Phil and the Southampton Art School - 2014

I have been painting with the Southampton Art School since 2006. It has always been fun! Killarney is not on the list this year but if you want the "Annual Adventure" to return, please let me know. 

Great Gray

A combination of a wonderful image by Dave Hotchkiss and a cold and very windy winter day prompted me to paint in the studio. I got the drawing right at the first attempt. Sometimes the paint just flows. This could be a large painting but I choose a small format instead just for fun - 7 by 5 inches. I didn't really want to be tied up in the studio doing a large photographic realism painting. I just wanted to have fun.
The owls are in the process of mating this time of year so it was an appropriate subject matter. Great gray owls are magnificent creatures and Dave captured the essence of the bird.

Blue Sky Blizzard

Painting white on white at the peak of the blue sky blizzard would not have been very interesting. This view of the shagbark hickory in the front yard was at the tail end of the drifitng snow. The wind chill was still significant but the visibility was way better than the zero in whiteouts that had dominated the morning hours.

Notice that I used one of my handy-dandy supporting inventions to hold the canvas from the back. It allows me to paint all of the sides of the painting without getting paint on my hands. These little contraptions worked really well.

Curious George

I decided to give my little easel contraption for small canvases another try. This is George the hereford bull eating an early supper on Foley Mountain. I am not really certain that his name is "George" but it seemed to fit.
Actually the name of the bull is actually Herman. Next time I will call him by his real name. 

Snow Day

The chores were done so I had time to paint. I feel as though everything needs to be completed before I can devote some time to art. Maybe it is another one of my flaws but it is one I can't seem to shake.
The winter storm was tricky to forecast and they didn't do well with it. A centre jump across the Appalachians is tricky to time and it affects how far to the northwest the precipitation shield extends. We got at least 20 centimetres of light fluffy snow at Singleton Lake. The snow combined with the wind kept me inside.

I decided to try my new remote shutter release on the old Canon camera. I also decided to grab a square canvas which is unusual for me. It is good to step out of your comfort zone. It was fun.

Foley Mountain Farm - And Please Come to Sydenham 1 pm on Saturday

Foley Mountain Farm -
Another view of the farm on Grady Road but on a very small (4x4 inches) and unusual format. I built a special wood holder that locks into my studio easel and allows me to easily paint all of the sides without getting covered in paint.

As well, please come to the "Reflections on Art & Nature" exhibit in Sydenham this Saturday (22 Feb) for the reception which begins at 1:00 pm. in the Grace Hall, 4295 Stage Coach Rd. (just at the top of the hill, south from Rutledge Rd.).

Tracks at Dawn

More fun on a small canvas. These are my tracks headed northward from the fork in Long Reach Lane. It was a bitterly cold morning and the sun was just climbing about the top of the forest. It was tough walking with the encrusted snow up to my knees. I used lots of paint and covered all of the sides as well.

Cold Outbreak

The clouds on the southwestern horizon were the tops of the 240 to 260 degree snow squall over Lake Ontario. Cold outbreaks are typical behind the winter storms like the one that kept me studio-stayed the day before. The cloud types and shapes tell the entire story if you know how to read the signs. You would not want to drive south through the snow squall. The Watertown radar did show some of the intensity of the snow squall but even though it was close to the event the radar beam still overshot much of the very low level fury of the flurries. King City radar has a low initial beam elevation and revealed the genesis of the snow squall over the western basin of Lake Ontario.

A meteorologist has to connect the dots to analyze the full extent of the weather. Snow squalls can have the same impact as the most severe summer outbreak of convection. When the wind shifts to 230 or 240 degrees, these snow squalls are directed to Singleton Lake. If the wind shifts any more to the south the over lake fetch is generally not enough or cold enough for the snow squall process.

The title could have just as easily been “Snow Squall” but squalls and cold outbreaks go hand in hand so they are close to being the same thing. It was the cold and the wind that pushed me inside and that explains my choice for the title. The westerly winds were chilly enough to push me back inside to my studio window. The blustery winds knocked the remaining snow off the boughs of the red cedars while I painted. At least I started this outside. It was quite a winter for painting. Note that off-lake flurries started just at sunset. 

Flag Day 2014 - 364 Days to the 50th Celebration of the Canadian Maple Leaf Flag

The article by Ronald Zajac of the Recorder and Times does a nice and fair job summing up the event. I should loose 20 pounds but the camera doesn't lie.
Nothing was scripted but honesty doesn't need to be rehearsed. The paintings are indeed lessons in history, climate, weather, the water cycle and even sports. The hand of John Ross Matheson and Bob Harper were with me in every stroke. John picked the art work which I then blended into a composition which flowed anticyclonically through the seasons and Canada. Most importantly John instructed me on the colour of red that he envisioned. I have yet to find a tube of "Canada Flag Red" but I had no problem mixing my own and after a few trial and error sessions with John, we got it right - at least right according to John. That is all that really mattered to me anyway.
The value of the creations will be decided by others. A couple of years of effort is hard to quantify and luckily, I paint for the passion of creation anyway. Every canvas is another opportunity to try to get it right.
Here is the link to Ron's review of the event.
http://www.recorder.ca/2014/02/15/celebrating-the-birth-of-the-flag
Note to self: never stand sideways to a camera...