Tom Thomson and the 1915 May Two-Four Weekend

Something very rare happened on the "May Two-Four Weekend" in 1915. A volcano that had been sleeping for about 27,000 years suddenly woke up at about 4:00 pm Saturday afternoon. Lassen Peak in northern California produced a violent explosion that ejected rock and pumice high into the atmosphere. This explosion was the most powerful in a series of eruptions from 1914 through 1917.

On May 22, 1915, an explosive eruption at Lassen Peak, California, the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range, devastated nearby areas and rained volcanic ash as far away as 300 km to the east. 

Tom Thomson was staying at Mowat Lodge on Canoe Lake, busy painting before the black flies emerged and waiting for guiding and fishing to occupy his time. Tom would have been oblivious to how a faraway volcano might influence his choice of pigments. Thankfully, Tom painted what he saw.  

World War One, the so-called first "Great War" was still raging in Europe. Tom's artist friends had dispersed to participate in that conflict in one way or another. Sadly, they were unable to accompany him on his last artistic adventures which ended prematurely with his death in July of 1917. On the positive side, Thomson was finding his own, unique artist voice and creating magnificent work.

Three years later, in the spring of 1918 Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald faced a virtually impossible task to sort through the two or three hundred panels that Tom had created in their absence. The undocumented panels were stacked high in Thomson's Shack. 

His friends attempted to sort through the paintings selecting what they felt were the best works to establish Tom's legacy. The Estate Stamp applied to the front and back of the panels would authenticate his art. Tom only signed the panels when asked to do so. He certainly never bothered to put names on his paintings. In fact, Tom rarely made any mention of the inspiration for his paintings leaving the art to speak for itself.  As a result, this was a gargantuan but essential task for his friends. Many of Tom's originals had already dispersed to the wind to anyone who took a passing appreciation for his brush strokes.  

The estate stamp typically in the lower right often resulted in some paint eventually flaking off. The panels salvaged from The Shack and organized in the Studio building all display the stamp.

Harris and MacDonald certainly were enthralled with Tom's art but had little or no first-hand knowledge of the story behind them. They had to rely on their own devices to create plausible titles based on the subject matter and possible locations. MacDonald had never been to Algonquin. Well-intentioned mistakes were made. These are easily forgiven. Those errors still remain in the Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné but there is hope!

Using science and topographical maps, we can correct those mistakes - something that I have been doing since the mid-1980s. As an example, it is interesting that more than a century later, we can trace Tom's movements on the Victoria Day weekend of 1915 using only his art and a volcanic eruption in California. Please let me explain. 

From detailed research into Tom's movements, we can be fairly certain that Tom was at Canoe Lake on the weekend of May 24th, 1915. Tom was likely staying at Mowat Lodge but occasionally ventured to his favourite haunt on Hayhurst Point less than a kilometre to the east. 

Thomson Travels 1915

• March 13 – April 10: Ontario Society of Artists Forty-third Annual Exhibition, Toronto. Thomson exhibits Northern River, Split Rock and Georgian Bay Pines. Northern River is bought by the National Gallery of Canada for $500. His address is given as Studio Building, Severn Street.
• Mid-March: Arrives in Algonquin Park, via Huntsville, where he stays at the home of Winifred Trainor for two days; he travels to Tea Lake and Big Cauchon Lake; in the Kearney area, he stays at McCann’s Halfway House.
• A.Y. Jackson had returned to Quebec, evidenced by a letter to his sister Kate, dated April 18th, 1915, which he sent from Emileville Quebec. In it, he discusses his intention to join the army. His attestation papers show that he enlisted on June 14, 1915.
• April 28 – May 19: Thomson and George Rowe guide the Johnston Brothers of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Pine River; they travel to Tea Lake. On their return, Thomson and Rowe travel to Big Bear Lake.
• May 24 Weekend...
• July 17: Assists H.A. Callighen in bringing tourists from Joe Lake Station to Smoke Lake by canoe.

A case can be made that links four of the 1915 paintings using colours, the volcano, the parade of weather across Canoe Lake and science.

I propose that these four sequential paintings recorded every sunrise and sunset at Canoe Lake starting on the evening of Saturday, May 22nd, 1915 - the day that Lassen Peak erupted. The potential paintings are included in above. Brief explanations follow. Detailed analysis and diagnosis of each painting can be found in the linked blogs.  Please ignore the official names of the artwork which identify them all as sunsets - two of the four were certainly sunrises. 

