#2097 "Mallorytown Landing Willow Roots"

From May 9th, 2018.

I needed to get out of the sun and paint where some of the other artists had located in the shade of the huge willow trees that dominated Mallorytown Landing. This particular willow was actually leaning upwind toward the southwest. It had survived the wind storm of May 4th, 2018 that brought 120 km/h winds to parts of southern Ontario. Another willow just to the northwest had been leaning toward the northeast and those winds pushed it right over. A crew of men spent all day cleaning up just the one tree.

The bark of these ancient willows was thick and twisted. It was fun to try to capture the character of this tree on a very smooth and very slippery surface. The artists had pretty much retired for the day by the time I was done this painting. I was all alone. Painting can be strenuous work when you are out in the elements.

There was covered shelter for nesting barn swallows and they were using it as well. It was great to see. The numbers of swallows and all insect eating birds have plummeted due to pesticides and genetically modified crops. Barn swallows used to be common just a few years ago but now they are very rare indeed.

The black flies and midges were out but nothing was biting. It was a beautiful day and thank you to the Thousand Islands Fine Art Association for believing the forecast and moving the planned outing one day ahead in order to avoid the cold front, rain and winds of Thursday. That forecast verified very well.

#2096 "Mallorytown Landing Towering Cumulus"

Started 2:30 pm Wednesday May 9th, 2018

The cumulus clouds continued to develop along the east to west line well to the south of the St Lawrence. The southwesterly winds were intensifying and the cumulus streets were becoming aligned with that direction. This view is only about ten minutes after #2095 "Mallorytown Landing Cumulus" and looking more toward the southwest and Grenadier Island Island. One of the participants wanted more guidance on painting those elusive clouds. We tried positive drawing of the clouds with a thin light white wash. We also experimented drawing clouds in a negative way with a thin blue wash. Either way one had to protect the bright white highlights of the cumulus tops where the small, new water droplets are terrific Mie scatterers of solar energy. It just takes a subtle convergence line in the lower atmosphere to focus all of this cumulus development. The clouds were quite vigourous in the warm and moist unstable air mass. It was actually a very hot day for early May.

This was a smooth and slippery surface and a lot of fun demonstrating how one might try to capture the quickly changing clouds. The other goal was to convince them that you could mix the correct value or colour, lay it in and leave it. There is really no need to polish the brush stroke. Leave the stroke alone and let it breath vitality into the art. I try every approach that can be imagined to find the one that might connect with the attendees.

The black flies and midges were out but nothing was biting. Several midges landed on the wet paint and very few managed to escape. A few flies were added to the pigment but one landed and looked like a turkey vulture soaring in the same thermals that supported the clouds. That tiny fly is still there in the paint.

It was a beautiful day and thank you to the Thousand Islands Artists Association for believing the forecast and moving the planned outing one day ahead in order to avoid the cold front, rain and winds of Thursday. That forecast verified very well.

#2095 "Mallorytown Landing Cumulus"

Started 1:45 pm Wednesday May 9th, 2018.

Someone wanted a demonstration on how to handle the clouds. The cumulus clouds continued to develop along the east to west line well to the south of the St Lawrence. A subtle convergence line in the lower atmosphere is all that it takes to focus such activity. The clouds were quite vigourous in the warm and moist unstable air mass. It was actually a very hot day for early May.

This was a smooth and slippery surface and a lot of fun demonstrating how one might try to capture the quickly changing clouds. The other goal was to convince them that you could mix the correct value or colour, lay it in and leave it. There is really no need to polish the brush stroke. Leave the stroke alone and let it breath vitality into the art. I try every approach that can be imagined to find the one that might connect with the attendees.

The black flies and midges were out but nothing was biting. It was a beautiful day and thank you to the Thousand Islands Fine Art Association for believing the forecast and moving the planned outing one day ahead in order to avoid the cold front, rain and winds of Thursday. That forecast verified very well.

#2094 "Mallorytown Landing Reach"

Started 12:15 pm Wednesday May 9th, 2018.

The skies were almost clear. Some cumulus were developing along the extension of the Lake Ontario lake breeze that was pushed southeastward into New York State. A large area of cirrostratus was invading at the same time from the west. There were no cumulus clouds under this cirrus and west of the associated deformation zone. This phenomenon happens frequently because the slight reduction in daytime heating due to the thin cirrostratus is all that it takes to shut down the generation of cumulus. The high level water vapour imagery reveals the thin cirrostratus much better than the mid level water vapour imagery. The absence of cumulus cloud within the area shaded by the cirrostratus was revealed by the visible satellite imagery for the same time.

I wanted to do another demonstration. I had be circulating all morning among the TIFFA participants offering suggestions and encouragement. I thought they might enjoy their lunches while I painted. I set up in the large gazebo in the shade from the midday sun. The light was not great to see the colours but I did my best looking out the open archway. A vacationing couple from Kelowna listened in... I think they wanted to also visit the Singleton Gallery.

This view is looking southward through the arch at some trees which were just starting to leaf out. Grenadier Island was well to the south.

The black flies and midges were out but nothing was biting. It was a beautiful day and thank you to the Thousand Islands Fine Art Association for believing the forecast and moving the planned outing one day ahead in order to avoid the cold front, rain and winds of Thursday. That forecast verified very well.

#2093 "Mallorytown Landing Beach"

Started 9:15 am Wednesday May 9th, 2018.

