#3027 "Charlton Lake Storm Weather"

#3027 "Charlton Lake Storm Weather"
20 X 24 inches, oils on canvas.
Started at 10:30 am Tuesday, July 7th, 2026  

The heavily flagged tree on Charlton Lake, photographed by Richard McKenzie, caught my eye. A friend saw the image on a Facebook post and forwarded the link. The granite point and thunderstorm background really appealed to me. I reached out to Richard to inquire if I might use his photo for inspiration. Singleton was in the middle of an oppressive heat wave with high UV values and smoke from Boreal infernos. Any outside activity was discouraged given the Climate Crisis conditions. 

Richard responded: "Please do. I would ask for photo credit if it is for sale." Technically, all of my art is for sale, but I am very low-key about my art. Sales of my art have not gone viral yet.... Respect is my main request. I responded: "Absolutely. I will credit you in the blog as well, Richard. I want to tell the story behind the weather… and include your memories of that afternoon. I was a meteorologist for Environment Canada in my previous life. Now I paint… mostly just for me as I attempt to learn and get better." 

The painting is a skyscape for me, although that flagged tree is prominent. I charged right into the composition with a big brush and lots of oil. The toppled pine was taken away. The distant shore was made even more distant. The clouds and weather were the subject. 

An artist friend asked how I might modify the inspiration. The following graphic summarizes those thoughts. One never really knows if they will work for better or worse. After a week,  I was in danger of over-working the oils... so I stopped.The science within the image was included in the composition. The cloud bases of convective clouds must be at the LCL (lifted condensation level) for the air mass. Those bases are at a uniform height above the ground and are quite flat. Ragged pieces of SCUD (Scattered Cumulus Under Deck) can form at any level in the turbulent flow associated with cumulonimbus (thunderstorms) and cold fronts. Typically, SCUD is formed when rain-moistened air is lifted again to condensation, at levels below the LCL. It was a wild sky full of energy! I wanted to conserve that energy in the bold strokes of oil. 

Now for some explanatory science. In the Northern Hemisphere, thunderstorms generally move west to east with the prevailing jet stream. Except when they don't. The line of thunderstorms that Richard witnessed was moving from the north, probably along a cold front. The individual thunderstorms were tracking toward the southeast after being triggered by the front. Without real data, that is only a best-guess conjecture. The following illustrated graphics will save a lot of words. 

This first graphic details the viewing angles of thunderstorms and their motion relative to your viewing location. 

The next graphic is cobbled together, the best I can, being retired, from a supercell thunderstorm example. It depicts how the supercell might look from the north, the safe side of that very dangerous cumulonimbus. 

With this groundwork, we can better comprehend the thunderstorms that Richard McKenzie witnessed. 

With this information, the following graphic labels and explains the features in Richard's photograph.

Richard McKenzie tells the tale perfectly related in his Facebook Post: 

"For several times now, we have paddled to the end of Charlton Lake looking for the old pine tree that Franklin Carmichael used as inspiration for his painting, "Twisted Pine". We have been assured that we were in the right location but have yet to discover it. There are actual photographs of this elusive tree, but the latest that I have seen is 20 years old. I would be interested if anyone has a more recent picture. Anyway, on the return paddle, the sky darkened as storm clouds were threatening. We were paddling quite quickly, trying to outpace the potential downpour, but when I caught a glimpse of a bent-over, windswept pine with the ominous cloud backdrop, I had to yell back to the captain to slow down and pull over so I could compose another picture. Fortunately, I have a very cooperative skipper. We may not have succeeded in our original quest, but occasionally, other things appear that are just as interesting. Maybe more so. A few shots and then we were back to the task at hand... "Racing the storm". I guess the years of practice with my experienced shipmate must have paid off, as we did manage to get back without getting wet. Lol!"

Another friend I made when I painted and presented in Willisville in 2014 now enters the story. The following is gleaned from Jon Butler's Facebook post of January 2026 regarding the "Twisted Pine", the goal of Richard's paddle to Miller Bay. Franklin Carmichael had a cabin on nearby Frood Lake.

I had unknowingly paddled right by the "Twisted Pine" in 2014. I was staying at the beautiful Charlton Lake Camp and paddled and painted around the entire area for a week.  I managed 26 paintings that week. 

The location of #3027 "Charlton Lake Storm Weather" is at the mouth of Miller Bay in the upper right of the above map.

Jon Butler is also a friend of Jim and Sue Waddington, who authored “Following in the Footsteps of the Group of Seven”, a wonderful story of their passionate travels in search of iconic painting sites visited by the Group of Seven. Jon had guided the Waddingtons to the "Twisted Pine" in July 2007. The location of the tree was high on very slippery rocks, revealing the lengths that plein air artists will go to paint something they find to be inspirational. The story of the "Bonsai Tree" starts on page 160 of Waddington's "Following in the Footsteps of the Group of Seven". 

Jon Butler even guided our group into Lake Grace in September 2014. Jim and Sue Waddington, Ed and Mary Bartram, and a couple of others were lucky participants. 

We exchanged books and stories. I had the "Weather of Ontario" and "The Passion of Phil the Forecaster" books to share.  

The trip to Willisville in September 2014 was a special time. I was very fortunate to meet so many fine people and to present "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" at the Charlton Lake Camp. That portion of Ontario has a rich history and is beautiful beyond belief. There are several lifetimes of paintings to be found there.

#3027 "Charlton Lake Storm Weather" brought back a lot of memories of that earlier trip to the La Cloche area.  My special thanks to Richard McKenzie for allowing me to interpret his very special image. These memories came back to me while interpreting the image Richard had to paddle back to capture. I also remembered my Dad while painting on the stretchers bars, and the easel that he crafted. 

Good times!

For this and much more art, click on Fine Art America or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint Collection. Thank you so very much for reading, and stay well!

Warmest regards, and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick