#0552 "Deep Woods Barn Owl"

This is a 4-month-old female barn owl raised in captivity and displayed at the Burdette Gallery Fall Show, Saturday October 13th, 2001. I was there with my art and did some photography of this barn owl and the other birds of prey on display. I don't enjoy painting from photos anymore but sometimes, it is unavoidable. I've never seen a barn owl in the wild and this one was sitting right in front of me. The range of the barn owl barely edges into southern Ontario.

The jack pine and white pine background is from the front yard at Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township. I wanted to get the feel of the thick woods without painting every needle. Once again, I played ball with the family Chesapeake at the same time. It kept me and the oils pretty loose.

The colours of this painting come alive in the dark ... just like the owl.

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#0722 "The Spa"

The family Chesapeake was relaxing in her spa during a game of ball. The water was always topped up by the eaves trough and she would overflow it when she stepped in. We would hit the ball toward the north, trying for a home run across the fence. When she was young, she would play this game until we got tired. During the last week, she could only manage one or maybe two retrieves. She never stopped though.

The family played with her constantly. She controlled the pace of the game strategically. She would feign not knowing where the ball landed if it got into the tall grass. She would not make the retrieve until you approached to point it out to her. Of course this assumes that you actually knew where it was. She would give a "humpf" of triumph when she pulled the ball out of the grass. She also slowed the game down by wading into her spa to cool off. This was her first spa. We purchased a larger, black plastic spa several years later that she could actually lay down in. I think she still fancied her original spa better than the fancy new one from the TSC Store in Alliston.

The family Chesapeake was the star attraction of every gathering at the farm of which there were many.  She entertained young and old and had a great time doing it! She also protected Watershed Farm. What a dog! She will always be missed.

The "dot" on the "i" of my signature Chadwick is intended to be a green tennis ball in honour of the family Chesapeake's fetish. She only liked green tennis balls.

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#0580 "Homestead Lilacs"

This was painted on the front yard of Watershed Farm looking north ... toward the sounds of thunder and very blustery winds. The canvas was breathing in an out with the wind. It was difficult to control the brushstrokes on the billowing canvas. The family Chesapeake was with me chasing the green tennis ball in the tall grasses of the apple orchard.

These lilacs were likely planted around 1860 by Thomas McAfee who owned Lot 24 then. They were also probably located just to the south of the original settler's homestead. It would have been a much different existence back then. We are still using the same well though and the water was still sweet.

There were one room pioneer homes on both Lot 23 and Lot 24 back in 1860. On Lot 24 of Watershed Farm (as I named it in 1993), the house had been built at least 300 yards from the farm because of the fear of fire as was a common practice in those times. The houses were also built in the center of the land so that they didn't have to travel as far to reach the fields. It was just east of the corner where the old lane turned up to the barn. All that remains of this house is some stone/cement foundation in the ditch. This also explains why there is this thick grove of lilacs in that location. It also explains the placement of the well just to the southeast of the home site. There are probably many artifacts buried on the site. At this time little else is known about the families who grew up on Lot 24.

This plein air painting date was also the 17th anniversary of the Barrie Tornado, which killed 12 people (also on a Friday). These thunderstorms also went severe producing large hail in Barrie and a tornado near North Bay. It was my day off so I could enjoy the weather without any pressure.

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#0496 "Mid-Summer Barn"

This is a group of perennial flowers in front of the northeast corner of the Watershed Farm bank barn in early August 2000. A heavy thunderstorm had just passed through and everything was clean. Lots of leaves were even washed off the huge black willow tree which was just to the right and out of the view of the painting. This is plein air view was looking southwest toward the barn across the parking area from the old entry.

We bought the farm (so to speak as we did not die) in March 1993. What an adventure. The farm house had been empty for a few years. Vandals had broken windows and doors. Antique hardware was stolen. Frogs and snakes lived in the mud-floored basement and crawled through cracks in the stone foundation. The heat exchanger on the furnace was cracked. Cluster flies swarmed everywhere. The balloon framing of wood-house used long, vertical 2" x 4"s for the exterior walls. These long "studs" extended uninterrupted from the sill on top of the foundation, all the way up to the roof. There was no insulation in those walls. The home needed some attention.

The barn was in slightly better shape although the raccoons called it home. The stone and cement foundation was cracked. We believe the barn was built around 1860 perhaps by Thomas McAfee who owned Lot 24 then. The barn originally sat on the ground. Joe Duggan jacked the barn up, completing the job on November 19th, 1919. John James Coulter (the first) died in 1919 at the age of 87 years old - the year the barn was jacked up and that is how Roy Coulter, one of his grandsons, remembers the date.

There were one room homes on both Lot 23 and Lot 24 back in the middle 1800's. On Lot 24 of "Watershed Farm", the house had been built at least 300 yards from the farm because of the fear of fire as was a common practice in those times. The houses were also built in the center of the land so that they didn't have to travel as far to reach the fields. It was just east of the corner where the old lane turned up to the barn. All that remains of this house is some stone/cement foundation in the ditch. This explains why there is a thick grove of lilacs in that location. It also explains the placement of the well just to the southeast of the home site. There are probably many artifacts buried on the site. At this time little else is known about the families which grew up on Lot 24.

We loved Watershed Farm (I named it) and the adventure. We raised our family there on the 12th Concession of King Township.

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#0607 "Goin 'to Grazeland"

Starting in April each year, our Schomberg friends, the O'Hara's bring over a small herd of Holstein heifers that spend their summer vacation on the back 15 acres. When they return to their home on the 11th Concession in the fall, they will be bred and thus starts their career of milk production and calving. Thus their short pilgrimage to Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession is like going to "Graceland" or "Grazeland" as it maybe misspelled. Thannk yuuuuu verry mucchhh! Thanks Elvis!

Graceland was also the seventh solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon which was released released on August 25, 1986. "Graceland" was the title song which also featured Don and Phil, the Everly Brothers. The lyrics deal with the singer's thoughts during a road trip to Graceland after the failure of his marriage. It was listed at #485 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs in 2003 when I did this painting.

While at the farm, these heifers behave more like curious big black and white dogs that follow me around. This explains the photo opportunity that is pictured in the painting. I was checking on the trees that I had planted.

I had wanted to paint outside again but it was still much too windy and cold on that January morning in 2003. Schools were closed and every now and again, the visibility dropped to near zero in snowsqualls. I picked this image from my memory and photo album.

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#0577 "The Swamp Tree"

I often wonder about the secret life of trees. New science and research confirms that their life and roots are much more entwined and deeper than you could ever imagine. The older trees like this one would have quite a story to tell. All of nature is inter-connected and humans have forgotten or at least ignored this simple fact.

Science has proved that neighboring trees help each other through their root systems. This assistance can be achieved directly through intertwined roots or indirectly by growing fungal networks around the roots that serve as a sort of extended nervous system connecting separate trees. These forest relationships are even more complex as they appear able to distinguish their own roots from those of other species and even of their own relatives.

Forests should be stress free zones and it is where I can escape to really relax and create. The new practice of forest bathing has nothing to do with water but with immersing yourself into the healing properties of the natural environment of trees and plants. Forest bathing is based on the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku which translates to "taking in the forest atmosphere." Meditative time spent in the woods can offer a host of mental, emotional and physical benefits. I just knew that it felt good to paint en plein air surrounded by trees and not computer screens. The canoe is another place of serenity for me.

This particular tree is looking north from the edge of Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township toward the small swamp on the other side of the property line. I have painted this characteristic tree before in #0550 "Swamp Tree" and possibly more canvases. I forget. It leans out over the water quite a ways. The family Chesapeake was with me along with a million biting black flies. The flies get under the brim of the hat and proceed to bite away. Sometimes blood drips down my nose without me noticing - especially if I am in the zone. My right temple was actually swollen with bites. The family Chesapeake kept the water very disturbed as always.

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#0537 "Layer Cake Cloud"

I took a few hours off on Saturday afternoon (August 11, 2001). I didn't have time to go anywhere so the front hill of Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township looked good. The layers of stratocumulus as they receded off to the east, were something I wanted to capture. Between brush strokes, I threw the green tennis ball for the family Chesapeake, my constant companion along with the Maine Coon cat. The clouds were moving around so much that it was tricky to catch the effect while also getting the shape and colours of a few of the individual clouds.

These stratocumulus tell us that the atmosphere is stable with a subsidence inversion due to an approaching ridge of high pressure. The banding is due to gravity waves with the brisk westerly winds coming off the Niagara escarpment to the west. It was not going to rain for at least another day so that the drought would continue. I finished just in time to barbeque hamburgers for supper. Life is good. It would have been nice to have a layer cake for dessert but the stacked clouds would have to do.

I did not realize at the time that the horrific 911 was only a month in the future.

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#0546 "Water Watching"

From Tuesday, September 18, 2001... I simply turned toward the south after finishing #0545 "The Back Forty" and looked across the headwaters of the Humber at the reflection of a barely alive willow tree. The beavers had partially gnawed through the trunk. There was just a bit of bark keeping some leaves on the canopy above. I was interested by the dark colours and shapes reflected in the water and just wanted to have some fun.

The family Chesapeake had a different stick and once again it kept her busy stirring up the water's surface. The eleven heifers from the O'Hara's herd watched me from a distance. Cows are smarter than you might think.

I used the 1969 Massey tractor as my mode of transportation to the back fields of Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township. The Holsteins were curious as to what colours I might have in the bucket of the tractor and whether anything might be good to eat.

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#0404 "Schomberg Squall"

The leading edge of a summer thunderstorm squall approaching Schomberg as seen looking north along Highway 27 from Bell's Lake. I was on my way home from work when the weather centre was still at Pearson International Airport. The Toyota Corolla just sipped the gas and made the commute to work manageable. And Yes, the squall line was forecast.

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