#2190 "Frater Superior East"

I woke up at 6 am at my Agawa campsite in Superior East as has been the habit on this painting trip. Within minutes I was in the car and traveling up Frater Road. The car has a heater and the tent does not. The car measured the outside temperature at plus 4 Celsius. It felt colder and I had the car heater on full tilt to compensate. I was told that it was very scenic in Frater and I had to go. The weather was foggy with some drizzle but I had to give it a try.

The roads were constructed out of glacial till. The round rocks were sometimes huge like boulders and the rain from Alberto had washed the sand from around them. The round rocks made the road very rough. I drove up to the Village of Frater. There were a few old and empty looking houses with three big trucks parked outside. I saw two bull moose on the railway tracks that went through the centre of Frater. The huge moose simply dissolved into the fog and the drizzle when they saw me. There were several outhouses so I don't think any of these houses had running water. I would have painted something in Frater but the precipitation was far too heavy. I also wanted to take the Towab Trail that started from Frater Road but it sounded like I would spend way more time hiking than painting. Agawa Falls was at the end of that Towab Trail.

I did revisit the photos I took in this painting and #2191 "Algoma Central". I painted the village looking southward from the train tracks. The one red building had a "Frater". The other building had it own outhouse.

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#2189 "Trapper’s Bay"

I went for a hike around Trapper's Trail on the way back from Gargantua Harbour and just after painting #2124 "Superior Woodland River". Trapper's Trail follows the shore around Rustle Lake and was only 5 kilometres south of the Gargantua Harbour. I thought it would be nice to explore every little bit of Superior East Provincial Park.

The guide for Superior East Provincial Park describes Trapper's Trail as " Follow the shoreline of Rustle Lake through a wetland and watch for moose, great blue heron and beaver from the floating boardwalk. Dawn and dusk are the best times to see beaver on this trail." It was indeed an easy hike and only 1.5 kiolmetres long. I was the only one walking. There was some good scenery for sure. I saw moose tracks but nothing was standing in them at the time.

The altocumulus clouds were as flat as pancakes. This was really a skyscape disguised as a landscape. The subject matter was really the flat sheet of altocumulus cloud and I wanted to see how well I could capture that moment. I used a lot of paint on this small canvas.

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#2188 "Dumoine Dances"

This is based on #2159 "Dumoine Rapids". That painting was all about the forest and the rapids in the title were more of a supporting actor. I wanted to do something much bigger than the plein air work that also had a lot of vitality and movement. I felt the forest and trees dancing as much as the rapids. The car-sized boulders even have a lot of movement as well.

The Dumoine is a celebration of something alive and vibrant and that include the rocks and the trees as well as the river. I picked a large and very high quality canvas and a palette full of paint - pitter-patter...

The black spruce and pines of the Dumoine are thick and their branches intertwine to make a nearly impregnable wall of green. It is dark in the forest under those trees and once inside there is not much to guide you which way you came or which way to go. The forest probably looked the same way now as it did in the times of Champlain a few centuries ago before the Industrial Revolution. (Samuel Champlain; born August 13, 1567, died 1635)

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#2187 "Another Sunset Revolution"

Hurricane Gordon was down on the Gulf of Mexico in early September 2018. The water vapour imagery clearly shows where that tropical moisture was headed along the atmospheric highway in the sky.

The sunsets and the weather were going to be interesting. Every day the earth makes another revolution and every day, all being well, we get to enjoy another spectacular sunset. This sunset was a couple of days before #2186 "Gordon Thin Cirrostratus Sunset" and three days before #2185 "Virga Singleton Sunset".

Hurricane Gordon was the costliest tropical cyclone of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. Gordon was also the most destructive tropical cyclone to strike Florida since Hurricane Irma in 2017. Gordon was the seventh named storm, third hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, Gordon caused widespread devastation in the Antilles Islands, Cuba, Bahamas islands, and the southeastern United States. The damage cost about $26.3 billion and resulted in 129 storm-related fatalities in all affected areas. The warmer oceans were fueling more and stronger tropical storms. There were nine tropical storms active when I recorded this story.

The warmer oceans were fueling more and stronger tropical storms. There were nine tropical storms active when I recorded this story.

