The high and steep cliffs on the south shore of Singleton Lake are the remains of the now very eroded Grenville Mountains. The northeast to southwest marble ridges were as high as the Himalayas one billion years ago.
I was homeward bound on Sunday, April 13th, 2025, after paddling my circuit of the lake. The water was still like glass. The path I paddle is close to the red line in the following graphic. It is about a six-kilometre paddle, not including detours for distractions. I am easily distracted... but that is part of the attraction, never quite knowing where my feet or paddled might lead.
The following map locates the five works (#2971 through #2975) that were inspired by this particular paddle. Note how the rocky ridges all run northeast to southwest in keeping with the tectonics that created the Grenville Mountains.
The sun was still low and behind the tall ridge of rock. I liked how the morning light filtered through the pines that managed to grow in the challenging environment. The sky shimmered in various shades of coffee cream and blue.
The water levels of Singleton and the entire Gananoque River waterway suffer large annual fluctuations. The water etches those records on the marble face.
The summer of 2025 was very dry indeed. Convection delivers most of the precipitation during the summer, and the rainfall was very hit or miss - mainly miss for the Singleton Watershed! The water levels on the waterway dropped steadily during the summer. Latimer Rapids upstream at Covey's Bridge and Jim Day Rapids at the exit of Singleton Lake became impassable for larger boats. I was fine travelling in my canoe.
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| The water level dropped about 70 cm between April 13th and September 13th. |
A large log snagged on the rocky exit of the Latimer Rapids on Lyhurst Creek in April 2025. That stump became high and dry by the end of the summer. There was barely enough water to float my canoe, let alone the heavy log. The following images and graphic explains that story.
The climate has changed much faster than was thought possible. The Boreal Forests were burning while the patterns of both extreme precipitation and drought rearranged dramatically due to global warming. Human consumption of fossil fuels and the subsequent release of carbon into the atmosphere have upset the fragile balance of the Earth's ecosystem. The current levels of atmospheric carbon were last seen 16 million years ago. It would take drastic and concerted global cooperation and action to put that carbon back into Pandora's Box.
The following collage of in-progress photographs illustrates a few of the steps it takes to complete the story of #2975 "Morning Sunlight Fishermen".
The painting was nearing completion on the Studio easel below.
As hinted at by the title, the south shore cliff of Singleton is a favourite place for fishermen. There is a minimum of species that can be legally fished on April 13th, but there were still lots of boats out. Fishing starts as soon as the ice departs.
Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,
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