#2841 "Blue Bird of Paradise"

#2841 "Blue Bird of Paradise"
14 X 18 inches oils on stretched canvas.
Started Saturday, February 17th, 2024 

I have constructed several hundred Peterson Blue Bird houses in my time. There were always construction scraps to turn into something useful. Waste not and want not. The northwest corner of King Township and the Greenbelt has most of those boxes but there are still a hundred within the Singleton Sanctuary. All varieties of birds enjoy the Peterson Blue Birdhouse design. (https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/build-a-bluebird-house/) When my workshop was functional, there would be twenty or more Peterson boxes in construction. There were jigs set up to make every cut perfect. The reward was to see several broods emerge from each Peterson Blue Birdhouse every summer. With climate change, the bluebirds are now year-round residents at Singleton Lake and seem to survive on the cones of red cedars. Bluebirds have been known to live for a decade so the birds that inhabit the sanctuary know us well. 

Blue Bird is supposed to be one word but the two words in the title ensure that the name of this painting is unique. I used a photo taken by my friend John Verburg for this painting. The bluebird sparkled against the autumn colours of the edge of the forest.

By the 1970s, bluebird numbers had declined by estimates ranging to 70 percent. The widespread use of pesticides was certainly a cause. However, unsuccessful competition with invasive species such as house sparrows and starlings is also cited. These birds all compete for nesting cavities. The unspoken elephant in the room is the widespread and serious decline in habitat both in amount and quality. An upsurge in bluebird numbers starting in the 1990s can be attributed largely to a movement of volunteers establishing and maintaining bluebird trails. Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology reports bluebird sightings across the southern U.S. as part of its yearly Backyard Bird Count, something that we participate in at Singleton Lake. 

Right to the brush... on the Studio easel

I was thinking of the countless other species that call this portion of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere home as I painted. We are very fortunate to witness nature every day in the Singleton Sanctuary. 

The bluebird is also the inspiration for many songs - not just paintings. "Bluebird of Happiness" is a song composed in 1934. "Bluebird" is another song written by Stephen Stills and recorded by the rock band Buffalo Springfield in 1967. It contains the lyrics "There she sits aloft at perch. Strangest colour blue." 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2840 "Cooper's Glare"

#2840 "Cooper's Glare"
20 (height) X 16 (width) inches by 3/4 (plus) in depth (inches).
Started 11 am Thursday, February 1st, 2024.

The best way to not over-work a painting is to start another canvas. I was getting to that stage with #2839 "American Kestrel". There was some dabbing of unnecessary details going on. Time to step away from that easel at least for a while. 

My friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer had a wonderful image of a Cooper's hawk. That striking picture had been in my mind for several weeks. The hawk displayed an extreme attitude while nestled within the interlaced branches of an autumn oak. John encourages me to paint from his art and this one begged to be in oils. I display the photo on an old TV and go right to the brush. 

This bird also reminded me of #0554 "Sharp Stare!". That sharp-shinned hawk also had a lot of rapt demeanour in those eyes. The word "rapt" is very apt and defined as "completely fascinated by what one is seeing or hearing." A raptor is also defined as a bird of prey such as an eagle, hawk, falcon, or owl. The English language and the history of these words can be fascinating! 

I wanted to have a similar name for this painting, kindred of #0554. The word "glare" came immediately to mind: "stare in an angry or fierce way". The meaning of the word glare perfectly fits the intent displayed in the Cooper's Hawk's eyes. I had to get those orbs perfect.- without being fussy with the brush strokes.

#2840 "Cooper's Glare" about halfway to completion within the Singleton Sanctuary

The Cooper's is a medium-sized hawk of the woodlands. They really enjoy the Singleton Sanctuary. They feed mostly on birds and small mammals and hunt by stealth, approaching their prey through dense cover and then pouncing with a rapid, powerful flight. Of the three bird-eating accipiter hawks, Cooper's is the mid-sized species and the most widespread as a nesting bird south of Canada. 

I have constructed shelters for the smaller creatures to encourage their numbers within the Singleton Sanctuary. They are also vital inhabitants, but I am careful not to tell them that they are the base of the food chain. The raptors appreciate those efforts but so do the small creatures. Everyone is happy. 

As I painted, I was thinking of the birds of prey and the countless other species that call this portion of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere home. We are very fortunate to see all kinds of nature every day in the Singleton Sanctuary. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2839 "American Kestrel"

#2839 "American Kestrel" 16x20 inches oils on stretched canvas. 
Started at 10 am Tuesday January 30th, 2024 in the Singleton Studio

My friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer took this image of an American kestrel - the smallest of falcons. John encourages me to paint from his art. 