I painted the same sky again in #2203 "Langmuir Streak Sunset". The timing was just a bit later on that Thursday evening. Sunset skies can change dramatically by the minute.

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#2186 "Gordon Thin Cirrostratus Sunset"

The tropical moisture from the remains of Hurricane Gordon was approaching Singleton Lake. Tropical moisture and clouds just look different - and there was a lot of tropical moisture in this air mass.

The water vapour imagery revealed a continuous supply of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. Thunderstorms were frequent along this line south of Lake Erie. This sunset was the day before #2185 "Virga Singleton Sunset".

We need more sunset paintings in this world... it reveals more people are taking the time to appreciate the everyday beauty that surrounds us.

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#2185 "Virga Singleton Sunset"

The sunset was striking. I always try to make time to just sit and watch the sun go down. A Singleton Lake sunset always tells a tale. This precipitation was aloft and not making it to the ground from the altocumulus layer of the warm conveyor belt. That is the definition of virga. It was certainly starting as snow aloft and melting into rain drops that evapourated before reaching the ground. Rain was on the way though.

This moisture was the remains of Hurricane Gordon. There was a lot of tropical moisture in the air mass. The water vapour imagery revealed a continuous supply of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico of which part belonged to Gordon. Thunderstorms were frequent along this line south of Lake Erie.

The warmer oceans were fueling more and stronger tropical storms. There were nine tropical storms active when I recorded this story about virga at Singleton Lake. It seemed that new weather records were being set each month. Virga does not make the news but it can make for a beautiful sunset.

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#2183 "Mack Street Estates"

This was the second morning of Paint the Town 2018. The town was Kingston and the event was part of the International Plein Air Painters (IPAP) Worldwide Paint Out held for three days, Friday through Sunday in early September every year since 2001. IPAP was founded in 2001 with the belief that plein air painters should have an organization with no regional ties and no border restrictions - artists without borders. I am happy to be a Charter and Signature (Honours) Member and I don't belong to much.

We were painting in the Williamsville District of Kingston. I moved to the north side of Victoria Park and continued painting. I kept the warm sun on my back. There was a brisk easterly breeze and it was rather cool. The sun was bright and really lit up the warm brick walls of the stately homes. I was trying not to get detailed and stay more with the feeling of the place.

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#2182 "Albert Street Alley"

This was the second morning of Paint the Town 2018. The town was Kingston and the event was part of the International Plein Air Painters (IPAP) Worldwide Paint Out held for three days, Friday through Sunday in early September every year since 2001. IPAP was founded in 2001 with the belief that plein air painters should have an organization with no regional ties and no border restrictions - artists without borders. I am happy to be a Charter and Signature (Honours) Member and I don't belong to much.

We were painting in the Williamsville District of Kingston. I do not normally paint homes. There was ample parking available on Saturday so I went to Victoria Park. I would spend the entire day there mainly painting from the western edges of the park.

The alley way was just south of #2181 "Albert Street Dorms". I only moved my easel about 15 feet. I forgot to take pictures of this painting in progress. I must have really been in the zone. As well artists who had viewed the morning presentation at the Kingston School of Art arrived as I was working on this one. The sun was on my back and it felt very good.

The Queens Frosh were marching up and down the streets collecting beer bottles as a fund raiser. There were a lot of bottles to collect.

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#2181 "Albert Street Dorms"

This was the second morning of Paint the Town 2018. The town was Kingston and the event was part of the International Plein Air Painters (IPAP) Worldwide Paint Out held for three days, Friday through Sunday in early September every year since 2001. IPAP was founded in 2001 with the belief that plein air painters should have an organization with no regional ties and no border restrictions - artists without borders. I am happy to be a Charter and Signature (Honours) Member and I don't belong to much.

We were painting in the Williamsville District of Kingston. I do not normally paint homes. There was ample parking available on Saturday so I went to Victoria Park. I would spend the entire day there mainly painting from the western edges of the park.

This house was a dorm for goodness knows how many Queens University students. People were coming and going all morning and not dressed that much different from the way I looking in 1972. No one looked my way or said hello. I just painted. The shadow of the telephone pole moved like a sundial across the red brick of what was once a proud and prestigious family home. That home needed some loving care in 2018. I moved my 2004 red Forester into the painting instead of the white car that was there. A lady came out of the house and drove that white car away.

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