#2940 "Light Yellow Tulips"

#2940 "Light Yellow Tulips" 
20x16 inches oils on stretched canvas
Started Monday, March 31st, 2025

I had to walk away from #2939 "March Weather at Singleton". I was in danger of fine-tuning the oils too much - killing the life in a painting with a thousand strokes. Unfocused fiddling can ruin the music. The best way to move on is to simply pick another subject and a different canvas. 

Our kind friends at the Rideau Lake Library had given Linda a retirement party. Linda called it her "tiny job," but it was much more than that. Linda has a rare skill set that she freely shares. Those flowers were a gift from her friends. They were displayed on the kitchen island, and I quite enjoyed them and their aroma. The "light yellow tulips" according to the florist tag, were well past prime by the time I was looking for something else to paint on a wintry morning. I thought they were still pretty and deserved a canvas. 

I was very careful during the transport of the flowers to the Singleton Studio, but at least six petals fell off on the way. There was no point attempting to stick them back on! I decided I had better get painting before they all dropped off. 

My natural habitat during the cold winter days with wind chill. 

At first, I placed the 20x16 stretched canvas on the studio easel that my Dad built. I could not get the light right to suit me. Instead, I employed one of my field easels and that worked just fine. I charged right into the oils, standing in front of the wood stove. There was quite a lot of expensive oil paint on my palette, and I did not want to waste it. The effort was fun. 

The weather on Monday was dominated by rain showers and another cold front. Plein air would have been a bit unpleasant. The entire week was marked by a series of spring storms. Those conditions kept me in the Studio playing with this canvas. 

On the third day of playing with these tulips (Wednesday morning and my birthday), I went into the Studio to discover many more of the tulip petals on the table. I had taken some "just in case" photos of the flowers, so all was not completely lost. That is also when I saw the shadow of the Easter bunny on the table. From then on, I decided to really let my short hair down with this canvas and have some serious fun. 

Two rather nasty freezing rain events were the result of a split flow in the atmosphere. A weakening and meandering jet stream is the direct result of global warming. The impacts of the freezing rain storm were devastating to many... We sadly lost some trees in the Singleton forest. 

Lots of interesting colours on the two palettes...

The ice storm damage was even more severe in lower Michigan, with an estimated 3 million acres of forest devastated. Two weeks after the event, 10,000 households were still without power. The impacts of the ice storm would affect the state for "40-50 years" according to  Lucas Merrick of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. See https://www.accuweather.com/en/winter-weather/millions-of-trees-snapped-in-half-over-10000-without-power-weeks-after-michigan-ice-storm/1765711.

The fact of global warming is undeniable as the planet enters thousands of years of a "super interglacial period".  The following summarizes the state of global warming in 2024. 

The dramatic 2024 jump in atmospheric CO2 (the red oval to the right in the following graphic) is not the result of human activities, which have been steady at pumping 40 billion tons of CO2 per year. That leap reveals the dramatic decline of the natural carbon sinks of terrestrial ecosystems and oceans to absorb as much CO2 as in the past. Continued warming will further limit the natural absorption of atmospheric CO2.

The Holocene Epoch began 11,700 years ago at the end of the last glacial period. It is about to get much hotter. 

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

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2939 "March Weather at Singleton"

#2939 "March Weather at Singleton" 
8x10 inches oils on canvas
Started Saturday, March 29th, 2025

It was almost nice enough around midday to paint outside if I kept out of the easterly cold conveyor belt being drawn into the approaching low. I decided just to take a couple of photos instead and went back inside the Studio. Oh my... more freezing rain was on the way.

I gave the turkeys a bonus serving of whole corn, which is their favourite. The birds all had shards of ice still sticking to their feathers. The little birds were enjoying the sunflower seeds provided in the double-cage feeder. The dual wood bin and pet carrier system kept the squirrels and larger birds from crashing their party. I painted beside them for a while outside. 

The ice accumulation from the freezing rain overnight Friday was impressive, with at least 10 mm of ice on horizontal surfaces. Vertical surfaces had just a bit less, but it showed how supercooled the water droplets had been. They froze instantly on contact. 