Sunset, Saturday May 22nd, 1915

On the late afternoon of Saturday, May 22nd, Thomson was visiting his favourite site on Hayhurst Point. He recorded the backlit clouds looking westerly at sunset in Painting 1.  A spring weather system was approaching. The details are explained in Tom Thomson's Sunset Sky, Summer 1915. Harris and MacDonald were correct in identifying this as a sunset. I feel they missed the mark by identifying the season as summer perhaps because the name "Sunset, Spring" had already been used in  Painting 2. Tom typically spent his summer guiding and fishing. He did not paint much in the summer because of pesky biting insects. The clouds are also not overly convective as one would expect in mid-summer.  

Sunrise, Sunday May 23rd, 1915

At dawn on Sunday, May 23rd, Tom was on the shore in front of Mowat Lodge looking easterly to observe strong sunrise colours in the backlit clouds. The unusual sunrise colours would have penetrated Tom's room on the second floor of Mowat Lodge. Tom must have been compelled to grab his oils and make a weather observation. For a detailed analysis see Tom Thomson's Sunset Sky, Spring 1915. The terrain features of the eastern shore of Canoe Lake as well as those recorded in other Thomson paintings confirm the easterly view. The clouds also confirm that Tom was observing the wake of a cold front. The weather system that had been approaching at sunset on Saturday had crossed Canoe Lake overnight probably bringing precipitation overnight. 

Harris and MacDonald would have incorrectly interpreted the strong colours as a sunset sky unaware that the higher level volcanic aerosols transported by the jet stream had already arrived over Canoe Lake.

Tome would have been interested in the strong colours exhibited in the sky all day Sunday. There could be other paintings to include in this sequence. We can be certain that Tom paddled over to his Hayhurst Point haunt to observe the vivid sunset colours looking west. 

Sunset, Sunday May 23rd, 1915

The details of the analysis and diagnosis can be found in Tom Thomson's "Sunset" 1915. Harris and MacDonald called Painting 3 "Sunset" from the summer of 1915. They were certainly correct about the sunset part but the season was spring right after the volcanic eruption. Matching the terrain features confirms that Tom was looking westerly across Canoe Lake. The jet stream had already delivered the next low-pressure system in the parade of weather. This time the strong winds also brought thicker concentrations of volcanic aerosols dramatically influencing the sunset colours. Tom painted exactly what he saw!

Finally, Tom awoke on Monday, May 24th, 1915 to a brilliant sunrise streaming in his window of Mowat Lodge. Terrain matching again confirms his easterly viewing angle. 

Sunrise, Monday May 24th, 1915

The weather system that arrived at sunset on Sunday had passed east of Mowat. Tom was observing the sunrise light scattered from the underside of the cirrus and altocumulus cloud found in the "hang back - comma head" of the storm. The details of the analysis are recorded in Tom Thomson's Sunset, Summer 1915. Harris and MacDonald miss-named Painting 4 as "Sunset, Summer 1915" reusing the same name as applied to Painting 3. Understandably, the unusual sunrise colours tricked them again. They were also running out of unique names to employ. 

Tom must have been aware that something very unusual was happening in the atmosphere. This lends some rationale for Tom to diligently observe the increasingly spectacular colours in a series of paintings. Paintings number 1 and 3 in the above series are the only actual sunsets looking westward. 

Painting 1 Saturday sunset left -Painting 2 Sunday sunset about 30 hours after the eruption right

Painting 1 was completed just a couple of hours after the eruption well before the arrival of the volcanic aerosols. Painting 3 was completed with the arrival of the first high concentration of volcanic aerosols. The initial concentrations of aerosols can be very high behind the deformation zone of the airflow that delivers those particulates. Tom must have been amazed at the vivid sunset colours!

Paintings 2 and 4 repeated below are truly sunrises looking eastward from Mowat. The colours increased in chroma between Sunday morning on the left and Monday morning on the right. 

The progression of cloud types and structures is consistent with two separate weather systems that crossed Canoe Lake over the May Victoria Day weekend. Rain likely fell both Saturday and Sunday nights. 

In any event, Sunday supper on the Queen Victoria Holiday weekend would have been memorable - not only because of the "fireworks" in the sky. Annie Fraser, Shannon's wife was well known for her fine meals and baking at Mowat Lodge. (Note: May 24, Queen Victoria's birthday, was declared a holiday by the Legislature of the Province of Canada in 1845. After Confederation, Queen Victoria's birthday was celebrated every year on May 24 unless that date was a Sunday, in which case a proclamation was issued providing for the celebration on May 25.) The Great War was still raging in Europe and patriotic feelings would have been high. 

           Tom Thomson circa 1905-1910                 

To really appreciate Tom Thomson, it is important to place his art within the context of the times in addition to the science and the weather. 

What motivated Tom to record these weather observations? Tom must have been shocked to see the colours of the sunrise reaching into his bedroom window. I can imagine Tom grabbing his paint box and rushing out to the shore of Canoe Lake to chase the sunrise light before it disappeared. Tom was also a morning person... let's get going with the sun. Rise and shine.

Tom would have been eagerly waiting for the display of colours that the sunsets would deliver. That is why artists paint... we all chase the light in amazement at the beauty of nature ... and the weather. 

Tom might not have understood all of the science and would certainly not have known that Lassen's Peak had just exploded - but he was truthful to what he saw. In that way, the science he recorded must also be accurate. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

PS: Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman - Summary As of Now contains all of the entries to date. 

PSS: If one searches Tom Thomson's Catalogue Raisonné  for "sunrise" only one painting shows up. If one searches for "sunset" 25 works are produced. Some of those sunsets are actually sunrises as we have demonstrated. Of course, it would have been helpful if Tom had left a few hints. 

ArtBridgeCanada - Taking the National Dream to the Web

 Art can be a way of life. It certainly is the path I follow, surrounded by nature. 

Creativity tends to be a solitary adventure of discovery in which mistakes and successes are all just opportunities for learning - getting better in your own eyes. Inspiration abounds everywhere and just asks to be imaginatively expressed. You control your journey, and who knows where it will lead? 

But there is more. Artists can share, inspire, and learn from one another. We are all in this together!  Long-time friends recently launched ArtBridgeCanada. The national non-profit employs the positive powers of the World Wide Web to connect artists, allowing them to collaborate and flourish. In many ways, this is a continuation of the dream of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven to create a Canadian identity which is as unique as the landscape and the weather. 

The time has arrived to reinvigourate that national dream and foster the Canadian cultural identity. You will see me on the ArtBridgeCanada Advisory Council. There is room for more. 

“We believe that when artists thrive, communities thrive.” – Brian Usher, Executive Director

I only post about art and science. Both topics still make sense to me, although quantum mechanics is a stretch! I also prefer positivity. ArtBridgeCanada qualify on all three of these conditions. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick 

Our Green Heart by Diana Beresford-Kroeger

The local librarians know exactly what I enjoy reading - nonfiction about nature with an emphasis on art and science. There is too much fiction in real life these days, compounded by the invasion of Artificial Intelligence. I much prefer authentic brilliance or even real stupidity. 

The last book has turned out to be a must-read! "Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests" by Diana Beresford-Kroeger ticks all of the boxes and then some! I learned something from each page. 

I have read countless nature-oriented books, including most of the books by Peter Wohlleben: "The Hidden Life of Trees", "The Inner Life of Animals", "The Weather Detective", "The Secret Wisdom of Nature", "The Heartbeat of Trees" and "The Power of Trees". That is a considerable amount of reading about nature and forests. Surprisingly, "Our Green Heart" provided many gems I had not yet discovered! 

Diana Beresford-Kroeger even touches on quantum mechanics. Quantum lifting is mentioned on Page 65, describing how photons interact with chlorophyll in photosynthesis! Amazing.

Here are just a few more of my favourites... 

On page 88 Diana describes the photoactivity of leaf mould explaining the lack of snow under a tree in the winter. I had incorrectly attributed that observation to the boughs of the trees. 

The decimation of insects and their absence on the windshields of cars is found on page 111. The increase in the 2.5-micron pollution index is associated with the increase in atmospheric carbon.  The pollution coats flowers preventing insects from feeding on the sugars the plants use as enticement. Both the flowers and the bugs suffer. 

Page 142 mentions how Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and Ecuador are giving legal rights and status as persons to the forests and rivers. This is something that Brehon laws embraced long before the British Empire and the Magna Carta. The entire world needs to adopt this approach - sooner than later!

Page 149 describes the ancient frozen carbon under the Arctic and the Boreal forest amounting "to approximately three times the tonnage of carbon in the atmosphere.... a sleeping time bomb".

Page 150 describes "the enormous spring flush of aromatic aerosols (that) ends in a global plume of airborne medicine." It is healthy to enjoyyour time in the forest. 

Page 140 holds a gem when Diana describes her "good friend, the late Harvard professor E.O. Wilson ... (describing) the present time as full of people with Stone Age emotions working in medieval institutions and thinking and acting from a belief in their own godlike prowess." Amen. 

The last paragraph on page 192 ends with a prayer: "The global forest represents peace and love to all nations. It represents the first gift of life at birth, that single new breath. A beginning."

I plant trees … exactly as Diana suggests several times in the passages of "Our Green Heart" but even there, I learned some tricks. Baking soda can hide the scent of freshly planted nuts to discourage squirrels from feasting on your efforts. I will certainly give baking soda a try.

It is important to be an eternal student. I was nurturing a shagbark hickory that I planted from a nut. I was out walking and discovered a porcupine chewing that sapling right to the ground. The meal was much enjoyed. I will have to up my game and include wire fencing until the trees are larger. 

If only politicians and leaders would read "Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests" and act accordingly. A green, circular economy in which the value of nature and the environment must be explicitly included in the financial system of the world. This book is a terrific read and full of wisdom addressing climate change from the grassroots. 

As an atmospheric scientist, I have been giving presentations on climate change and the web of life and nature since the 1980s. Sadly, the time for meaningful climate action is past, but there must always be hope. Diana Beresford-Kroeger remains positive about the future. Thank you, Diana. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick

Be Informed and Vote Wisely

2919 "Queen of the Castle"
14x20 inches oils on a cradled
smooth mahogany panel.
Started January 30th, 2025

My friend John Verburg is another source of wonderful inspiration. As soon as I saw his image of sheep, I figured that it would be a fun exercise for the Singleton Studio. The sheep also told another very timely story. 

These fifteen sheep touched me. I use art as a vehicle to continue to learn and not just about painting. Mostly my interest is sparked by nature and science. Rarely am I drawn to social events. However, the political climate of 2024 and the next decade are important to understand from a scientific point of view. The following thoughts came to me while I painted. I had to write them down to "clear the air". 

In the past, I made it a point not to discuss politics, religion, and other typical taboo topics in polite conversation. The weather was always a safe "go-to" and perfect for me. However, to remain silent during these deeply troubled times is implicit acceptance. Silence is unacceptable given the blatant immorality and criminality of the political and corporate elite in the pursuit of more wealth and power at the expense of everything else. Enough is never enough. The end result of the current misdeeds must be an extended interglacial period lasting thousands of years until the extinction of mankind allows nature to heal the Earth. Think about that... 

In this painting, one sheep, the Queen of the Ewes, climbed to the top of the round bale to get a better vantage. What was going on? The round bale was of excellent quality and intended to be their midday meal. In this case, it was used as a leg-up to better understand the world. She was looking to the right - from her perspective. Right-wing fascists are very dangerous to sheep.

Another ewe directly in front of the round bale looked intently to the left. Left-wing extremists are just as treacherous. 

These two sheep suspected a sleight of hand and were rightfully wary. The other sheep were inspecting the photographer. They were entertained, simply chowing down and indifferent to everything but the "free lunch". 

The sheep are wise to be wary but what do they do next. I should reread George Orwell's "Animal Farm". That book summary reads a lot like current events. Aldous Huxley also envisioned the future world. Carl Sagan made a forecast as well. There have been a lot of wise people making extremely learned predictions. The sheepy populace was not listening or reading. 

Initially, I had intended to include the political "science" definitions of the various forms of governments - their pros and cons etcetera. Orwell and Huxley were concerned about totalitarian governments based on their experiences with Mussolini and Hitler. Totalitarianism with absolute dictatorship in the hands of one person or party controls every aspect of its politics, economy, education, and culture. An authoritarian regime concentrates power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people. Both are a far step away from democracy. 

