Visit to a Hemlock (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.)

5 January finds me on a snowy forest road, walking toward a Sugar bush I was told about, just off Gravel Hill Road north of Monkland, Ontario.  I've stopped to paint less than a kilometre in from the red gate, because the sun will set soon. My painting gear and my cushion, blanket, and ground sheet are all piled into a plastic recycling box to pull it behind me like a sled. Deer tracks precede me, the toes punched deeply into the snow and the dew claws making two pointed marks behind each print. 

Spruce With Winterberry Holly (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.)

2 January 2012 finds me at the Long Swamp Fen on County Road 15 north of Brockville, Ontario, painting through the window of the van. It is raining. The little Spruce at the edge of the Long Swamp Fen is bright yellow-green, haloed by crimson Holly berries. It stands in a group of Cedars, so close that it's hard to tell which trunk is whose. The Cedar's leaves are like flat hands gesturing every which way, all a rich ochre colour with barely a hint of green. In this painting, the masses and movements are expressed in colour rather than tone or line. I could so easily be overwhelmed by the fine detail in this scene, as the whole view is filled with twigs and branches, like threads in a tapestry. But threads are not what I want to show - so I  unfocus my eyes, searching for masses of colour and direction of movement, and try to keep my fine strokes at a minimum.  In the foreground, pale, touselled winter Cattails poke from the snow of the roadside ditch. As I paint from the front seat of the van, Fred surveys the roadside vegetation, especially the clones of Narrowleaf Cattail that we've noticed spreading into the open part of the fen.

Cedars With New Snow (oil on canvas 12 x 16 in.)

26 December finds me climbing over the paigewire fence into our woodlot. This is easier than going in where the Ash and icestorm-broken Trembling Aspen grow by the gate. Here the trees are taller, shading open spaces where I can walk - the paths made by Fred and Jennifer as they salvaged wood after the 1998 ice storm. I follow Hare tracks until they join another Hare track where the snow is trampled beneath a low-hanging Cedar branch. Young Cedars are filling in an old opening, their leafy boughs cloaked with new snow, right to the ground. This will be my painting.

Having established my woodsy studio with ground sheet, cushion and blanket, I lean against the springy dead trunk that serves for a back rest, looking up at the lively shapes in my chosen composition, and begin to plan how to paint it. This takes several minutes of motionless contemplation. My breathing is the only noise in the still cold forest space, muffled by snowy branches.

Wet Snow in the Sugar Bush (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.)

13 December finds me walking a sandy trail along the edge of the Agroforestry Sugarbush, south of Kemptville, Ontario. I am looking for a closeup scene to paint, and soon find a charming arrangement of Maple leaves tumbled over a mossy log and  patterned by wet snow dimpled with circular depressions made by large drips from the branches above. Some of the leaves are rich and bright like new leather, but others are pale and limp, translucent from repeated freezing.

2012 Calendar - Aleta Karstad's Plein Air Painting

We're very pleased to present our new calendar. It has a great feel, sturdy and spiral bound - you can see all 12 months in the preview on www.Lulu.com
You can order it online or contact me karstad("at"sign)pinicola.ca
Lyn Dixson (in New Brunswick) wrote: "Calendars arrived today..they’re wonderful, Aleta...each month is unique and meaningful. What a great tool.  The  way you’ve put this together has surpassed my expectations!

Happy Christmas, wonderful 2012. LYNN"

Cedar and Juniper (oil on canvas, 5 x 7 in)

11 December finds me "Out Back" of our house in Bishops Mills, Ontario, shortly after sunrise, doing my first snow painting of the winter, en plein air. This is not fresh snow. The Cedars have shrugged it from their flexible leaves, but the stiff prickly Juniper still holds its burden - the shadowed sides of which I delight in painting blue, as snow brings the colours of the sky to the ground. This is also the first painting of our winter "Landscape Art & Science" project.

In "Winter Woodlots of Eastern Ontario", we will be visiting and painting private woodlots and public forests, guided to special spots by people who are familiar with them, learning the history and management of the woodlots, sharing what we know about the natural history of forests - and especially getting me out in the snow, where it's most exciting to be painting! 

At the end of the winter we will publish another blog-based book book like "Art and Science in the South Nation Watershed",  which is available online at Lulu.com or you can contact me at karstad (at) pinicola.ca

Where The Eels Went Into The Ground (oil on canvas 16 x 20 in.)

17 November finds me perched at the base of a tree on the steep side of a short deep ravine surrounded by ploughed fields on Laurier Road north of Casselman, Ontario. I can almost see down into the entrance of a cave - the cave where First Nations people say is "the place where the Eels go into the ground". A creek meanders along the bottom of the ravine and disappears under a tangle of sticks and autumn leaves before the cave mouth. Above that a vertical bank rises 10 metres high, a wall of clay laced across by tree roots.

Exhibition and Book Launch

ANNOUNCING

The exhibition of paintings done this fall in the South Nation Watershed will be held at the South Nation Conservation office in Finch on Thursday, as well as a presentation about our field work and the launch of the book!

Date: 24 November 2011
Time: 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Place: South Nation Conservation,

38 Victoria St.,

Finch, Ont.

contact SNC: (877) 984-2948

contact Aleta Karstad (613) 299-3107

"Art & Science in the South Nation Watershed" is a full-colour book of paintings and journal from this fall's travels about eastern Ontario, enriched by 15 years of familiarity with the South Nation River watershed.

In the tradition of the Group of Seven but with the eye of a naturalist, Aleta Karstad paints the Canadian landscape "en plein air". This book showcases nineteen of her jewel-like paintings from the watershed of the South Nation River in easternmost Ontario. Each is accompanied by insightful and lyrical journal entries about the experience of making each painting and about the landscape and its plants and animals. While Aleta paints, her biologist husband, Fred Schueler, makes a scientific survey of the surrounding area, giving special attention to the interactions between native and invasive species. Together, this artist/biologist team works to increase public knowledge of not only the beauty of the landscape but also its biological health and the conservation measures suggested by their observations.

See Aleta's original paintings and have Aleta and Fred both autograph your copy of "Art & Science in the South Nation Watershed". The book can also be previewed and purchased online.

More of Aleta's paintings can be seen at aletakarstad.com

The Biologist And His Dog (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold

8 November 2011 finds us skirting the perimeter of the Winchester Bog, searching for view into it, or a creek out of it. The South Castor River flows out, but the bog itself is hidden, somewhere beyond vast cornfields being harvested by huge combines. The evening breeze brings us the feathers-and-field-corn smell of a chicken farm. We found the South Castor River in a ditch-like groove between the flat fields. The view beneath the bridge span has some nice shapes - a composition of sinuous Manitoba Maple trunks leaning out past the steep grassy bank, and the sky reflection at a stony riffle. Then the Biologist and his trusty Dog, crossing on the stones, complete the scene. Fred plucks a few handsfulls of drifted sticks and snail shells from under the feet of Marigold, dropping them into a long, sturdy plastic bag printed "Popcorn" and "Mais Souffle" in orange and yellow. We inherited what is proving to be a lifetime supply of these bags in the 1980's when the National Museum of Natural Sciences shared a warehouse with a promotions company that failed leaving a large stock of these useful bags, which have become almost a banner for us wherever we go.

Red Maple Trunks (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold

24 October 2011 finds me sitting at the base of a huge old, many-trunked Maple in a grown over fencerow in the woods, near the Sand Road Maple Farm, south of Moose Creek, Ontario. The mossy log that was one of its fallen branches stretches toward me and everything is being sprinkled with falling Maple leaves. Behind me stand several ancient White Pines, all gnarly and some fork-trunked, old pasture trees that grew up twisted because of White Pine Weevil. The pines and this maple flourished, thick- trunked and full-crowned in the open during decades of agricultural use of the ground, as we can see from the branching close to the ground.

Metcalfe's Victoria Park (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.)

The afternoon of 12 October 2011 finds me in Metcalfe, in Victoria Park, painting the footbridge that crosses Cassidy Municipal Drain. This is a culvert-fed, turbid rock/rubble/mud stream through a village green lawnpark, a tributary of the Castor River. A man in a plaid shirt walks a brown and white bulldog across the foot bridge and along the brick path to the park bench. When I look up again he is crossing the street to the bank, the dog swinging its tail cheerfully.

Cobbs Lake Creek (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.)

11 October finds me sitting on the edge of an old railway embankment, which is now the "Prescott & Russell Recreational Trail", painting Cobbs Lake Creek. I seldom see a view so distant. The South Nation watershed is full of distant views. In some the soybean fields look like they go on forever. The creek's shadowed western bank shows dark, far into the distance, all the way to the autumn colours of trees near the horizon. Above them I paint the bright blue of hills on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River.

Autumn Phragmites (oil on canvas 12 x 16 in.) Sold

10 October finds me sitting to paint Phragmites reeds on the shoulder of County Road 20, at a wetland which is the headwaters of the South Nation River's north branch a kilometre east of East Oxford, Grenville County, Ontario, 

This is the closest the South Nation River drainage comes to home, and we've been measuring the height of the tallest stem that's within a few metres of the road here, ever since we took a 4-metre sheaf of it to display like a trophy in the entryway of the Eastern Ontario Biodiversity Museum in 1999.

Riparian Forest at Plantagenet (oil on canvas 12 x 16 in) Sold

October 8 finds me standing on a mowed lawn in Plantagenet, enjoying the puzzle pieces of the sunlit South Nation River as they peek between dark sinuous trunks of the Manitoba Maples that dominate the downstream third of this island park. The large leaves of Wood Nettle are turning yellow in the tangled, shady woods that slope down toward the river.

Old Bridge at Lemieux (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold

7 October finds me perched on the brink of the concrete and stone north abutment of the old bridge of the now nonexistent town of Lemieux, Ontario, to paint the facing outer 
abutment on the south side. The inner portion of the abutment, which 
corresponded to the portion we were on, is toppled into the river, with a 
dance of Manitoba Maples around it. The river is still creamy with suspended clay, even though we've had a long dry spell. 

On 20 June 1993, this bridge was destroyed along with 17 hectares of farmland as the bank of the South Nation River collapsed after heavy rains in a landslide that in less than an hour left a crater some 320 metres wide and 18 metres deep.  This event occurred only one year after the last of the residents of the town of Lemieux had been relocated. Earlier soil testing by South Nation Conservation had revealed the likelihood of a catastrophic slide of the deep, unstable Leda clay, and three years later it happened.

Lower Hoasic Creek (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold

6 October finds me sharing a bridge abutment with grapevines, to paint the view down Hoasic Creek to the St Lawrence River, charmed by the parallel stripes of New York State on the horizon, the blue seaway, a strip of parking lot, a mowed lawn, and the shrubby river bank. Fred explored downstream this time, discovering that just beyond the curve out of my sight, the St Lawrence has backed up Hoasic Creek and established Zebra Mussels there. Until people introduce them farther up the creek, the three species of native mussels we confirmed here in 2006 will continue to thrive.

As I painted, a Raccoon entered the scene, walking among the cobbles on the east bank. Once we were noticed, it hurried along the riverbank stones I have included it in the lower right corner of my painting. Fred has written a charming account of the afternoon, so I will include it here:

Watershed Tour (ink on paper)

5 October finds us on a bus tour of the north east section of the South Nation River, sketching in my journal when as we stop at various places. For eight years now, the South Nation Conservation [Authority] has replaced the old Fisheries Committee tour of fisheries projects with a generalized tour of their activities in some quarter of the South Nation drainage. This year it was the northeastern portion of the watershed, which we have seen the least of, and featured projects such as water source protection, manure treatment, bog flora in the Alfred Bog, forest management in LaRose Forest, and seining up Silversides at Jessups Falls Conservation Area.

Our first stop is an organic farm, where a fence was being built to keep cattle out of the creek. We are attended by a flock of companionable turkeys, which I sketch as the project is explained to our group.

When the bus arrives at the LaRose Forest pavillion so that we can hear presentations on forest management and native herbal lore, I decide to sit in the sun at the foot of a Red Pine to stay out of the chill wind, and Fred brings me a Lactarius chrysorhea mushroom. There are so many things to notice about it!

If you can read the notes on this page of my journal, you will see that the seining demonstration came up with a Brook Silversides - the first one found SNC staff in the main channel of the South Nation River! This huge fallen Willow tree reminds everyone of a dragon, and is a favorite vantage point for fisher people and for basking turtles. You can see the bridge in the distance on the right, just downstream of Jessups Falls, which isn't really a falls anymore, because it was blown up to let logs past in the 1800's.

This little Tamarack reminds me of the one I painted in Alfred Bog after our first daughter Elsa died in 1985. The raffling of that painting contributed to the funds that the Ottawa Field Naturalist Club needed to purchase and conserve the first portion of the bog. Now the whole central area is protected, and planning is going forward to preserve its water level from peripheral drainage.

Soft white tufts of Bog Cotton sedge wave above the little tree, and a wonderful diversity of bog plants rejoice all around it. I sit on the boardwalk to sketch as the tour walks past me, pointing out Pitcher plants and red-berried holly bushes, and our old friends Labrador Tea and Leatherleaf, and many others. The sun is warm on my back, and being low among the bog vegetation protects me from today's cool wind.

Bear Brook Haven of Diversity (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold

28 September finds me painting another view of Bear Brook - this time near its confluence with the South Nation. Here it has steep, wooded banks and a broader stream. The water is only slightly milky with clay down the centre, and dark green algae in streaks and patches on the firm clay bottom show in lovely viridian streaks from where I sit on one of the rocks that were tumbled down the bank when they built the bridge.

Fred has gone upstream, and and our friend Andrew is out of sight downstream.  They begin to find the same diversity of mussels that Fred found at this place in 2007, as well as Flat-sided Horn Snails in huge abundance, embedded in the coarse algal fur of the rocks (at first we'd thought they were Zebra Mussels!) and grooving the bottom with a dense network of snail trails. I hear a sudden large splash behind me and turn to see Fred rising up from the water after slipping on the bank. Wading, where the water is shallow enough, is safer than walking along the slippery clay banks!

Bear Brook With Geese (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold

27 September finds us on this warm day, exploring the upstream end of Bear Brook just down from Carlesbad Springs, Ontario, to see how far the unionid mussel diversity of the lower reaches may extend upstream. When we stopped at the bridge on Carleton Line I was first intrigued by a deeply gullied pasture scene with grazing cattle, strongly backlit by the lowering sun on the west side. Walking back to the van to get my paints I turned around to look eastward and there, in totally different light, was an enchanting scene under a delicate sky - an intensely green field with the sinuous band of natural vegetation that marks Bear Brook, winding through it.

As I settle down to paint this scene my attention is drawn to constant excited honking of Canada Geese. The goose music is coming from a flock resting in the field just past the bend of the creek. Zooming in on them with my camera I can see that they are all sitting down! Only a couple have their black necks draped over their backs, napping, and very few are grazing. Most have their heads high, honking in animated discussion about migration.

Fern Bank on the North Castor (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.)

26 September finds us at the North Castor River looking downstream from the bridge of the Ottawa Carleton 9th Line Rd. As I set up to paint the first loop of the river downstream from the bridge, arranging small flat stones to keep the feet of my stool from sinking into the clay on the only flat spot along this side, our dog Marigold perches uncomfortably between soft sinking clay and steep grassy bank. A Robin sings its fall song for a while, and I begin to paint the exposed roots of Manitoba Maple and the rusty fringe of frost-killed Ostrich Ferns draping the shoulder of the far bank.