2012-13

Tortured Pine

Acrylic on canvas 18 x 24

Painted from photos taken by my son, Warren, took on a solo canoe trip to Tegau Lake in Northern Ontario. I seldom paint anything I haven't seen with my own eyes, but I had to make an exception for this tree.

Jack Pine

Acrylic on canvas 12 x 16

A small cove on the south shore of Long Bay, Lake of the Woods, where we often spend a few days in our houseboat. It was a mid summer evening and the last of the sun's glow was still showing in the north under a dark line of cloud.

Birches

Acrylicon canvas 15 x 27

A stand of birches on the shore of a still frozen lake in early spring. I wanted to capture the quietness of a late winter afternoon, as the trees wait for the summer sun to wake them up. It doesn't show up very well in this photo, but there is one orange leaf still clinging to the end of the let leaning branch.

Grosbeaks

Acrylic on canvas, 18 x 25 1/2

I was struck by the way the overreaching cedar foliage framed this group of Pine Grosbeaks. The sun was peaking through the foliage, creating patterns on the bright snow below.

Portage Trail

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20

The painting knife was the perfect tool to capture the rugged beauty of this portage trail. It was a warm early fall afternoon with the sun pouring down the trail. You can easily imagine walking through the cool of the forest with your canoe on your shoulders head.

Swamp

Oil on linen, 12 x 16

I love these beaver trails through swampy bays and the bright colours drew me to this composition. A dry ridge in the background is covered with fireweed.

Log River

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20

A partly cloudy day with the sun illuminating the trees and water far in the background. Cloud shadows darken the mid ground.

Standing Watch

Acrylic on Canvas, 20 x 26

Near Black Lake, highway 17. The bright sun illuminates a Great Blue Heron standing watch on the bank Black River on a quiet, late summer afternoon.

A Long Bay Island

Acrylic on Canvas, 18 x 24

This was a beautiful, calm, early fall day on Long Bay. The bright yellow grasses were in sharp contrast to the blue of the sky reflected in the water.

A Giant on Linton's Loop

Acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36

This large White Pine is situated on Woody and Cathy Linton's snowshoe trail. It was a beautiful sunny winter's day after a heavy snowfall, when several of us took to the trail in snowshoes.

Tangled Forest

Acrylic on Panel, 16 x 20

This was a bit of an experiment in a style slightly different than my usual. It attempts to portray the dense, tangles forests that often surround our lakes,

A Snake in the Grass

Acrylic on panel on panel, 18 x 24

I had wanted to do this painting for a long time. The great variety in colour, texture and shapes, was veery appealing. I couldn't resist adding a silent garter snake peeking out from behind the rock.

Early Winter

Acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24

I wanted to capture the effect of cool damp, still air on winter foliage. The heavy moisture in the air blurred the middle and distant forest but also darkened the foreground trees making them stand out in stark relief.

Early Winter, Black River

Oil on canvas, 16 x20

The dark water was a striking contrast to the white snow. The ice was still thin and the water stained the snow along the ice-water margin. The bright yellow grasses in the foreground offer a striking contrast.

On the Trail

Acrylic on canvas, 25 x 24

This was our first winter doing a lot of snowshoeing. This part of our trail winds through a cedar swamp which becomes a fairy land after a heavy snowfall.

Black spruce

Oil on panel, 12 x 16

Black spruce are one of my favourite trees because of the considerable variation in their shape and growth habit. The long sweeping branches of this tree nearly reach the ground before curling back up to reach for the sun.