Island of Biodiversity (oil on canvas, 5 x 7 in.) Sold

-
31 May finds me at the edge of a cornfield, painting the view down rows of young corn toward an island-shape of trees, one of the corridors of woods that are so essential to healthy biodiversity in a landscape inhabited by people. To me, this island shape represents the well-forested North Russell red shale hill as it rises from the flat, intensively-farmed landscape that surrounds it.

There are fields of red soil here indeed, growing corn and
alfalfa and other crops, with orchards and grazing cattle, but the drains and ditches are more often forested here on the red shale hill, the woodlots are larger, and with them are springs and vernal pools and little wetlands. This area used to be called "Spring Hill" and I'm not sure what it might be that has inspired folks to retain enough of the old forests, the wooded corridors, and little wetlands that all together make for that balance called biodiversity.


Comments

  1. Kay L. DaviesJune 12, 2012 at 1:36 AM

    Oh, so pretty, Aleta.
    We are undergoing renovations here in our little hobbit house in the bottom righthand corner of Alberta, and I'm thinking I'd like to treat myself to an original Aleta Karstad when I've payed all the plumbers, electricians, floor layers, etc.
    K

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

What do you think of this painting, and what do you know about the subject that I have painted?

Popular posts from this blog

Sturgeon Chute, Upper Rapids (oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in.) Sold

-
Image
1 October finds me painting at the upstream rapids of Sturgeon Chute on the Wanapite River, 6.7 kilometres northwest of Hartley Bay. To get just the right angle on the rapids, screened by flaming leaves of an overhanging Red Maple, I'm standing on a narrow grassy ledge, the small of my back leaning against a cold wall of smooth granite, with the feet of my easel only a few centimetres from the edge. About two metres below, courses the fast deep water,
Read more

Cooper Marsh Late August

-
Image
  Cooper Marsh in Late August (oil on birch panel 8 x 10 in.) 28 August 2023 found me painting on the back deck of the Visitors Centre at the Cooper Marsh Conservation Area. It's a hot day, and I'm demonstrating plein air painting as part of a workshop hosted by the Raisin Region Conservation Authority and inspired by our mussels project with the River Institute.  It's a hot day, so we stayed in the building's shade rather than venturing out into the sunny marsh. Also, the deck offers a higher view across the marsh to the thin line of the pale blue St Lawrence and the deeper hazy blue of the north shore of New York State, visible between the Poplars and Willows. An Osprey calls loudly and insistently overhead. A Red Squirrel scolds chirrs every once in a while, in irritation that we are still here, and once a Bull Frog thrums unseen, from open water somewhere out there among the yellow-green Carex or the dark green Scirpus, this side of the strip of tall, pale-plumed Ph
Read more

Little Marsh in Limerick

-
Image
"Little Marsh in Limerick" (Oil on birch panel, 6 x 6 in.) 26 December 2023 finds me capturing sunset colours through a tear in the clouds over a small Cattail marsh on Forsythe Rd, 2.3 km E of McRoberts Corner, in Limerick Forest, Grenville County, Ontario. It is 7C after rain, and the road is muddy. We’ve had a rainy Christmas with temperatures well above seasonal average. Cheryl is in the driver’s seat, watching me paint my annual birthday plein air in oils on a   6 x 6 inch cradled birch panel, trying to get it covered with paint before we lose the light and go home for supper.   This little marsh, only a few minutes from home, is a familiar scene. There are observations in Fred’s database over the course of 40 years from this spot, of Muskrat, Beaver, Snapping Turtle, Painted Turtle,  Green Frog, Great Blue Heron, and Red Squirrel. This is a few hundred metres from “Site F” where we listen each spring to monitor Wood Frogs, Gray Tree Frogs, and Spring Peepers.  Unti
Read more