The water vapour imagery reveals the pulses of moisture and energy rippling along the quasistationary front draped across southern Ontario. These patterns are more common due to a weaker jet stream. 

The freezing rain on Saturday night added another 5 mm of ice to surfaces. The tremulous cracking of tree limbs was followed by crashing sounds as they plummeted to the ground. I would wait to inspect the damage to the forest. Such an adventure would be unwise and unsafe during the tail end of the ice storm. 

I had to move my easel outside in order to see the light. The freezing rain was light and missed me if I stood in the lee of the Studio outbuilding. The colours came alive in the weather, and I was able to save what I was unhappy about inside. 

This current freezing rain event brought back many memories of my involvement in the 1998 Ice Storm. That event lasted almost 5 days. 

Safe and warm with multiple palettes on the go inside the Singleton Studio. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

PS... Weather and climate are important... and both are changing with Global Warming. This was a huge and life-changing event for portions of areas around Barrie and west across southern Ontario into Michigan. 

#2938 "Singleton South Shore November Paddle"

#2938 "Singleton South Shore November Paddle" 
11x14 inches oils on stretched canvas.
Started March 25th, 2025 in the Studio

The surface of Singleton was like glass and called to me. There was no one on the lake - just me and my canoe. The cliffs are very high on the south shore of Singleton. That shoreline is excellent for nature as it is very rugged and inaccessible. I snapped this photo of a favourite cliff at 2:45 pm on Wednesday, November 21st, 2012.. a long time ago. 

The annual changes in the water levels of Singleton Lake are significant. The spring floods of 2014 were the highest we had seen, but they had been even higher in the pioneer past. The lake levels are lowest in midsummer. The upstream barrier at "Furnace Falls", aka Lyndhurst and the downstream dam at Marble Rock control the comings and goings of the water and the lake trout. I often wonder what and who decides the operation of the dams. Is the water level controlled for nature, people or hydro power? The water and ice have etched these wide variations in the steep cliffs of Singleton's south shore. I paint what I see. 

The paddle and painting brought back memories of fishing on the St Lawrence in the 1960s. That was before the impacts of the Seaway and the associated locks that opened the Great Lakes to the oceans in 1959 were obvious. Exploitation and extraction of the environment were just a business in which nature had no role to play... no vote in democracy.

Nothing much has changed, although I have tried my very best to have a positive impact. Politicians do not respond to my letters that detail the science. See "State of the Great Lakes 2022" which paints a sadly realistic picture.  

My generation of atmospheric scientists has also failed to alter the course of fossil fuel consumption. Big business controls the political systems, fueled by greed for more and more. Enough is never enough. "Drill baby drill" is the current slogan. The war on science and knowledge has reached new levels of severity.

The following graphs depict the sad story with no need for words... the science spans 50 million years into the past, although the last few decades have been measured in greater detail.  

It was a mix of snow and rain showers outside when I started this painting. Plein air painting would not have been very pleasant. After I finished this painting, #2938 on Friday, March 28th, I went for a paddle on the east basin of Singleton. The western half of the lake was still thick with ice. The buffleheads had just returned home, and I logged that in my file that summarizes the annual migrations. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

In front of the Pacific Energy wood stove, using two palettes and lots of brushes.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2937 "Hackett's Cove in 1985"

 

#2937 "Hackett's Cove in 1985" 
36x48 inches oils on stretched canvas. 
Started 9:00 am Sunday March 16th, 2025

Hackett's Cove is one of the many small ports along the South Shore's Route 333. Hackett's Cove is situated southwest of Glen Margaret and south of Woodens River. Sunday drives with a young family would see us visiting the south shore and exploring these beautiful little communities.

The paintings of Hackett's Cove do not even scratch the beautiful surface. I painted a version of this inspiration in #2400 "Hackett's Cove Memories" during the summer of 2020 at the peak of COVID. We successfully avoided that disease until September 2024. 

I was using large brushes and lots of paint in an attempt to stay loose and painterly after a series of detailed bird portraits. 

We loved Nova Scotia ... sorry to leave, but I get to go back at least in my art.  

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

In front of the Pacific Energy wood stove, using two palettes and lots of brushes.
The efficient stove uses outside air for combustion and consumes very little wood.  

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2936 "Maple Sugar Shadows and Turkey Tracks"

#2936 "Maple Sugar Shadows and Turkey Tracks" 
18x14 inches oils on cradled smooth panel.
Started 9:00 am Wednesday, March 12th, 2025

I had every intention of painting en plein air, but the inactive cold front that crossed Singleton while I was strolling in the forest changed my mind. I had taken a few photos and selected another smooth panel that my Dad had manufactured. With the wood stove and tunes on, I spent some most enjoyable time at my easel out of the wind. 

I had tapped those two maple sugar trees years ago but was now content to see them prosper in their "golden years". 

Wild turkeys frequent every nook and cranny of the sanctuary. Their tracks in the snow look a bit like dinosaur trails. I painted what I saw. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2935 "September Sunflower Reflections"

 

#2935 "September Sunflower Reflections"
14 X 18 by (7/8) profile (inches). 
Oils on smooth panel
Started 9:00 am Saturday, March 8th, 2025

A series of paintings requires at least three members and preferably an odd number. It is strange, perhaps, but that is at least how my mind works. The other two contestants in this series were super wet: #2933 "Sunflowers Endure" and #2934 "Sunflower Bouquet for a Winter Day". I could not touch them without wearing some of those oils. 

The best solution was to pick up another of my Dad's panels and start a third happy sunflower painting on a chilly winter morning. The high-pressure area was still well to the west. The anticyclonic curvature of those icy isobars produced super-geostrophic winds. The wind chill would have frozen my hands for sure if I had ventured outside. I feel a bit like a wuss, but it is best not to freeze my hands again. Milder weather was on the March horizon. 

The sketch also shows the "Barcodes" of the paintings that are in progress but not completed. 
Those masking tape tags stay on the easel that my Dad made until the paintings are done, 
at least to my satisfaction. I feel that those rough lines exude joy... and fun...

I selected another of my sunflower photos from the afternoon of Friday, September 25th, 2020. I reflected that image so I would see a different side of the light, making the painting different from the others. I was also reflecting (remembering) the kinder and gentler pre-COVID time. It would also be wonderful to go back even further in time to before September 11th, 2001. My wife and I were on a canoe trip at the Leslie Frost Centre and oblivious to that horror until we returned. Hatred, greed and a lot of other unsavory human characteristics surfaced on 911. The kindness of the generous folks in Gander and, in fact, around the world has apparently been forgotten as the USA launches an insane trade war on Canada. It may be narcissistic madness, but it is also about money in the crazy manipulation of the stock markets for personal gain by the insider few. 

I used a swivel chair and a cardboard box to paint the edges of my Dad's stretcher frames. It may make it impossible to touch the paintings without wearing the oils, but it finishes the edges and precludes the need for a frame. I feel that the art needs to speak for itself.  My Dad was an artist with wood being his medium. I think of him every time I sit down at my Studio easel, which he made. 

I prefer to be happy and paint within the Singelton Sanctuary. I rarely leave the property...

I had two and sometimes three palettes going at one time to keep my oils clean. 

Life is good and creative in the sanctuary... I even went paddling a few times in the eastern bay of Singleton after the ice melted out of the eastern bay. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2934 "Sunflower Bouquet for a Winter Day"

 

#2934 "Sunflower Bouquet for a Winter Day" 
18 X 14 oils on smooth panel.
Started 11:00 am Friday, March 7th, 2025

#2933 "Sunflowers Endure" was very wet with thick oils. I had to set it aside and start another project. Another masking tape "bar code" was added to the support bar of the studio easel. That explains the 2934 tag added to the right in the following photo.

I selected another photo of Singleton sunflower photos from the afternoon of Friday, September 25th, 2020 and kept going. The smooth mahogany panel was cradled on a frame made by my Dad. The painting surface has virtually no tooth to grab the oils. This strongly encourages one to place the right colour in the right place and then leave it alone. That is exactly the approach required to loosen up my brushwork after the detail of the bird portraits. 

