#0744 "Rain Clouds"

This is looking westward from the back hill of Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township at the very crest of the Oak Ridges Moraine. Watershed Farm was technically in the northern suburbs of Hammertown. One day it will all be called Toronto. I loved those 25 acres which we turned into a natural paradise. We had honey bees to augment the creatures that called the Oak Ridges "Home". Opossums had also expanded their range and were residents as of 2005 or so. This opossum was about the same size as our cat.

When temperatures get colder than -8 Celsius, its hairless tail freezes as it had on this fellow visiting Watershed Farm. The tail typically becomes infected and the possum dies. The fact that possums have expanded their range to include Schomberg, should do much more than all of the well-established science and the reality of climate change. Some people may distrust all of the other facts and figures but understand that the Virginia opossum’s range is expanding north. They are very adaptable to various urban and agricultural landscapes are are spreading northward with the rise in global temperatures.

The cloud deck had become overcast and embedded convection was making dark areas in the extensive cloud base. The cumulus towers were leaning northward with a gusty southerly wind. The horizon was occasionally lost with rain showers and by the time I finished the sketch, I was getting a few large drops of convective rain. Technically this should be called "Shower Clouds" but it looked like the showers were going to get more or less continuous in nature in just a short while. Those who were going to get wet would just call it rain.

The sky was only briefly this dark but it was when I locked in the colours.

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#0743 "Cone Heads"

This is looking southward at the front garden of Watershed Farm on the 12th Concession of King Township at the very crest of the Oak Ridges Moraine. The mid morning sunlight felt wonderful on my back. We loved these particular flowers. They added some colour to the garden which I re-edged every year as part of my chores - not a job I looked forward to. The family Maine Coon cat kept me company and was also enjoying the garden. She continued to miss her life-long companion, the Chesapeake as we all did.

The title is meant to be a bit humourous after the weird aliens called coneheads but it is also close to the official name of the "Purple Coneflower" (Echinacea Angustifolia).

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#0750 "Afternoon Stratocumulus"

This is the sky looking eastward from the front yard of Watershed Farm in the late afternoon. I was planning on doing some inside work but there was a large scale power failure that was probably linked to the strong and gusty winds. Not being able to vacuum the house, I decided to paint. I enjoy cleaning the house but I enjoy painting more.

It was really windy so I was glad to put a small canvas on the easel so that it would not become a sail. I set up in the lee of the house so I would not be blown away. The September sky was fairly unstable and the momentum from the upper atmosphere was readily transferred to the ground.

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#0746 "Sunrise Strato CU"

This is looking westward from just north of the Watershed Farmhouse starting at 7:30 am on a late summer morning. The field of stratocumulus cloud was drifting slowly southeastward. Once again the geese entertained me by flying out of the wetland and directly overhead. The young geese were learning how to really fly. They were really excited about the morning and the coming migration. There was a "whole lot of honkin' goin' on"!

The cloud colours were what interested me as well as the nearly uniform elevation of the stratocumulus bases that result from the turbulent mixing of the surface moisture. The surface winds were virtually calm while the winds at the top of the boundary layer were certainly northwesterly. The winds backed to the southwester in the mid levels and higher and were quite strong gauging from the spacing of the gravity waves.

The approaching warm frontal surface produced elevated altocumulus castellanus. Light showers that weren't in the forecast occurred before noon in Hammertown. A thin veil of cirrostratus approaching from the southwest became thicker during the painting clinching the warm frontal diagnosis of the weather situation. The clues to the weather are always written in the sky if you know the vocabulary. This was the classic conveyor belt conceptual model.

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#0792 "Chantry Fun"

I had some time to paint after doing the chores at Watershed Farm. The horses and cows were fed and watered. The horses get some sweet grain horsey candy as well. The barn cats were happy in the spring sun under the front porch. The honey bees were starting to fly in the spring air. Life was very good.