I display the photo on an old TV and go right to the brush. I still needed to give #2833 "The Sun of Whiskey Jack Bay" a break. The paint is very thick on that 3 by 4 footer canvas and that requires time to cure - "thick on thin" is the oil painter's adage... All things take time. 

The slender American Kestrel is roughly the size and shape of a Mourning Dove. The kestrel does have a larger head; longer, narrow wings; and a long, square-tipped tail. In flight, the wings are often bent and the wingtips swept back like a fighter jet.  

The American kestrel (Falco sparverius), also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It also ranges to South America and is a well-established species that has evolved into 17 subspecies adapted to different environments and habitats throughout the Americas. It exhibits sexual dimorphism in size (females being moderately larger) and plumage, although both sexes have a rufous back with noticeable barring. Its plumage is colorful and attractive, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adults. The American kestrel usually hunts in energy-conserving fashion by perching and scanning the ground for prey to ambush, though it also hunts from the air. It sometimes hovers in the air with rapid wing beats while homing in on prey. Its diet typically consists of grasshoppers and other insects, lizards, mice, and small birds. This broad diet has contributed to its wide success as a species. It nests in cavities in trees, cliffs, buildings, and other structures. The female lays three to seven eggs, which both sexes help to incubate. 

Physically, American kestrels are leaner and less muscular than larger falcons. The pectoral flight muscles of the American kestrel make up only about 12% of its body weight, as compared to about 20% for the strongest flying falcons such as the peregrine. The wings are moderately long, fairly narrow, and taper to a point. 

I was still listening to the Best of the Statler Brothers CDs. My Brother Jim has been acquiring hundreds of CDs while the rest of the world was shifting to streaming Spotify. We also enjoy Spotify now that StarLink provides faster internet to very rural areas. However, the old CDs are classic. There are several lifetimes of music left to listen to again. 

The world needs more art whether it be music, dance or paintings. Creativity needs to return to the education system. It is impossible to feel bad or to harm anything with a paintbrush in your hand. Just my thoughts of course... but I was still thinking them as I painted the birds I see every day in the Singleton Sanctuary. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2837 "January Barred Owl"

#2837 "January Barred Owl"
20x16 inches oils on gallery-wrapped canvas
Started January 10th, 2024 

I love barred owls. We hear and enjoy them all year within the Singleton Sanctuary. Slightly smaller than a Great Horned Owl, a Barred Owl has a well-developed facial disk with very dark eyes. Barred Owls are common in the United States and central and northern Ontario, however, they are extremely rare in parts of southwestern Ontario. Barred Owls roost quietly in forest trees during the day, though they can occasionally be heard calling in daylight hours. At night they hunt small animals, especially rodents, and give an instantly recognizable "Who, Who cooks for you?" call. 

My friend John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer took this image of the owl and allows me to paint from his art. I display the photo on an old TV and go right to the brush. #2833 "The Sun of Whiskey Jack Bay" is the 3 by 4 foot canvas on my studio easel behind "January Barred Owl". The barred owl is 20x16 inches in size and just the subject I needed while "The Sun of Whiskey Jack Bay" rested on the Studio easel. The large painting needed to cure before I worked on it again. I intended to paint the owl as a warm and curious subject against a cool tangle of branches and an overcast sky. 

The eyes are the soul of this majestic bird. Get those right and nothing else matters much. Those eyes needed to be quizzical and not threatening. Painting is work and I was exhausted after a morning of the intense concentration required to get this painting right. It is easy to get lost in the nuances of the feathers. There were heart-shaped shadows to find in the underside of the owl tail feathers along with countless variations in tone and colour. The goal was to make the owl come alive without killing it with several thousand, unnecessary brush strokes. I wanted the owl to be able to swoop silently off the canvas but before that could happen, the viewer and the owl needed to lock eyes. 

I wanted the same kind of communication that happens when someone views #0554 "Sharp Stare!". The owl eyes are much larger than those of the sharp-shinned hawk so one would think that eye-lock would be easier to achieve. The owl's eyes were very dark and the details to make them "see" were subtle. Communication needs to be a two-way street and it took considerable thought and some precise strokes to make that happen. Then it was time to stop... step away from the easel. If you look there is so much to see and one can always find more. I had to stop looking... 

These incredible birds deserve our respect and stewardship. 

I was listening to the Best of the Statler Brothers CDs. My Brother Jim has been acquiring hundreds of CDs while the rest of the world was shifting to streaming Spotify. We too have Spotify now that StarLink provides faster internet to very rural areas. However, the old CDs are classic. There are several lifetimes of music left to listen to again. 

The world needs more classic art whether it be music, dance or paintings. Creativity needs to return to the education system. It is impossible to feel bad or to harm anything with a paintbrush in your hand. Just my thoughts of course...