Further to the question: Why paint at all? Another answer that I typically provide is to learn and get better. The saying may go that "practice makes perfect" but I have already addressed the fallacy of "perfection" in the story behind #2933 "Sunflowers Endure". Practise enables one to improve on their skills! I think it is unreasonable to expect to execute a painting worth half a billion dollars after doing fewer than twenty works. Certainly, Leonardo da Vinci was special and I do not claim to be. 

Herbert Simon and William Chase in a study of expertise that was published in a 1959 American Scientist essay wrote: "There are no instant experts in chess—certainly no instant masters or grandmasters. There appears not to be on record any case (including Bobby Fischer) where a person reached grandmaster level with less than about a decade's intense preoccupation with the game. We would estimate, very roughly, that a master has spent perhaps 10,000 to 50,000 hours staring at chess positions." 

Malcolm Gladwell followed with "Outliers: The Story of Success" published by Little, Brown and Company on November 18, 2008. He wrote that "success is impossible without the opportunity to become successful no matter how hard you work." Furthermore, Gladwell writes that "people who get opportunities early in life have a huge advantage over those whose opportunities come later in life." The theme of "Outliers" is that "the amount of practice necessary for exceptional performance is so extensive that people who end up on top need help. They invariably have access to lucky breaks or privileges or conditions that make all those years of practice possible." 

Being "on top" of your craft might sound wonderful but are you happy? Gladwell suggests that not only Olympian talent and unimaginable hard effort are required to get there but also lots of luck and help from others. The odds are very much against an artist being able to make a living from their art during their lifetime. 

To achieve the 10,000 hours of intense artistic practice would require more than five years of 40-hour weeks. Simultaneously, the artist must expend large amounts of disposal income (from where?) on high-quality painting surfaces, mediums and brushes. Also consider the cost of frames, entry fees, hanging fees, gallery commissions and travel expenses. The cards are very much stacked against the independent artist. A healthy amount of good luck and a wealthy patron as suggested by Gladwell would be essential. 

This explains why I was a nuclear physicist turned meteorologist for more than 35 years. One never really retires from the weather, as I am constantly immersed in my own natural laboratory. During my meteorological career, I merged art and science, analyzing and diagnosing patterns in remote sensing data that revealed the dynamic features controlling the weather. I published a great deal of that research through COMET in Boulder, Colorado. Now in official retirement, I merge science into my art and just keep going. 

Each painting is another step on my artistic journey. I am currently taking step number 2934. Each stride has been an opportunity to learn something and hopefully get better. My journey started in 1966 so in 2025, I have been adding to my hours to reach the "grandmaster level" for 59 years, more or less. For sure, there were years when I was unable to create as much as I would have liked. Even if a nominal five hours is allotted for each painting, that tally is 15,000 hours - bingo. I have spent many months on just a single painting while some plein air works are done in 15 minutes... 

There are a few messages that emerged during that lifetime of creativity. Here are the ones that I feel are the most important out of hundreds of possibilities: 

• Art is work. 
• Be bold.
• Paint en Plein air and surround yourself with nature.
• Squint your eyes and get rid of the detail to see the essence of your inspiration.
• Do not empower anyone to judge what is good or bad in your art. Doing so permits someone else to steer your path of discovery and experimentation. 
• Never apologize for your art. 
• Learning is trial and error and full of mistakes. Anything that does not work out in your eyes is simply a positive guidepost to mark your journey. Fear of making a mistake discourages adventure and experimentation and personal growth. In truth, there are no mistakes but only learning opportunities. 
• Your artistic trip is yours alone. Embrace it. You can't go anywhere new by following someone else. While teaching, I focused on materials and approaches to art and emphasized self-expression. I discouraged copying styles as those belong to that individual. Be yourself because everyone else is already taken. 
• Have fun. 
• Be humble, helpful and kind. 
• Never dicker about price… Art and life are about respect. 
• Finally, life, like art is not a competition. We are all recycled. Be happy for the success of others as well as any you might enjoy… but be happy.

I may add to this list but at the moment, these are the ones that mean the most to me. These axioms comprise the real messages of life that I was trying to get across while I taught art...

