#2601 "December 2021 Altocumulus Sunrise"

#2601 "December 2021 Altocumulus Sunrise"
5x7 inches

This is the sunrise sky from Wednesday, December 15, 2021 at precisely 7:07 am. I would visit this sunrise again in #2593 "Singleton Warm Frontal Sunrise"... only 8 minutes later. The sunrise and sunset skies change in the matter of a seconds. This sunrise caught the attention of many friends who posted their views on-line. 

The warm frontal surface of the warm conveyor belt was overhead. As is typical, Singleton was under the anticyclonic companion of the warm conveyor belt of an eastern Ontario storm. There was some virga but nothing would reach the ground from a couple of more hours. 

The freezing rain profile that was painted in #2592 "Atmospheric Ocean Swell Waves and Lines" had materialized. Freezing rain would have a significant impact in the Ottawa Valley but that would wait until the afternoon. Observations are hard to come by when the weather turns bad. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2600 "Long Reach Woodland Crick"

#2600 "Long Reach Woodland Crick"
30x20 by 1.5 Gallery Wrap

The sound of the spring melt water led me to this little stream just inland from the shore of Long Reach. I was out for an early morning paddle in my canoe. There were almost no banks to the tiny woodland stream so I used the unusual word "crick" to describe it. I have used this word frequently and apparently it originates from the United States as an alternative for "creek". The word is more commonly used to describe a painful, usually sudden stiffness in the muscles of the neck or back. I get those as well. 

It was a mild spring morning and the sun cast a dappled light across the scene interrupted by the diffuse shadows of the trees that comprised the forest. My goal was to paint the colours of the water and the shadows in the filtered morning light without delving to photographic realism. My other goal was to take a break from the large canvas on my easel (#2597 "Mattawa Woodland Cascade" - not yet published) and think about something else. I tried to keep the scene alive with the motion of the brush strokes, the colours and the tones. Art needs to be fun and  overflowing with joy and life. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2599 "Singleton Nocturne Cold Front"

#2599 "Singleton Nocturne Cold Front" 8x10

The winter storm foretold by #2598 "January Warm Frontal Sunset" had arrived and was on its way further out to the east. The cold front had arrived along with blustery westerly winds. Scraps of cumulus fractus were being shredded by those winds. Meanwhile higher level gravity waves were riding the cold frontal surface in the last light of of Sunday. 

The features that made this sunset worthy of being recorded in oils were the multiple dark lines of clouds which were also stretching perpendicular to the westerly winds. These cloud lines were almost parallel to the upper level gravity waves. The higher winds were backed a bit more to the southwest consistent with cold air advection. These cloud formations were deformation zones that form in the descending cold air behind the cold front. 

The accompanying graphic describes the process of the dry conveyor (DCB) belt deformation zones (DZ). These deformation zones (DCB-DZ) are analogous to those found in the warm conveyor belt. In the case of the dry conveyor belt deformation zone, the moisture is located on the other side of the line - ahead of the DZ. The dominate, companion swirls shaping the bowed line are located in the dry air. These intense swirls remain largely invisible without moisture elements to trace their motions. Remember that the deformation zone is actually more like a skin encasing an airmass like a nylon stocking. Deformation zone skins also enclose circulations. As a result, the deformation zones in the sky always surround an airmass but are most evident at the leading and trailing edges of the airmass. 

In addition, those chaotic shreds of cumulus fractus were actually aligned in streets parallel to the westerly low level winds. The turbulent streets are the atmospheric ocean equivalent of Langmuir streaks which were first described in water bodies. The science of fluids actually spans all media. So much to learn...

Singleton Lake was ice covered except for the fast water of Jim Day Rapids. The reflections of the sky were thus determined by the distribution of the ice and snow on the lake. The rippled reflections of the open water of Jim Day Rapids were dark since they reflected the night skies overhead. 

The interpretation of nature is always true if you honestly paint what you see even though you might not understand or appreciate it at the time. This skyscape was fun on a very smooth and slippery surface. These patterns occur at all scales in all fluids and it just requires natural curiosity to investigate them ... and paint them. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2598 "January Warm Frontal Sunset"

#2598 "January Warm Frontal Sunset" 8x10

I was struggling with #2597 "Mattawa Woodland Cascade" (not yet published) and the best way to overcome those uncertainties was to break out another panel. The sunset the previous evening had been striking so I thought that would be a good distraction. The sun was setting at about 4:43 pm and sunrise was getting a couple of minutes longer with each passing day. 

