Waterfalling (oil on canvas 10 x 20 in.)

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16 August found me exploring the series of waterfalls below Sylvester Lake, Temagami District. I paddled here today with another artist from the pARTners For Wolf Lake art camp. A portage trail runs along a ridge above the falls, and the people labouring up the hot sunny trail with packs and canoes could not see much of the falls themselves as I flitted among the trees and rocks below them, finding my footing along the lower bank from fall to fall as excited as a dog on a fresh scent.

The falls were exhilarating! There were five or six of them, with hardly 20 metres of smooth water between them. At least one was long and narrow, a crevasse with white water churning through, and one, a long series of steps for the water to sashay down, flirting white crinolines all the way. One, overlooked by a scraggy leaning Cedar like an old shaman was high and narrow, a plunging column of white violence, and then there was the one that I call "The Teeth" - wide and high, a classic waterfall over rocky ramparts that project above its crest like blunt teeth with gaps between.

This portrait of a small part of one of the falls I found about half way down. To me these wilderness waterfalls are expressive of freedom and purity, the energy of water and air shouting and tumbling together, clashing, splashing, and churning - ionizing the air and oxygenizing the water and the result is pure joy!

Dear patrons and supporters,

This painting is for sale for $700 to support our work for conservation. If you would like to purchase it, please contact me   

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 26, 2013 at 7:27 PM

    Such wonderful, descriptive writing! This is great, I think it far outshines the painting in my book! I would have like to see more of the surroundings of the rushing, falling water. The picture should be sold with a plaque alongside that displays your descriptive essay in type large enough to be easily read.

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