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2838 "30 Long Reach Lane"

#2838 "30 Long Reach Lane"
8x10 oils on canvas panel
9:30 am Monday, January 22nd, 2024.

Even though it was a Monday morning, I felt inclined to paint outside. I wanted to paint the stratocumulus skidding across the sky but the wind picked up as expected - but before I wanted it to develop. In addition, a dozen or more trumpeter swans were enjoying the open water of Jim Day Rapids. I did not wish to disturb them. 

Instead, I sought shelter from the wind in the forest. I headed to a protected spot on Long Reach Lane. Even there the wind chill was significant. The sound of the wind was pleasing as it whispered through the firs and hemlocks that towered above me. I had to paint rather quickly with a minimal palette of colours. And before my hands felt the cold. 

The goal was to lay the oils in and leave them alone. The white of the cloudy sky was poking through the foliage of the forest. The snow was packed down by the truck traffic leading into a new home that our neighbour was building at 30 Long Reach Lane (this explains the otherwise obscure title). Tractors leave a distinct tread pattern in the ice. The colour of packed snow and ice is subtly different from that of the fluffier stuff in the forest. 

A beech tree was still hanging on to the leaves from the summer of 2023. There was a sign attached to a tree leading to the building site. It was going to be a gorgeous place to enjoy nature. My friends, the barred owls kept me company. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2836 "Windy Stratocumulus Morning"

#2836 "Windy Stratocumulus Morning"
8x10 oils on canvas panel
Started 10:30 am Tuesday, January 10th, 2024.

I had some time to paint. A 3 by 4 foot canvas was on the Singleton Studio easel but it was far too wet to touch with the brush so I headed outside with my field easel. 

It was a very windy morning and  I had to bungy cord my field easel to a heavy turtle guard to prevent it from blowing over. The wind was gusting to about 25 knots. There was only a half-hour window of painting time before a rain squall would arrive.  I used every minute of it. Weather is very much in control of the plein air experience. Being authentic and experiencing the elements someone finds their way into the brush strokes. There was no time to dwell on those rapid-fire decisions. Just paint. 

According to the weather observation at Kingston Airport, the stratocumulus clouds were based between 2700 and 3 thousand feet above ground level. The convective tops of the stratocumulus were front-lit by the rising sun on my back. Gravity waves punctuated the low clouds on the western horizon. The strong and turbulent winds were shaking the top of the nocturnal planetary boundary layer like a blanket on a clothesline. Gravity waves of altocumulus revealed that the wind veered significantly with height and told of warm air advection with the approaching weather system. The altocumulus was apparently near 66 hundred feet above ground level. It should be snowing in early January but a rain storm was on the way (as foretold and mentioned in afternoon in #2835 "Monday Afternoon January Shadows at Long Reach".)

The observations from Kingston Airport are included below for those who might be interested. I much preferred the SA code when I was operational in the Atmospheric Environment Service. The hourly code, or SA, had been used in North America for over 50 years. The SA code was readable. The METAR was used for aviation weather in the rest of the world. Canada made a commitment to produce and distribute METAR reports internationally for 31 sites commencing July 31, 1993. Further to this, Canada, the United States, and Mexico have agreed to replace the SA with METAR for aviation within North America beginning in 1996. 

METAR CYGK 101600Z 23020G27KT 15SM -SHRA FEW015 BKN030 BKN066 05/00 A2904 RMK CF1SC5AC2 CF TR CVCTV CLD EMBD SLP838=

METAR CYGK 101500Z 23019G31KT 15SM SCT025 BKN060 05/01 A2903 RMK SC3SC4 SLP835= 

METAR CYGK 101400Z 22015G21KT 15SM BKN027 BKN052 05/02 A2901 RMK SC5SC1 SLP829= 

The sky had clouded in before I was finished. The cloud was soon followed by the cold rain that I had anticipated. The line of showers on radar arrived at Singleton near 11:30 am. I was done. That is how fast the weather can change. 

The rest of the day was overcast with showers. I resisted to urge to over-work the oils and to touch the canvas panel again. Any further brushwork does not make the art better and often, quite the opposite. 

Back in the Singleton Studio with the rain pelting the windows, I only scratched my signature and dotted the "eye" with a red dot. I had been signing my name on my artwork in the wet paint in this manner for many years. A toothpick or a finishing nail are my preferred tools and one can only sign in the wet paint for a short time before the oils set up.  

        Rain on the way...                       

A pair of otters were feeding from the ice edge in front and were not alarmed by my presence. The bald eagles often swoop in and try to snatch bits of fish from the otters but typically must be satisfied with the scraps left on the ice edge. The otters can be messy eaters and that suits the eagle just fine. The smaller birds even continued to feed under the red cedar tree just behind me. We scatter seeds under that nature-friendly tree every morning. Whenever a hawk should appear, the dozens of birds feeding on the ground quickly vanish into the thick branches of the cedar. 