A band of overcast altostratus and cirrostratus was over Singleton with the warm conveyor belt. We were under the anticyclonic companion of the storm so there was a big gap in the overcast to the southwest. This allowed the setting sun to reach in and light up the underside of the cloud deck. The sky was ignited into a blaze of colours. There were some pouches of virga hanging down from the altostratus and these were very efficient at catching the light. I needed to record these colours in oil. 

A jet contrail was inbound to Person International. The contrail trace was intermixed with the bands of altostratus. The porch lights were on at our only neighbours. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2596 "Heart of Lally Island"

#2596 "Heart of Lally Island" 12x10

This gnarly bit of rocky and piney shore is on the southeastern tip of Lally Island looking eastward early in the mid morning of a cloudy August day in 2021. My friend Cam would have Sea-Dooed to this location after #2595 "Flagged Pines of Lally Island". A bank beaver had selected a wise place to make home. 

This is another Ro-Lak-Tree (a name I made up) Painting. I am repeating the Group of Seven Canadian Identity adventure of painting Canadian rocks, lakes and trees during COVID 2020- 2021-2022. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2589 "Cousin Island Crow Convention"

#2589 "Cousin Island Crow Convention"
7x5 inches

I included the moon in this bit of rocky and piney shore. The view is on the northern shore of Cousin Island looking southwestward early in the afternoon of a cloud free August day in 2020. 

The murder of crows had decided to hold a convention on Cousin Island. Crows are very intelligent creatures and certainly had a lot of say. There are five crows in this murder. Corvid or more correctly, corvidae, is the genus that includes crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. Members of this family are self-aware as demonstrated in mirror tests and can make tools. These skills were thought to be possessed only by humans and a few other higher mammals. Their total brain-to-body mass ratio is equal to that of non-human great apes and only slightly lower than that of humans. They are my friends. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2595 "Flagged Pines of Lally Island"

#2959 "Flagged Pines of Lally Island" 10x12

This bit of rocky and piney shore is on the southeastern tip of Lally Island looking eastward early in the mid morning of a cloudy August day in 2021.

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2594 "Out of the Blue of the Eastern Sky"

#2594 "Out of the Blue of the Eastern Sky" 8x10

The best way to prevent overworking a canvas is to pause and then quickly grab a fresh, blank one. It is very easy to overwork something trying to make it better. Actually by continually pushing the oils around on the canvas, you are more likely to mix them into mud and distort the shapes and patterns that interested you in the first place. The net effect of trying to to make something more real or better might be actually robbing the life form the oils. 

The sunrise of Wednesday December 15th, 2021 was special. I felt that the sky needed another interpretation. The light changed so quickly that the morning offered a score of paintings – all very different. Plein air was impossible to catch up with the speed of light. Plus we had errands to get done in town.

The title is a fond memory from my childhood when television was a new and novel treat. The good guys and girls always won as they should and life seemed simpler. One of those programs was “Sky King”. The familiar lyric was “out of the blue of the western sky comes Sky King”. In this case, I switched the horizon to sunrise and incorporated the science of Rayleigh scattering to make it real and perhaps, just a bit humourous. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you. 

#2593 "Singleton Warm Frontal Sunrise"

#2593 "Singleton Warm Frontal Sunrise" 10x12

The time was 7:15 am and sunrise on Wednesday December 15th, 2021 was big, bright and beautiful. 

The warm frontal surface of the warm conveyor belt was overhead. As is typical, Singleton was under the anticyclonic companion of the storm. There was some virga but nothing would reach the ground from a couple of more hours. 

The freezing rain profile that was painted in #2592 "Atmospheric Ocean Swell Waves and Lines" had materialized. Freezing rain would have a significant impact in the Ottawa Valley but that would wait until the afternoon. Observations are hard to come by when the weather turns bad. 

I would visit this sunrise again in #2601 "December 2021 Altocumulus Sunrise"... only 8 minutes earlier. The sunrise and sunset skies change in the matter of a seconds. This sunrise caught the attention of many friends who posted their views on-line. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels. Thank you.