I was using up to three separate palettes in an effort to keep my colours clean.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2933 "Sunflowers Endure"

#2933 "Sunflowers Endure"
18 X 14 oils on smooth panel.
Started 11:00 am Tuesday, March 4th, 2025

All of the recent paintings that I had been working on were very, very wet. The masking tape identifier (my personal bar code) for each painting remains on the easel until the paintings are completed. That explains why there was quite a row of masking tape tags on the easel while I painted. The tag for artistic step number 2933 was on the left side of that series. 

Perfection is overrated and never attainable anyway - a fool's dream, in my opinion. The best strokes in a painting might be accidents. A wise artist embraces those apparent mistakes and moves on. Just my own opinion, of course. 

But I could be wrong! I have 2937 paintings in my catalogue at the moment. Many have been sold over the years, but quite a supply remains. 

Consider the story of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519 CE), who apparently claimed that “art is never finished, only abandoned”. He evidently strove for perfection, finishing only about 20 paintings in his sixty-six-year lifetime. Leonardo started his first commissioned work around 1482, so he really only painted for 36 years plus or minus - that is less than a painting a year! Leonardo was certainly a genius. He could have also been a financial wizard! The economics of "supply and demand" make those twenty works immensely valuable. Leonardo strove for perfection, but he also spent a lot of time as an inventor and engineer. Creativity takes many forms when crafted by great intellect. 

The question comes down to: Why create at all? Why paint? It is a valid question as I pack another box of imperfect creations. There is a significant cost to being an artist. The oil paints are expensive in themselves. The painting surfaces and brushes are not cheap either. The hours, days and sometimes months spent on paintings make one wonder about the sanity of those who wish to create. My 36-year meteorological career provides the luxury of being foolish. Art may be a way of life but a challenging way to make a living! Those creations being packed into plastic, waterproof boxes for safe storage are replete with interesting flaws that probably only I will see. 

If wealth is your ambition, then Leonardo's approach might be for you - except he barely saw a fraction of the riches that his art generated. For example, Leonardo's Salvator Mundi sold for $450,312,500 at auction in 2017 (to Mohammad bin Salman), making it the most expensive painting ever sold. He never saw a dime from that almost half-billion bucks. The saying that applies to many of the world's most renowned artists is that "they can make a really great living after they die" in the supply and demand financial system. 

Leonardo daVinci, Salvator Mundi, c.1499-1500,
Oil on walnut, 17.9 x 25.8 in (45.4 x 65.6cm)

If happiness is your goal, like mine, embrace those mistakes and paint on. Nobody or thing is or should be considered perfect. I like to concentrate on the bright side that I learn something with the challenge of each new canvas and different subject matter. Art also keeps me more than busy, not hurting anything. I do not require the distractions of the news or professional sports to fill my day. I brush pigments on all types of surfaces typically surrounded by nature except when I am in the Studio enjoying the wood stove and the tunes from the 60s and 70s. My life is very simple but comfortable and more than enough. It is my choice to be happy and avoid the narcissistic world. I witnessed enough of that when I had to "punch the clock".

After eight fairly detailed efforts, I needed to loosen up my strokes and get back to the bigger brushes. I had a handful of brushes languishing in vegetable oil. They needed some serious attention before they became unsalvageable. Those brushes needed to be put back into action and I selected something happy.

Sunflowers were an obvious subject matter during the final weeks of winter. The strife in the world appears to be the result of a handful of unscrupulous and greedy oligarchs completely void of empathy. Evil is the word that comes to mind, but even that term is not nearly forceful enough. Their narcissistic actions may dominate the news but not within the Singleton Sanctuary. The ongoing criminal invasion of Ukraine and the lust for precious minerals are at the center of the immediate issues. Ontario politicians placing the control of important assets in the hands of American companies is another. There are so many serious issues that people almost forget about global warming and the sixth mass extinction. But I dream that sunflowers will endure - which explains the title. 

Sunflowers, a major part of the Ukrainian economy, are also their national flower. Sunflower blooms have evolved into a positive symbol of solidarity for that conflict. The Singleton birds enjoy sunflowers too and certainly feast on the seeds that we provide. 