My history at Mallorytown Landing goes back to 1960 when I was seven. Our family camped there on weekends and sometimes for a couple of weeks in the summer. We cooked on the old stone and steel fireplaces, swam, hiked and really enjoyed the experience. Back then the fishing was still great. The opening of the St Lawrence Seaway had not yet impacted on the fish populations. The swing set was terrific. Tinkerbell our cat once decided she wanted to stay. We spent hours late on a Sunday afternoon before we could find her to take her home.

I set up my easel on what used to be the sand beach in front of the artists from the Thousand Islands Artists Association. Nature has reclaimed the waterfront and that was fine. It had been a perfect swimming area right out to this rocky point. We used goggles and swim fins and played for hours in that sand and water. The shallows and shoals on the other side of the point were great for pike and bass. We trolled during the summer and ice fished during the winter. Mallorytown Landing was and is a very special place.

I had a large group of artists attending this plein air workshop. I wanted to explain the difference between painting into the sun and focussing on tonal values versus painting with the sun on your back and painting colour. I was looking southeastward directly toward the morning sun. This vantage is especially hard on your eyes but I do not do it often. This demo lasted less than an hour and I was in and out of the artistic zone as I explained what I was doing and why. Sometimes it is easier to see things being done rather than listening to an explanation. The other goal was to convince them that you could mix the correct value or colour, lay it in and leave it. Be bold. There is really no need to polish the brush stroke. Leave the stroke alone and let it breath vitality into the art. I try every approach that can be imagined to find the one that might connect with the attendees.

The spring greens were evident in the budding leaves and the grass. I was careful to match that colour. The black flies and midges were out but nothing was biting. It was a beautiful day. I had a big thank you to the Thousand Islands Artists Association for believing the forecast and moving the planned outing one day ahead in order to avoid the cold front, rain and winds of Thursday. That forecast verified very well.

#2092 "1000 Islands Village"

From May 7th, 2018...

I had promised the owners Dennis and Margaret Bank that I would paint en plein air when I delivered another large painting to the large and growing gallery at the 1000 Islands Village - the largest in eastern Ontario. This painting is the result of that effort.

1000 Islands Village is certainly a hive of activity. The glory of the old stone building was being reconstructed and the Banks have a fine vision of the future. 1000 Islands Village is also the home of the River West Company - A Lifestyle Boutique for Mind, Body and Home. The Riverbank Gallery is developing as well. 1000 ISLANDS VILLAGE 1120 County Road 2 East Brockville, ON K6V 5T1.

The midday sun was strong and stark. The air was full of tiny midges that were very intent on their own life cycle. Pairs of midges were bonded and those that landed on the wet oils could not be saved. They became one with the painting. These midges did not bite and were an important food source for the tree swallows that also flew around me. I tried very hard not to interfere with the birds and the bees - so to speak.

#2091 "Sunday Sunrise Cumulus Floccus"

There was an easterly breeze not due to an approaching low pressure area but because of an outflow from a large high pressure area to the north. The associated large low pressure area was being deflected well to the south of Singleton as it moved toward the coast. It did not rain at the lake at all on Sunday.

I quite enjoy the sunrise light and these floccus clouds were an added bonus. Floccus are small cumulus looking clouds appearing as a fibrous tuft. The bottoms of floccus are quite ragged and often accompanied by virga. The bases of these clouds are certainly not uniform. The text book says that floccus can only be applied to cirrus, cirrocumulus, altocumulus and stratocumulus. These clouds were not in a large enough sheet to make me think of stratocumulus so I simply called them cumulus floccus which really could be an unnecessary duplication of the term like calling them cumulus cumulus. Floccus are typically 1000 to 3000 feet tall although I find it challenging to really estimate these cloud dimensions from the ground. Some tufts have been recorded to 10000 feet tall turning them into altocumulus castellannus.

A look at the radar from the same time revealed that some of the floccus virga was actually being observed. Art gives me a chance to learn more science. They really are the same thing.

#2090 "Singleton Cirrus Sunset Fingers"

Every sunset offers another opportunity for a painting. The winds had backed to westerly during the day as revealed by the gravity waves in the cirrostratus. I believe that the parallel bands of cirrus fingers aligned with the upper jet actually form through the same process as Langmuir streaks and streets of turbulent stratocumulus. This formation is extremely common.

The air mass was still unstable but it required the day time heating from a spring day to set it off. According to radar some of that convection was passing just to the south of Singleton but it was not obvious that it was there looking at the sunset sky.

I have been signing the paintings with a very subtle scratch in the wet paint with a tooth pick. Sometimes the signature is so subtle that it is difficult to see. It is typically in the lower right. I dot the "i" with a dab of quinacridome red and sometimes that dot of paint is all you can really make out of my signature. The art is not about me but about the colours and tones.

#2089 "Singleton Sunset Convection"

Every sunset offers another opportunity for a painting and a lesson in meteorology. The weakening convection as witnessed at 7 pm on Wednesday May 2nd, 2018 was certainly no exception. The northwesterly winds aloft were guiding the low level anvil with them. The air mass was certainly unstable but it required the day time heating from a spring day to set it off. These particular cells was also located along the warm front. The col in the deformation zone was far to the northwest. More convection and thunderstorms would develop overnight due to wind shear and the fabled low topped supercells. This type of convection is what prompts early season watches and warnings from large hail and even tornadoes.

Note the gravity waves in the bands of cirrostratus that also reveal the wind direction at the level of the deaying anvil. The dark cloud on the western horizon was the next thunderstorm.