No Place Like Home

Travelling through the country makes it all too clear that there is "no place like home". There are bigger places. There are faster places. There are places with more lights and sounds. 

Somehow the clear skies and sweet smell of the forest surrounding our home offer an attraction that has been reduced to a fleeting backdrop in some other locations. Having a lake in the middle of it is like icing on a cake. Even better is the fact that no two days are the same. Time to stretch some canvas and get out the paint.

Sunny Day Dreaming

It's a rainy day here and a chance to dream about the summer sun.

 Sketching in the garden captured bursting day lily blooms now worked through my derivative speculations. I can feel the heat just as the weather man says "batten down the hatches you ain't seen nothin yet".

Silhouettes

The silhouette as a visual device flattens the picture plane.  The paint itself takes over and takes the eye on a journey over the surface while key information is preserved in the outline and passed on for all to see. 

Derivative Speculations lll

As our summer season has turned to fall we enjoy some really beautiful views. 

Cleaning things on the computer brought some of my Derivative Speculations to light. 

I hope it is not too late to enjoy the blooms. The images were another take on garden site paintings re-considered in a digital world. Ah the old conundrum, manual/digital, I think they are just different.

Rare Birds

Chestnut Sided Warbler

From time to time birds make an appearance in my work. A recent visit in our yard from a flock of Chestnut Sided Warblers prompted me to make a sketch based on the occasion. Food for thought.

I was reminded of a time in Quebec while hiking in the Chic Choc mountains of the Gaspe that a family of Canada Grouse made an appearance on the trail. The colours were amazing and the dance of distraction was spectacular. The male bird was all fluffed up with feathers rattling creating the illusion of power and speed. The Funny how much comes from chance encounters with birds. 

Painting Nova Scotia Fall Colours

A long time ago when we had first moved to Nova Scotia we travelled to the top of North Mountain by road and stopped at a spot that is called the Lookoff. The view was and still is totally amazing as you can gaze out over the rich agricultural lands of the Annapolis Valley. The body of water to the left is the Minas basin that I have spoken about many times before and also one site of the expulsion of Acadians around 1755. Of course, the history of people in the area stretches even farther into past and resonates in the stories of the Mik'Mak . Beyond that even the rocks tell stories of earth history. The record found pressed in stone talks of a time before even dinosaurs. Totally overwhelming for the casual observer.

The painting above was made years ago but the memory holds true that this is a remarkable place. Now, with fall in the air and leaves turning colour all around I can imagine being there so many years ago connected by the wind to the past and the future. It is always so exciting to paint on site I will take advantage of our extended good weather.