Little Rideau Virga

Some of the cumulus clouds along the Little Rideau Lake Streets got thick enough to produce wisps of virga. The weather is never dull. This is as close as the area got to getting much needed precipitation. It is dry.

Cumulus Street on Little Rideau Lake

The southwesterly winds had organized the disjointed day time heating cumulus into streets. It was an interesting study of cloud shapes and their evolution. Cumulus Street is only for clouds and not for cars! This is on a masonite panel so the paint is thick!

Flat SC

Backlit flat stratocumulus drifting in with the northwesterly winds could only mean one thing. A ridge of high pressure was building in with a more stable and drier air mass. The skies would clear with sunset. Cooler temperatures and a possible spring frost would be a quality forecast. The trees along the distant shoreline were in shadow. A jet on its way to Europe started to write a contrail in the sky. At times the wind really gusted so that I had to hold the easel in place.

Morning Cold Front

A cold front was on the western horizon and I needed to paint quickly to capture the cloud before it passed me by! The leading edge had some convective elements that were much newer and brighter cloud due to their small droplet size. The older frontal cloud elements were darker and much more gray. The gravity waves ahead of the front revealed strong westerly winds aloft. The surface winds were also westerly so only speed wind shear was evident with this cold front - although it produced severe convection the day before when it crossed the Nickle Belt. There was even a tornado warning issued. In any event, showers would arrive along the front about an hour after I finished.

I enjoy painting on panels. It forces the use of more paint. Noticed I used two palettes for the first time ... to use more paint and to keep the colours clean!

Chadwick Art House of Cards

We now have a series of art cards using local paintings. They are professionally printed and seem to be quite popular... Here is what we have so far. The cards retail for $3.95 with discounts available for larger orders.

Singleton Stratus

It was overcast stratus and no wind in the warm sector. There is no white line on the horizon as there was no wave action at all and no drainage breeze down Lyndhurst Creek. The stratus had some thicker bands as indicated by the darker cloud bases but otherwise the sky had almost no discernible features. I called this a skyscape even though the horizon is high on the panel. The sky I painted is that reflected in the calm water.

The same sound track was playing - ruffed grouse, loons, all kinds of birds. The loon flew low overhead and it sounded like a jet. A racoon swam the channel in front of me.

Fog Transforms to Frontlit Cumulus

The fog was lifting rapidly with the May sun. The fog/stratus was rapidly being transformed into a low deck of cumulus that was being shaped by the southeasterly winds aloft. There was still no wind at the surface due to the nocturnal radiational inversion but that was due to change quickly. I caught a few clouds just after setting up the easel and kept that composition throughout. Cloud that is lit from the front is always brightest in the middle and darkest around the edges. A deck of altostratus on the western horizon heralded the approaching cold front and afternoon convection.

Warm Sector Stratocumulus

I like stratocumulus. In the warm sector when there is not a lot of wind, these clouds billow up into large overcast banks. The colour of the clouds range from dark grays to warm, opaque whites. There is some gravity wave action in the clouds but not a lot. There was also some virga associated with the thicker cloud elements. The surface winds were fitful and confined to the west basin of Singleton Lake. The rippled, sky reflection section of the lake would periodically expand eastward but not make it into our little bay. There was no drizzle and no biting insects. It was a good afternoon.