Saugeen Tug

This view is from 9 am looking south across the Saugeen at the assortment of turtle boats and a single tug. The far shore was all in shade except for a glancing slice of light across the roves and the northeast surfaces of the boats. A cold front had just passed through and a brisk northwest wind was pushing the waves upstream against the flow of the Saugeen. These same winds were blowing the tree boughs on the far shore to the east as well. The cold frontal stratocumulus cloud had cleared out leaving blue bird skies for the late morning and early afternoon. Some altocumulus gravity wave clouds crossed the scene later in the morning and I included these in the painting although there wasn’t much room available at the top. This layer of stable clouds was riding the elevated cold frontal surface. There was rust showing on the fleet and I wanted this neglect to show in a “pretty” way. The first day at the "Wind, Waves and Weather" Plein Air Course, Southampton.

Smoke Cedars

This is the view looking southerly across Smoke Lake through a stand of cedars. Through the title I am not suggesting that anyone actually smoke cedar bark - I just thought the title might be humourous. There was a complex tangle of roots from the tree cedars all trying to find the sparse soil on top of the rock. I enjoyed this unusal composition which is not my typical painting. Oils on medium burnt sienna oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 11 X 14

Dry Towers

At 5:30 pm I headed out to stand on the front hill. I had expected to find fair weather cumulus but there were several lines of embedded towering cumulus to the east. None of these towering cumulus produced more than a few drops so they were basically dry, cries. As I was painting the wind shifted from the southwest to the northeast. The cooler and drier wind from the northeast provided the necessary shear to tilt the clouds that were still in the southwesterly flow. The clearing with the northeasterly gusts provided my favourite shade of sky which I felt compelled to put on the canvas. These same winds also threatened to blow over the easel which I had to tie to the white spruce on the front hill. It was a fun evening with a bit larger canvas.
Oils on burnt sienna oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 14 X 18

Shower Curtains

I set up my easel on the beach of the Kearney Lodge, Lake of Two Rivers. A cold low centred near Earlton was causing spokes of showers to rotate across Algonquin Park. The cold low wheel had many spokes so that the dry periods between the showers became shorter especially during the afternoon when the limited daytime heating had made the air mass its most unstable. This particular band of showers emerged from the west and gradually pulled a curtain of rain across my view. I had to retreat to the car briefly to keep the canvas dry.
I displayed this painting as a backdrop for my evening "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" presentation at the park. My friend Tony Bianco had praise for it. We had 96 people out to hear the presentation. It was well received.
The title is meant to be a humourous pun on the common bathroom item. Instead of keeping one dry, these atmospheric shower curtains made one rather damp.
Oils on medium burnt sienna oil tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 11 X 14

Morning Rain Clouds

The old cold low continued to spin its weather over Southern Ontario. Some morning embedded altocumulus castellanus was visible every now again during breaks to the east. More overcast towering cumulus were bringing showers in from the west. The roof of the balcony was the only thing that kept me and the canvas from getting soaked. The colours of the clouds were my main interest in painting this scene.

Canada Day TCUs

A towering cumulus (TCU) was laying down an isolated shower on the American shore. Not a drop fell during Canada Day Celebrations on the north shore of the St Lawrence River. The weather and clouds were shaped by southwesterly winds down the St Lawrence under a cool and unstable upper cold low situation. I didn’t have any cerulean blue so I made do. Some sailboats cruised by so I put them in the painting.Oils on medium rose acrylic tinted foundation on commercial canvas - 11 X 14

Algonquin Park CSI

My good Friend and fellow artist Keith C. Heidorn, PhD is the Weather Doctor. Keith has compiled a piece on his website about my work with the art and weather of Tom Thomson. The timing is perfect as I present "Tom Thomson Was A Weatherman" at the Amplitheatre at Kilometre 34.6 of Alongquin Park at 8 pm on Monday July 6th - hope to see you there!

"What inspired Tom Thomson, one of Canada’s greatest artists? Join Phil “The Forecaster” Chadwick as he tries to convince you that the weather was Thomson’s inspiration and that the proof is in the painting."

Here is Keith's widely used website
http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/doctor.htm

Ragged Falls

This is the view from partway up Ragged Falls looking upward toward the source of the torrent. I climbed up from the bottom of the falls looking for subject matter. There was so much of it. I didn't realize until I tried to climb out that Algonquin Park had erected great fences to keep people from going where I had climbed. Coming from the absolute bottom, I never encountered a fence until I tried to climb out. The falls are indeed ragged with many twists and turns among the torrent of water. The painting is not quite done... but you get the idea.

"Smoke Lake Cumulus"

I still had hours until I had to be at the Algonquin Arts Centre Opening so I decided to check out the Smoke Lake boat ramp - it was a great decision. There were no bugs on the docks and I was able to paint in peace with a broad vista to the south. The cumulus clouds were well developed and were my main subjects. Jet stream cirrus and cirrostratus were streaming in from the west and heralding the approaching low pressure area and rain. This rain would come to pass as the deformation zone had pushed well to the north of Algonquin Park.
I started out painting on the floating dock but had to move to the shore due to the boat traffic in and out of the boat ramp. The dock bounced up and down and it was difficult to keep the brush on the canvas. Two young couples came by, admired my work and called me Tom Thomson - it was nice:>)