#2888 "Downstream Dumoine with Pincushion Island and Overcast Cirrostratus"

#2888 "Downstream Dumoine with Pincushion Island and Overcast Cirrostratus"
Oils on canvas panel 8 X 10 (inches).
Started 11:00 am Friday, August 2nd, 2024
from very near N46.471706 W77.766986.

I paddled out into the rapids after finishing #2887 "Rapids Downstream from the DuMoine River Rod & Gun Club". The current was fun! I let the back eddy take me into the anticyclonic gyre to the west. The shoreline was packed with logs and debris deposited by the eddy. My intent was to paint the tangle of logs but instead, I was drawn into another skyscape disguised as a landscape. I was tired of the detail of the rapids and needed to relax a bit while sitting on a stump up from the shoreline. 

Note the location of #2887 "Rapids Downstream from the DuMoine River Rod & Gun Club" at the exit of "Richard Rapids". The outflow from the rapids must have been torrential when the meltwaters from the ice sheet were gushing southward about 14,000 years ago. The anticyclonic gyre required to carve the sandy soils was large.

The altocumulus sky of #2886 "Dumoine Gravity Waves in the Southern Sky" had been replaced by overcast altostratus in the two hours that had elapsed since 9 am. The layers of moisture within the warm conveyor belt were coalescing into one. 

The sky reflected from the calm portions of the flatwater found in that section of the Dumoine River. Fitful breezes pulsated the other sections where the wind could penetrate the protected valley. The rippled water reflected the darker hues of the forested valley walls in the distance. 

The bands of calm and rippled water shifted down the waterway suggesting that gravity waves were flowing down the valley following the tug of gravity just like the current of the river. I theorized that the rippled bands were associated with the downdraft portion of the atmospheric gravity waves within the valley. The calm water surfaces would be associated with the crests of those waves. I watched these bands propagate downriver as I painted. The weather and its impacts on the scene are always interesting. 

I did not sleep well the night before. The air vanished from my discount mattress. By midnight I was flat on the rugged terrain. I decided just to tough it through. I wanted to make the most of painting in this section of the Dumoine. The camera does not lie though and I was looking pretty rough at the end of a day of painting with nil sleep the previous night. Anything is worthwhile for both art and nature!

This is number twenty-five of thirty-five paintings I completed en plein air at CPAWS DRAW 2024. 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 CPAW and keep the 'wild' in the wilderness. 

Another painting "done like dinner" as I was sat on the Dumoine River tree stump. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Here is the link to the CPAWS DRAW Collection

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick