inches oils on a smooth panel

After completing #2797 "Mack's Shack at Lake Pinceau" I drove north along Dumoine Road to find the surface warm front. I came to an attractive and extensive wetland that stretched to the horizon before I got as far north as the Grande Chute. I could imagine the moose and the host of other creatures that called that expansive wetland home. I decided to stay a while on the sandy shoulder of Dumoine Road and paint. 

I watched some cumulonimbus start to bubble up to the north. They identified the location of the surface warm front. After laying in the composition, I heard the first rumble of thunder. That cumulonimbus and the warm front were within 20 kilometres. I would have to lay in the oils a bit quicker to get the smooth and slippery surface covered in oils before the rain arrived. The frequency of the thunder increased as the storms multiplied and got closer. I did get wet but it was a warm rain in the forward flank downdraft. The grey SCUD (Scattered Cumulus Under Deck) crossed over the ridge with the downdraft winds of the rear flank. It was time to quit. I had to pack up my metal, lightning rod easel before the updraft region of the thunderstorms arrived. 

Typically a pulse of energy in the atmosphere tracks around the rim of the heat dome and follows the orientation of the warm front. A comma shape of severe thunderstorms ripple along the warm front. Downburst winds are common in such situations as well as tornadoes along the location of the surface warm front. I needed to finish my painting for the day...

The first severe thunderstorms had already arrived when I got back to the CPAWS DRAW Camp. Some large tarps were flattened to the ground. Everything was wet. A birch tree had been broken at its stump but was still standing. The Camp was soaked but the spirits of the campers were still very dry. 

CPAWS-Ottawa Valley has hosted DRAW Retreat for Artists since 2017. DRAW is a clever acronym for Dumoine River Art for Wilderness. I have attended every year except during COVID. There is no better cause. The goals are admirable and ones that I deeply share. The objective is ultimately to make a lasting difference like A.Y Jackson and the Ontario Society of Artists did in the case of Killarney Provincial Park. The impacts of climate change are already being felt. There is no time left for dithering. 

This is the sixth of twenty-seven paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2023. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPWAS and keep the wild in the wilderness.  

6:12 pm August 3rd, 2023 showing the pulse 
of energy rippling along the warm front with
a comma shape of severe thunderstorms

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. To go to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Collection on  Fine Art America, click here. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2797 "Mack's Shack at Lake Pinceau"

#2797 "Mack's Shack at Lake Pinceau"
8x10 oils on smooth panel

It was 12:30 pm on Thursday, August 3 and I was still at the boat ramp into Lake Pinceau. 

I decided to paint the next cottage north of Kenny's Place. At the time, I was not aware that was "Mack's Shack". That title is a misnomer because even from a distance, you could tell that it was neat and tidy and loved. You cannot disguise the pride of property ownership. Mack's Shack was a special place as I would discover later in the week but for the moment, my view was from 370 metres away across Lake Pinceau. 

The horizon was low on this smooth and slippery panel making this more of a weather observation than an architectural rendering. 

In the couple of hours since mid-morning, the cloud and sky had changed. Lake Pinceau had gotten into the warm sector of the weather system. The warm front which was to be the focus of the severe convection was just to the north. The sky was overcast in cirrostratus. The Langmuir Streaks were still present but higher and wider apart. The crests of the Langmuir Streaks were simply identified by streets of gravity waves parallel to the easterly wind being drawn into the approaching low-pressure area. The lifted condensation level for a particular layer of the atmosphere defines the portion of the circulation we can view. Without clouds and moisture to trace, the winds in the atmospheric ocean are invisible. But they are always there. 

Streets of turbulent cumulus fractus were also lined up within the planetary boundary layer. These low-level lines would converge and determine exactly where the convection would fire up later in the afternoon. 

Art is just as much about making and recording memories as applying oils to the canvas. Those memories are written down and augmented with images if possible. Typically, the memories only include the weather and the place but sometimes new friends enter the scene.

Kim and Bob McDonald at
Mack's Shack on Lake Pinceau. 

I would meet the owners of Mack's Shack while painting #2815 "Afternoon Heavy Rain at Lac Pinceau" at midday on Monday, August 7th, 2023. The torrential rain was pounding down but I was standing under the hatch of the Subaru Forester. I was reasonably dry but the panel was getting wet. Bob drove to the boat launch on Lake Pinceau to investigate who the strange person was painting in the rain. Bob and his friends had been apparently watching me on and off all week. I had not noticed anyone but that was because I was focussed and engrossed in the oils. What followed was a most enjoyable afternoon and tour of his camp. That afternoon was topped off by fresh, blueberry (fruit from their front yard) cheesecake. 

I heard a lot of stories and history and wish that I had been able to write it all down as fast as I heard it. Bob McDonald's father was Bob, as was his grandfather and a son. Kim and Bob also have a daughter. It was a wonderful afternoon of conversation in the rain and memories. Everyone gets a nickname at Lake Pinceau and I was christened "The WeatherMan" by Bob. The name fit. 

The three distantly spaced camps that dotted the south basin of Lake Pinceau were now under the care of the sons of the fathers. Bob's father was the original "Mack" having obtained the camp from Dr. D.G. Owens, Mayor of Lake Placid N.Y. and the original owner of the boat ramp from which I was painting - as well as the camp. 

The current sons inherited the camps and continue to care for them while also nurturing the land. They share a three-kilometre-long, well-maintained laneway back to their properties so they don't have to employ boats and the boat ramp anymore. The first neighbour is Kenny and then the next one is Danny who enjoys the land on Dumoine Road. The mountain behind the camps is called Whiteface Mountain. Lake Pinceau is a 100-foot-deep lake trout lake - special.

CPAWS-Ottawa Valley has hosted DRAW Retreat for Artists since 2017. DRAW is a clever acronym for Dumoine River Art for Wilderness. I have attended every year except during COVID. There is no better cause. The goals are admirable and ones that I deeply share. The objective is ultimately to make a lasting difference like A.Y Jackson and the Ontario Society of Artists did in the case of Killarney Provincial Park. The impacts of climate change are already being felt. There is no time left for dithering. 

This is the fifth of twenty-seven paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2023. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPWAS and keep the wild in the wilderness.  

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. To go to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Collection on  Fine Art America, click here. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2796 "Lac du Pinceau South Basin"

2796 "Lac du Pinceau South Basin"
11x14 oils on Indian Red oil-tinted stretched canvas

I decided to look for a quiet place off to the side of Dumoine Road. The boat launch for Lac du Pinceau was perfect for some midday plein air painting. The swimming was actually great as well. A pair of loons greeted me when I arrived. I did not witness any juvenile loons during my stay on the Dumoine. At least one large leopard frog was hiding in the reeds at the shoreline. A bass would frequently charge into the shallows to see what it might find for lunch. 

I watch the Langmuir Streaks of cloud gradually get thicker. These mid-level streets of cloud were aligned with the easterly winds being drawn into the approaching low-pressure area. Langmuir Streaks require a modestly unstable layer of atmosphere to develop. Adjacent helical circulations interact to create these parallel streets of cloud separated by relative cloud-free lines of descent. The process is similar to snowsqualls in the winter forming over the warm waters of the Great Lakes. Sometimes tufts of grey virga were also suspended from the Langmuir Streaks.

Langmuir Streaks were discovered to explain lines of sargassum
 in the Gulf Stream that stretched for miles along the surface.
The atmospheric ocean of air behaves very similarly. We just happen
to live at the bottom of that particular ocean. 

Some wisps of cumulus fractus were whipping along in the lower-level easterly winds. These fragments of cloud came and went while I painted. The top-lit cumulus were grey little commas that accentuated the weather story that was to develop by late afternoon. 

The setup for the approaching convective event was impressive. Some severe thunderstorms were likely - maybe even a tornado. Meanwhile, the winds were calm at the surface except for the odd downdraft gust which rippled the mirror-like surface. 

The flag at the beautiful cottage on the sandy point was fitfully undecided. Sometimes the Canadian flag would blow with a weak easterly breeze. The odd time the flag would blow from the west when the wind formed a back eddy blowing around the tall pines to the east. Often, the flag just draped down still. 

Later in my week of CPAWS DRAW painting, I discovered that this was "Kenny's Place". I would meet Bob and Kim McDonald who owned the next cottage, "Mack's Shack" to the north. Their generous hospitality during an afternoon of torrential rain would entertain and also inform about the history and roots of the area. In fact, at one time, the boat ramp was owned by Bob's father so they could access their place. Previously, the boat ramp was owned by Dr. D.G. Owens Mayor of Lake Placid N.Y. along with Mack's Shack camp. 

There is a rich and colourful history the be discovered in the Dumoine watershed. Wally Schaber's book "The Last of the Wild Rivers: The Past, Present, and Future of the Rivière du Moine Watershed" is a wonderful and informative read. I would highly recommend it and am happy to call Wally a friend. The story of Dr. D.G. Owens can be found in that book! Also see "Wally Schaber and the Last of the Wild Rivers- Episode 43".

CPAWS-Ottawa Valley has hosted DRAW Retreat for Artists since 2017. DRAW is a clever acronym for Dumoine River Art for Wilderness. I have attended every year except during COVID. There is no better cause. The goals are admirable and ones that I deeply share. The goal is ultimately to make a lasting difference like A.Y Jackson and the Ontario Society of Artists did in the case of Killarney Provincial Park. The impacts of climate change are already being felt. There is no time for dithering. 

This is the fourth of twenty-seven paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2023. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPWAS and keep the wild in the wilderness.  

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. To go to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Collection on  Fine Art America, click here. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2795 "Hidden Dumoine Stream"

#2795 "Hidden Dumoine Stream"
10x8 inches oils on smooth panel

There were several dead pines down across the stream that flowed along the south side of Dumoine Road. The rising sun reflected off the bits of that stream where the light could reach through the forest. I was looking into the morning sun but intrigued by the patterns and colours along the creek. The sky became overcast with altostratus as I painted so it was not too hard on my eyes. The afternoon storms were developing. 

The tea-coloured stream trickled along the road and provided the soundtrack. 

CPAWS-Ottawa Valley has hosted DRAW Retreat for Artists since 2017. DRAW is a clever acronym for Dumoine River Art for Wilderness. I have attended every year except during COVID. There is no better cause. The goals are admirable and ones that I deeply share. The goal is ultimately to make a lasting difference like A.Y Jackson and the Ontario Society of Artists did in the case of Killarney Provincial Park. The impacts of climate change are already being felt. There is no time for dithering.

This is the third of twenty-seven paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2023. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPWAS and keep the wild in the wilderness.  

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. To go to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Collection on  Fine Art America, click here. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2794 "Dumoine Hidden Waterfall"

#2793 "Foggy Morning on the Dumoine Road"
10x8 inches oils on a smooth panel

It was 8 am Thursday, August 3rd on the first morning of CPAWS Dumoine DRAW 2023. I had one painting done in the "plein air can", so I moved a little bit toward the east. The new vantage was looking across the outflow of a little stream into the pond on the north side of the Dumoine Road. My view was toward the north-northwest and I could hear but not see the waterfall that created that stream. A pair of wood ducks had been along the shore during the painting of #2793 "Foggy Morning on the Dumoine Road" but I had not noticed them. They suddenly became startled as I started the next painting and burst from cover almost from under my feet. 

Almost standing in the marsh... but
continually walking back and forth to
measure the progress, the tones and
textures and colours.

The water skaters covered the calm water of the pond making it look like it was always sprinkling rain. I bet the resident trout made a few of those skaters disappear. 

The winds were southwesterly creating the necessary conditions for the late afternoon severe convection. The increasing heat and humidity would fuel some dangerous thunderstorms. 

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is Canada's pre-eminent, national community-based voice for public wilderness protection. The Ottawa Valley Chapter of CPAWS (CPAWS-OV) works to protect public lands in the Ottawa River Watershed of Quebec and Ontario – an area twice the size of the province of New Brunswick. Established in 1969 when a group of concerned citizens learned about major development plans for Gatineau Park, the Chapter has since become involved in many issues of wilderness protection in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. 

This is the second of twenty-seven paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2023. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPWAS and keep the wild in the wilderness.  

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. To go to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Collection on  Fine Art America, click here. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

#2793 "Foggy Morning on the Dumoine Road"

#2793 "Foggy Morning on the Dumoine Road"
11x14 inches oils on stretched canvas

I was standing on the edge of the Dumoine Road that leads to the Grande Chute by 7 am Thursday, August 3rd on the first morning of CPAWS Dumoine DRAW 2023. 

I was looking northwest towards the outflow of a quiet pond. Nobody was around. A few oil trucks were headed inland but they slowed down, smiled and waved at the unusual person standing on the edge of the road with a brush in his hand. Odd indeed!

The thick fog was lifting rapidly under the August sun. It would be a hot day with potentially severe thunderstorms by evening. 

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is Canada's pre-eminent, national community-based voice for public wilderness protection. The Ottawa Valley Chapter of CPAWS (CPAWS-OV) works to protect public lands in the Ottawa River Watershed of Quebec and Ontario – an area twice the size of the province of New Brunswick. Established in 1969 when a group of concerned citizens learned about major development plans for Gatineau Park, the Chapter has since become involved in many issues of wilderness protection in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.

CPAWS-Ottawa Valley has hosted DRAW Retreat for Artists since 2017. DRAW is a clever acronym for Dumoine River Art for Wilderness. I have attended every year except during COVID. There is no better cause and the goals are admirable and ones that I deeply share. The goal is ultimately to make a lasting difference like A.Y Jackson and the Ontario Society of Artists did in the case of Killarney Provincial Park. The impacts of climate change are already being felt and there is no time for dithering. 

CPAWS Ottawa Valley Mission envisages a healthy ecosphere where people experience and respect natural ecosystems. We will achieve this by: 

• 
  protecting Canada's wild ecosystems in parks, wilderness and similar natural areas, preserving the full diversity of habitats and their species; 
• promoting awareness and understanding of ecological principles and the inherent values of wilderness through education, appreciation and experience; 
• encouraging individual action to accomplish these goals; 
• working co-operatively with government, First Nations, business, other organizations and individuals in a consensus-seeking manner, wherever possible. CPAWS Ottawa Valley believes that by ensuring the health of the parts, we ensure the health of the whole, which is our health too.

This is the second of twenty-seven paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2023. It was a wonderful experience with a terrific group of people. https://cpaws-ov-vo.org/draw-retreat-artists/ A portion of sales from this endeavour will go to support CPWAS and keep the wild in the wilderness.  

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. To go to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Collection on  Fine Art America, click here. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick