Visit to a Hemlock (oil on canvas 5 x 7 in.) Sold
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIxcOS0z0j6wH2PGSMnPYULi-7rAiLSkKDEJyp7Ls4_adw_wDn9ioYuHAR3PSpZaA2w7l52jQmPowI9srbbCWD-fP0I3jtf2Awpof3ghVCXOLSm7H4uYOhyphenhyphenXznE3Rcv_TT3yQFVQaqeHvm/s400/30yl2012woodsatgravelhill600.jpg)
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.