My Brother Jim gave me minus 40 degree Celsius Socks for Christmas. He had given me equally warm rubber boots previously. As a result, my feet did not feel the cold standing in the snow. I should be a happy, plein air painter for many winters to come. 

Water on the Panel.. the rain had arrived. Time to go inside the Studio. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections including Wet Paint 2024. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2835 "Monday Afternoon January Shadows at Long Reach"

#2835 "Monday Afternoon January Shadows at Long Reach"
8x10 inches oils on canvas panel
2:00 pm Monday, January 8th, 2024.

We were strolling in the afternoon sun on Long Reach Lane. It was a beautiful day with fresh snow. There were only some squirrel and deer tracks in the snow. I did not even bother to clear our portion of Long Reach Lane as rain was forecast to wash the snow away just a couple of days later.

My wife remarked how she loved the snow shadows stretching through the forest - also that  I had not painted snow for a while. Too many clouds and too much weather I guess. I decided to change that. 

I headed back to that spot immediately after the walk. There was not much time to paint as another snowsquall was on the northern horizon. The meteorology of snowsqualls is very interesting. Severe convection might only reach up to 12 thousand feet high but the impacts can be disastrous if the squalls lock in on specific terrain. There is not much chance of that happening at Singleton as the snowsquall bands are typically very transient. 

The sun lasted just long enough for me to lay in the composition and match some colours. There were some stubborn maple leaves clinging to some branches but I had the perfect colours on my palette back in the Studio. I finished the painting under overcast skies. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections including Wet Paint. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2834 "January Thin Ice at Jim Day Rapids"

#2834 "January Thin Ice at Jim Day Rapids"
8x10 inches oils on canvas
10 am Friday, January 5th, 2024

Singleton Lake had been essentially ice-free until the night of Thursday, January 4th, 2024. The weather and thus the climate, (which is the integral of weather) had been very unusual over the Christmas Festive Season. There had been no snow on the ground except for one system in early December. 

Some snow fell overnight after the ice had formed clearly revealing the extent of the ice. The strong current through Jim Day Rapids was made obvious by the stretches of open water. It is never safe to trust the ice around the rapids. That ice and most of the snow that fell would all be gone by Saturday morning. 

A bald eagle and a flock of common mergansers kept me company while I painted in the snow. The squirrels were nervous but still scurried around me. It was a pleasant morning in the shelter of the small forest> the trees were the windbreak that protected me from the windchill. I was wearing a pair of warm boots and my feet stayed toasty warm. 

My oil paints were freezing on the palette. The oils were also mixing with the snow which resulted in some interesting oatmeal effects in the paint. This has happened many times before. I keep looking for that masterwork... 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

#2832 "December Morning at the Heritage Sugar Maple"

#2832 "December Morning at the Heritage Sugar Maple"
10x8 oils on canvas panel.
9:30 am Friday December 15th, 2023

It was a snow-free and mild morning in mid-December and I decided to head out to paint in the forest. 

   The 2024 wild-fire to Canadian forests is unlike 
anything that I studied early in my career.       

This maple was in its last decade or so. The woodpeckers were opening up some holes in search of the bugs that were certainly invading the tree. One very large tree limb was on the ground where it possibly fell due to the 1998 Ice Storm and as I had painted previously. This Singleton Sugar Maple was likely at least a good-sized tree for the War of 1812. Size is not always related to age though. Cedars on the Niagara Escarpment are 2000 years old (measured to be 1890 years old in 2014) and have circumferences that measure just a few inches. Life like art, is not a competition and I am just happy that both old trees are still alive. 

This maple has a circumference of 135 inches (11.25 feet) at 36 inches above the ground. Simple math gives the diameter of this tree of about 43 inches. The Comfort Sugar Maple tree has a 20-foot circumference at the base which is larger than the 11.25 feet circumference of the Singleton Maple. The Comfort Sugar Maple near North Pelham, Niagara Region, was a sprout when Columbus navigated to the New World in 1492. 

I like to relax near this tree and watch nature go by - which explains the chair which I included in this observation. 

If you are wondering why there is no snow, consider that this is the "Century of Fire" (read John Vaillant's "Fire Weather" published in 2023). Weather is integrated over the years to define the climate and both are changing faster than forecast. The dire climate change threshold of "onepointfive- Celsius" will likely be surpassed in 2024. The Petrocene should have been stopped five centuries ago when catastrophic warnings of the man-made future were widely known. But there was still money to be made... 

This Industrial Society is not sustainable...

My 36 years with Environment Canada were for not. Consider that the 2023 Climate Change Performance Index ranks Canada as sixth from the bottom, next to Russia. Happy New Year... 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections.

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick