The Biologist And His Dog (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold
Sturgeon Chute, Upper Rapids (oil on canvas, 12 x 16 in.) Sold
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,
I always love to see how much you can get into a 5x7-inch oil painting, Aleta. This time Marigold is a bonus!
ReplyDeleteFun story about the popcorn bags. I can imagine the brightly-coloured bags announcing Fred's presence wherever he goes.
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel
Aleta, this really captures the essence of Fred when he is out working. You should paint him more often.
ReplyDeleteBefore checking the stream here, we'd stopped where the South Castor River crosses Bellemeade Road west of here where it's a 4m wide clear rocky creek flowing between agricultural fields, and google shows that except for the extreme headwaters, this is the habitat it runs through all the way above the road. The fauna that was visible in the fading light was just shells: Pyganodon and Anodontoides mussels, lots of Sphaeriid Fingernail Clams, and a few visible Helisoma Ramshorn snails. A little Lemna minor is the only Duckweed. No search for Crayfish. An interesting feature was that the sprouting Ash and Manitoba Maple clumps had previously been cut by saws, rather than by Beavers. Then 2km down the road to the painting site, where the stream appeared more agriculturally modified, with rags of Cyanobacterial slime floating in the cloudy water, and catching in a sort of dam (partly composed of chunks of a wrecked vehicle) across the stream under the bridge. This also entrained shells of Helisoma snails, and when the sample is examined we'll see which other species are represented. Our map showed the river looping down into the bog, so we thought the second bridge might have some bog-derived fauna, but google, and our observations shows it running only through tilled fields, so we didn't get any experience of the Winchester Bog from our excursion.
ReplyDeleteThough it was nearly dark, we then tried to drive into the bog, which the map showed as possible from the SW end along Loughlin Ridge Road, but as soon as this road passed the last house it degraded, undulated past a forest of quite large broad-leafed trees, and then humped up in an undulation we regarded as impassable at a big culvert for a drainage ditch. Google shows Loughlin Ridge Road continuing to Development Road, which would be a nice loop, but this would require a high-clearance all-wheel drive vehicle of some sort, or enough time to stop, get out, and walk. Jim Beckett e-mails: "Do NOT try to follow Loughlin Ridge east from the culvert unless you are on a dirt loving ATV. I walk that area most weekdays, other than the two weeks of gun season (my dogs are large and brown although with orange neck warmers). Give me a call if you would like details."
Looks like Fred. Lovely painting, as usual.
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