I wanted some more practice for the upcoming "Artist-in-Residence" assignment at the Southampton School of Art on the shores of Lake Huron. Chantry Light was the obvious subject and this is what resulted. It was fun. I am looking forward to actually staying there and painting on location. I was ready.

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#0718 "Turbulent Stratocumulus"

Cold air was surging across the Oak Ridges Moraine in the wake of the morning cold front. The temperature had dropped to 2 Celsius from 10 Celsius in just a couple of hours. The cold air side of the front is always the baroclinic side. By 3 pm I had finished my chores so the family Chesapeake and I went out to the front yard of Watershed Farm to paint the clouds.

Streets of turbulent stratocumulus were aligned with the northwesterly winds. Embedded towering cumulus dropped showers of rain and even snow. Ice pellets (Type B) were associated with the stronger convection.  The family Chesapeake simply laid on the wet lawn and gnawed on her new tennis ball. The clouds were whipping along but I was able to capture a few of them. The colour of the clear sky above the stratocumulus rolls was pure cerulean blue with no contrails in sight. .

When it started to shower really hard I retreated to the art room where there was a fire on in the wood stove. I was pretty much done anyway and it was getting darker anyway.

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#0714 "Crepuscular Rays"

It was about an hour after a November sunrise and the non-parallel appearance of the parallel crepuscular rays from the sun were very striking from the Brockville waterfront. It is the same phenomena of steel rails that appear to converge as you look away along a train track. The steel rails are certainly the same distance apart but they don't seem that way when you are standing along the tracks and look along them. The Morrisburg water tower was evident on the American shore.

November is one of those months when people with Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) begin to feel depressed. SAD begins and ends at about the same time every year for people who are affected. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months. SAD people have their energy sapped and they tend to be very moody. SAD that causes depression in the spring or early summer are less common. Treatment for SAD may include light therapy (phototherapy), medications and psychotherapy.Don't brush off that yearly feeling as simply a case of the "winter blues" or a seasonal funk that you have to tough out on your own. Take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year.

I love the weather. It not only pays the bills but it makes me happy. It is all how you look at things. The weather is always there for me when I am looking for a challenge to observe, to understand, to paint and to predict.

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#0702 "The Rock in the Bay"

I was staying at the Marcotte Cottage on Canonto Lake. I wanted to paint somewhere that I had not been before and these beautiful waterways were perfect. I painted non stop for a week.

I stood on a tiny granite rock island just to the north of the island pictured in number 0698 "Canonto Island". This scene is painted looking toward the south-south-west starting at 8:30 am. There was a cold northerly breeze blowing and it was only 11 Celsius - not typical holiday August weather. The sky was full of gray cumulus clouds. There were a few towering cumulus stirred in for good effect that dropped just enough rain to make it really cool. The water was warm but the air was not. Sometimes evapourative cooling is not your friend.

I pretty well finished the painting from my granite perch but bailed around noon to warm up at the Marcotte Cottage. The "rock" in the title could refer to either my perch or the rock island. There were some nice patches on moss on the larger granite rock.

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#0701 "Canonto Cold Advection Stratocumulus"

I was staying at the Marcotte Cottage on Canonto Lake. I wanted to paint somewhere that I had not been before and these beautiful waterways were perfect. I painted non stop for a week.

The cold front that crossed Canonto Lake overnight with thunderstorms was followed by much colder air and streets of stratocumulus rolls. I had a strong headwind to paddle to a small island in the northern basin of Canonto Lake. I parked on the south end of the small island and painted looking south-southeast at a bit of an angle to the northwesterly stratocumulus rolls. The wind was at my back and the sun was not quite high enough to be a problem.

I started painting before 9 am after I managed to set my easel up on a couple of rocks. I painted until almost noon. I found corroded wire rims from some long, lost glasses where I pulled Margaritaville, my green Kevlar Prospector canoe up on some rocks. I also found an old 7-Up bottle and a beer stubby. Art does pay!

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