Aside from being too long and tedious, the Earth is in the verification phase of the above forecasts of future governments. I reread many of those essays but I realized that the problem is not just the criminal politicians. The future has arrived and the root cause can be found in the sheep.

Huxley was probably closest in writing his 1932 "Brave New World" with that populace controlled with pleasure. We are the problem - blissfully content to live generally peacefully with enough food, shelter and clothing while entertained by sitcoms, crime dramas, sports, gambling and beer. "Only" 10 percent of the world suffers hunger. Oh my, but that is a huge number...

After hard-fought battles to secure the vote, less than two-thirds avail themselves of that privilege. Some who do, are influenced by shallow slogans, sound bites and propaganda - all biased and largely false. "A Buck a Beer" is an improbable election slogan but it worked for the Conservatives in Ontario.

Those who do cast a knowledgeable vote are vastly outnumbered. The "first past the post" method of counting is inherently flawed and unrepresentative of the reality of the populace. Political platform promises to correct that obvious and tragic flaw remain unfilled, influenced no doubt by the real power brokers.

As a result in 2025, the Earth is facing the sixth mass extinction, climate change, forest eradication and destruction of the wilderness. There is big, big money to be made by ravishing the land for fossil fuel, fish, precious metals and anything else that mankind can make a buck from in their artificial economy. Corporations continue to amass unimaginable fortunes. Even individuals are cashing in with the first trillionaire on the horizon. There are a lot of zeroes in a trillion (a dozen). Imagine the madness!

Corporations can be unscrupulously ruthless in their quest for wealth and power. They have the resources not only to purchase countries but more simply and cheaper, to buy the political structures that run them. The three pillars of government include executive, legislative and an independent judiciary. All have affordable price tags. The ultra-rich can acquire world domination just like "Dr. No" in the prophetic 1962 James Bond movie. 

The problem remains with the sheep. We do not hold politicians accountable for their misdeeds and crimes. Oaths of office are quickly forgotten. Political platforms have become increasingly shallow comprised of mud-slinging ads and "vote for me because I'm not the other guy". Instead, world leaders are allowed to pocket envelopes stuffed with cash, dodge taxation, determine their own compensation and accept backroom payments for doing the bidding of wealthy constituents. During a short term in office, ostensibly in the service of the populace, their personal wealth miraculously skyrockets. Upon discovery and getting unelected (if they are caught), the criminal politicians retire to live happily ever after like fairy kings and queens on 100% plus pensions at public expense.

As a result, many former sheep seek political office not to serve and make their country and world a better place, but for personal gain. Self-entitled, narcissistic sheep without character, aspire to become wealthy wolves. The doors to the back rooms are flung wide open "ready for business" for large corporations and wealthy individuals to buy politicians. 

Finding an honest politician, who possesses integrity and empathy with the best interest of the sheep populace at heart, would be wonderful. Sadly there is a general dearth of such character. In fact, a lack of empathy has been correctly labelled as "evil". That word is not nearly emphatic enough to describe destroying the only planet we have or will ever know for wealth and power wielded by the very few. We have arrived at an Earth where the wealthiest 1% of the world's population controls roughly half of the wealth - at least the wealth defined by the artificial manmade economy. 

It is thus consistent that an oligarchy is the prevailing form of government. Absolute power rests with just a small number of people in an oligarchy. Totalitarianism and authoritarianism are similar and equally repulsive but these "leaders" are in it for the cash. Wikipedia summarizes: 

"These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, religious, political, or military control. Throughout history, power structures considered to be oligarchies have often been viewed as coercive, relying on public obedience or oppression to exist. Aristotle pioneered the use of the term as meaning rule by the rich, contrasting it with aristocracy, arguing that oligarchy was the perverted form of aristocracy." 

           The Sanders Institute provides an apt definition                     

Clearly, an oligarchy is a sinister threat to democracy. The power in government resides in the hands of those not even on the ballot. Meanwhile, the purchased minions go on the glad-handing campaign trail kissing babies, smiling for every camera and ensuring that (taxpayer) money flows freely to their constituents before the polls open. The feigned, friendly faces circulated in the purchased media do not really contain any empathy at all. The sheep buy into the "free" lunch and find the political campaign to be quite entertaining - a mix of gladiators in the stadium, football, tennis and mud-wrestling all rolled into a public display of distraction while the power brokers profit.  Shallow slogans do not address the real issues. The people and the planet continue to pay the freight. 

The power brokers and politicians employ the same techniques as Big Oil and Coal, Big Tobacco, Asbestos and more recently Opioid. The simple playbook has not changed over the centuries:

Lie, confuse, conceal, cheat, obfuscate, distract, divide and conquer.

Manipulate and control the news media and circulate misleading propaganda.

Employ lobby groups with opaque funding and influence or purchase politicians and governments while undermining facts about established science and disguising the reality of their motives. 

Dithering inaction results during which the business of accumulating wealth and power can continue unimpeded, "full steam ahead". The real power players would not benefit from proportional representation so the election system remains archaic. The lack of empathy for planet Earth and all therein displays an evil that defies language to adequately describe. 

The forecasts by Orwell, Huxley, Sagan and many others have verified perfectly more or less. 

Decades were squandered in the efforts to curb greenhouse gases. The Earth is well on its way to becoming uninhabitable reaching temperatures at least 3°Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2300. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirms 2024 as the warmest year on record with temperatures about 1.55°C above pre-industrial level. "One-point-five" and "net-zero" were simply hollow political shams that allowed big oil corporations to continue business as normal. 

The empathy-void decisions were made in the Exxon Head Offices in the 1970s. James Black, company scientist and climatologist for Exxon clearly stated that "uncontrolled fossil fuel use would cause a "super-interglacial" lasting thousands of years". It would take that long for nature to repair the Earth in the absence of people. (see "Big carbon's strategic response to global warming, 1950-2020") "Drill baby drill" remains the slogan of choice. 

Please note that the above text in red is mine and is not included on James Black's original slide. I am speculating that a climatologist of his stature would make it crystal clear to the group of senior Exxon executives what "Expected Natural Cooling" meant. Carbon could only be re-sequestered if nature recovered and vegetation was allowed to flourish. Convalescence would indeed take thousands upon thousands of years in sharp contrast to the couple of hundred years of the Industrial Revolution. Humans burned and profited (and became essentially extinct) from the extraction of fossil fuels in only a geological blink of an eye. The inherent flaws of an economy that focuses on the profits from extraction while disregarding nature and the life cycle of materials could not be more obvious. Shame. 

The past ten years 2015-2024 are the ten warmest years on record. Six international datasets were used to reach the consolidated WMO global figure below. 2024 was the first calendar year with a global mean temperature of more than 1.5°C above the 1850-1900 average. The impacts are now clearly observable even to the most myopic of sheep. 

This post makes me very sad. It is not my wish or style but sometimes the truth is ugly. I must face myself in the mirror and at least say I failed. I stopped giving Climate Change presentations in 2021. Overhead transparency slides were the first vehicle I used to display the carbon imbalance and the Elsasser Diagram. I graduated to PowerPoint in 1987 and the presentations quickly outgrew the memory of the early computers (AT1, AT2 etc). My generation of meteorologists was ineffective in influencing world leaders. Money talks much louder than science. I was preaching to the choir and the politicians and power brokers were never in the audience. Shame.

The goal of this post is to encourage the reader if there are any, to vote intelligently, read and learn and give critical thought to what you see... it might be AI and misleading at best or outright lies at worst. Be informed with real facts. Hold the feet of your local candidate to the fire and insist on proportional representation. Don't be distracted by any last-minute flow of (taxpayer) cash or the smiling faces in the media photo-op. There is no such thing as a free lunch. We must not be sheep. 

Sadly concerning the climate, the long-term integral of weather, the opportunity to make much of a difference has been lost. The climate system dynamics have a lot of inertia and the tipping point consequences of melting "perma"-frost and land-ice must escalate. The science of this would fill several books to adequately describe. It would take worldwide cooperation and heroics to even tweak the trajectory of spaceship Earth. 

So I sequester myself within the Singleton Sanctuary while caring for nature. The real riches of Earth can be found in the forest, quietly painting and surrounded by nature. Perhaps my art might bring solace to those with no wild place to which to retreat... Now back to 2919 "Queen of the Castle"...

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint 2024 Collection. Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2025. 

Warmest regards and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick