Karstad Biodiversity Paintings: adventures in the colour of Canada

  "Young Cedar in Snow" oil on birch panel 6x6 in. 26 December 2024  found me at our place in Bishops Mills on my 74th birthday, and my goal for the day was to accomplish another in the series of annual "birthday paintings." Last year this time, it was raining on the snow, and I was sheltering in a friend's car to paint a wetland scene with heavy sunset clouds. This year I was happy to be free to trudge out in the snow along the path "out back" at -7C with no precipitation, pulling a sled loaded with my painting gear and blankets, and reminiscing of the years when I boasted to Fred that any temperature above -20C was not cold enough for winter outdoor painting.   I have learned over many years of painting "en plein air," that I lose much less body heat when wrapped in a blanket to sit on the snow, than I would, standing at an easel - no matter how many clothes I have on. This is the first time I've used our sturdy high-sided "Pelican...

...featuring illustrations and text from our as yet unpublished book " Fragile Inheritance, a painter's ecology of glaciated North America."   We are really pleased with the quality, printed by CoBa Studios in our neighbouring town of Merrickville. The calendar is standard size, spiral-bound, and printed on high quality smooth paper which splendidly presents the glowing colour and crisp detail of my watercolours. The spacious calendar squares are marked with Canadian holidays and notes from our seasonal observations across several decades, to which you can compare your own sightings of the first dandelion or the last frog call - as well as quirky anniversaries of interest to nature lovers, like Rock-flipping Day, and Darwin's Birthday. The 13th month, January 2026, tells the story of the making of the book - our cross-Canada travels, how I painted in the field, and why the book, started in 1984, is even more important now, in the face of increasing climate change. He...