I took this image of sunflowers in our garden on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 15th, 2020, at 2:23 pm. That date even preceded COVID. The world has changed a lot since then! I was in the Singleton Studio painting something happy and resilient while freezing rain with embedded ice pellets type A (pronounced "eh") dominated the weather. The wood stove and the tunes from when music was happy and kind were both on!

I painted the sides of my Dad's stretcher bars. This allows the painting to be hung without a frame. It also makes the painting very challenging to handle during the process. I use an expansion clamp to lock into the back of the painting. This clamp can be slid onto my field easel thus allowing me to continue to paint and move the painting without getting wet oils on my hands or clothing - although that might still happen. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2932 "On Golden Pond"

#2932 "On Golden Pond"
14 X 18 (inches) smooth panel.
Started 11:00 am Sunday, March 2nd, 2025

Sunset colours can be breathtaking. Sunrises are typically not as stunning. Wind, daytime heating and instability will mix dust and aerosols from the ground into a deeper layer of the atmosphere during the day. These constituents will scatter more light to the sunset eye. Such was the case on August 7th, 2024, at 8:26 pm.

A summer storm was approaching. High-level cirrus trailed behind the deformation zone, which was already to the east of the Luther Marsh. Altocumulus "dumplings" indicated that the warm air mass was on the unstable and convective side of average. The typical warm frontal pattern pictured in the accompanying graphic is more stable than the sunset I painted. 

The strong winds aloft with the jet stream were shaking the warm frontal surface like a bed sheet. Thicker cloud was concentrated in gravity bands associated with the upward shake of the sheet. The cloud was thinner, and the altocumulus was less numerous in the troughs of the gravity wave swells. 

The backlit clouds sparkled in the sunset light. Cirrus clouds, comprised of ice crystals, are not optically thick to the sunlight. Backlit altocumulus comprised of more opaque particles is optically thick enough to be slightly dark in its centre. The altocumulus "dumplings" are brighter on their edges where fewer cloud particles are located. The relatively small size of the altocumulus elements indicates that the cloud was on the high side for that class of cloud, perhaps around 15 thousand feet above ground level. A laser ceilometer would provide a definitive answer.

This photo was taken by my good friend Cam Lindsey whom I have known since 1985 when we moved to Schomberg, Ontario - right after the Barrie Tornado. Cameron had moved from Western Avenue in Schomberg to Windy Acres Farm south of the Luther Marsh.

This is the idyllic view across his farm pond at sunset. Everyone needs to slow down and enjoy the simple pleasures of nature and the weather. 

Three palettes were being used to keep the oils clean.
Winter weather prevailed outside.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2931 "The Swirling Nature"

#2931 "The Swirling Nature" 
14 X 18 oils on smooth panel.
Started 11:00 am Saturday, March 1st, 2025

Where do the tenacles of the overhead virga and the weather of the warm conveyor belt end? Where do the trees, rock and water begin? Nature all swirl together and complement each other in the dance of creation. I wanted to use lots of oils and have fun... this may be a bit different, but that's OK.

These photos were taken by my good friend Cam Lindsey, whom I have known since 1985 when we moved to Schomberg, Ontario - right after the Barrie Tornado of Friday, May 31st. The locations would have only been paintable from a boat. An easel presents an unfathomable challenge in deep feet of water.

I have been with Cam to these swirling rock patterns several times. I was looking for fresh material to inspire me while the winter weather encouraged me to paint within the comforts of the Studio. Cam knows what stimulates my art, and I welcome the photos that do not require me to travel repeatedly to my favourite haunts. Georgian Bay is a special place, but quite a drive from the Singleton Sanctuary. 

The geology of the 30,000 Islands of the Parry Sound Archipelago is special. The rock formations are fascinating. The last ice age also left it mark. The region is full of the raw beauty of nature. 

The smooth panel has limited tooth to grab the oils. That is exactly what I was looking for to depict the power and beauty of the raw elements of nature. I wanted the brushstrokes to be raw, fresh, and few to depict the rough texture and emotion. 

The flagged pines were strongly backlit by the rising sun. I emphasized the colours of the morning light. I have an artistic licence to do so. 

Three palettes on the go to keep my colours clean. Nature can easily make mud. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick