#2800 "Sunrise on Colton Bay of the Ottawa River"

#2800 "Sunrise on Colton Bay of the Ottawa River"
11x14 oils on stretched canvas

I left the CPAWS DRAW camp around 6:30 am on Friday morning August 4th. The inflatable mattress that I had purchased on a deep clearance sale at the Canadian Tire in Deep River was not holding up. It was a wonderful product but was flat within a couple of hours - I was as deflated as the mattress.

I gave the mattress a couple of nights to see if I could iron out the bugs. Sometimes the problem is not the product but the installer. Nothing seemed to fix the loss of air so I was on my way back into Deep River to see what might be done. 

There were several trees down across Dumoine Road on the way into Rapids des Joachims from the thunderstorms the night before. I was able to drive around them. They would all be cleaned up on my return trip back to the CPAWS DRAW Camp. 

I painted this scene on the way into Deep River at the boat launch in  Rapids des Joachims. I was early and the Canadian Tire would not be open yet. 

The sky told the weather story. I was looking southeastward into a sea of altocumulus gravity waves. Southerly winds drifted the patterns northward while I painted. Meanwhile, fog banks drifted over the adjacent slopes and down into the Ottawa River Valley. The rain from the thunderstorms the previous evening and overnight provided the moisture for the fog. All of this was reflected perfectly in the mirrored surface of the calm current. 

A lone fisherman was trolling slowly back and forth while seagulls dotted the surface waiting for something to happen. A large fish disturbed the surface of the water right in front of me. No one seemed to notice. In fact, no one paid me any attention. I painted as the sun rose in the eastern sky.

Done like dinner... now for the story of the discount mattress.

My friend Wally Schaber wrote: "Tiberius Colton son of Luther Colton of Hull went upriver to lumber, trade and finally build the Colton Hotel Swisha's first grand hotel 1853. Tiberius married into the Holt Family, freight forwarders, stage coach operators and hoteliers from Aylmer. Together they established Rapides Des Joachims as a village at the end of the steamboat line 1854-1871." History is needed to complete the story. Wally Schaber wrote a fascinating history: "The Last of the Wild Rivers: The Past, Present, and Future of the Rivière du Moine Watershed". Thank you Wally. 

After completing the painting, the very friendly clerk at the Canadian Tire Return Desk listened patiently to my sad story of woe. She checked the online reviews for a few minutes. She discovered that people either loved the product with five stars or described the same very sad tale in every detail that I had just related. There were still a few of the clearance mattresses in stock. Did I dare take my chances with another identical mattress? She offered another type of mattress but there would be paperwork. I held my breath and took my chances that the replacement would hold air. Luckily it did. 

My tent with the new mattress... installed.

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