Location: Canada
Trained at Queen's University as a nuclear physicist, “Phil the Forecaster" has been a professional meteorologist since 1976 but has always been an artist. Phil paints mostly "en plein air" in oils on canvas outside, surrounded by inspiration. Phil has a passion for life and the environment. Phil’s simple desire is to make the next painting his new favourite … to improve in capturing the essence of the subject with lots of colour and bold strokes!
I live and paint out of passion for the natural world. I am inspired by nature, family and fellow artists to see
beyond the surface and to share the experience – a vision in pigment and texture. My immediate goal is to extract
the maximum amount of inspiration from the moment and have fun doing it while surrounded by and immersed in the natural
elements. Somehow the soul of the scene finds its way on to the canvas.
My simple desire is to make the next painting my new favourite and to improve in capturing the essence of the
subject with lots of colour and bold strokes!
Life is good ... very good! Plus you gotta laugh !
This is a giant, multi-stem sugar maple tree on the top of Foley Mountain. My Brother Jim owns about 400 acres of prime Canadian shield and he looks after the trees and creatures contained therein... The large sugar maple is one of those creatures. He has transplanted some of the genetic offspring of this tree to around his home... hoping they would do as well as the monarch. I felt that this deserved a portrait for lots of environmental reasons. Some of the branches twist back and forth like gray rat snakes. I was concerned about killing it with a thousand strokes of the brush... one has to know when to stop...
This is just one example of the structures along Summers Road north of Lyndhurst. This was home to a family for at least a few generations. It doesn't look like much now but in its prime, it must have been nice.The trees and shrubs have taken over what used to be a lawn. The windows and doors have a rakish droop to them. There is almost no trace of paint to show that at one time, somebody cared. This is the cycle of life applied to homes and families...
This is the restored grist mill in Bedford Mills on the Perth Road just south of Westport. It shares the same name as the town in Frank Capra's movie "It's a Wonderful Life".
With spring one day away, I had some time to paint after a frustrating day of missed calls and no responses from people who should respond. I channeled my frustration into a positive experience. I let myself and the paint fly. I hope it was successful. It was a beautiful day and that is all that really mattered. A muskrat came up close behind me. I also took a paddle in Margaritaville to inspect the ice and the shoreline. The ducks, geese and eagles kept me company over the water. The bluebirds, red-wing blackbirds and robins kept me company over the land.
So I was really reflecting on the day and the soothing effects of the water and the enduring nature of the forest. Nature is the one true constant in life and it is priceless.
Late afternoon after returning from Brockville and I wanted to paint. There was a slight easterly breeze inflow to the approaching low. Temperatures were around plus 2 Celsius. The combination of wind and temperature were just fine especially with the breeze to my back. I set up looking down Long Reach from the down side of Jim Day Rapids. I was attracted by the colours of the trees and water. The ice along the shore was pretty rotten and had a steely gray look.
The title is supposed to be a clever play on the month and the fact that the view marches for quite a distance south-southwestward down Long Reach. Okay, maybe it isn't that clever....
This is another visit to Ragged Falls on the Oxtongue River. This time I am looking down the water course at the tumble of white water molecules bouncing between the rocky bumpers like a billion balls in a giant pin ball machine. The calm water at the bottom of the falls is where I was headed. The water picks up some oxygen during this tumbling cascade. Small fish and insects must get disoriented during their chaotic ride down the precipice. Fish are waiting for all three in the deep hole at the bottom. This makes the pool a great place to fish - something that is not lost on any angler, let alone Tom Thomson. We know for sure and have the pictures to prove it that Tom fished at the base of Tea Lake Dam. I bet he fished the pool at Ragged Falls as well. I would!
An approaching winter storm had generated overcast alotstratus skies and a raw easterly inflow. I tried to paint in a sheltered location out of the wind. It is not the temperature of minus 2 Celsius but the wind that makes the difference in comfort level. My hands got really cold so I reverted to gloves to finish the painting. I love the reflections in the dark water and the way the ground water ice has formed from the cracks in the Canadian shield. It is paradise indeed.
This is the view looking southerly across Jim Day Rapids. The ice was really solid and provided a level area to pace back and forth as I painted and picked my colours. The wind picked up and it got decidedly chilly. I had to retreat to the home to warm my hands. The paint also got rather pasty but that adds to the plein air effect. As always, I was interested in the shapes and colours of snow, ice and water - all H2O. I didn't want to get bogged down in busy details while still hoping to capture the essence of the scene. Ice makes a multitude of colours especially at the water's edge.
The patch of cirrostratus on the western horizon was a harbinger of the approaching winter storm. Snow and freezing rain would certainly force me to paint inside on Wednesday. (it did! The forecast from the sky verified.)
The flurries ended and the skies cleared. I decided to set my easel on the edge of Jim Day Rapids to stay out of the brisk westerly winds. I wanted to capture the different colours of ice and snow at different stages of decay. It may be February by the calendar but spring was certainly in the air. I also wanted to catch the essence of the live maple tree on the right and the decayed stump on the back left. It was fun and pleasant to be in the sun but out of the wind.
My chores were done so I needed to paint. There is so much subject matter around Singleton Lake that I simply went and stood on the shoreline looking west. The sky was leaden but with bright patches on the horizon. There were flurries in the air but clearing was on the way. I wanted to match the colours of the different types of ice and how they picked up the colours of the sky and the reflections from the shoreline.
I wouldn't walk on the ice unless I was wearing my bathing suit which is not typical of February. The ice should be thick and solid but this was a warm winter for sure. The blue birds were already back if they ever left for warmer climes.
By the time I was done, the clearing had arrived. Suddenly it was a much different landscape from that when I started!
It was a gray day at Singleton Lake. The temperature was near zero and the falling snow was wet - wet enough that my canvas would get wet as well. No oil can stick to a wet canvas. I was most interested in capturing the colours of the waters of Long Reach outside the window. I also like the curve of the snow covered granite and as always, the white pines reaching into the sky. My brushes were causing me some grief... time to go shopping!
This body of water is called everything from the Lyndhurst River, the Gananoque River or Long Reach. The water really flows through Jim Day Rapids but there are no rapids where this stretch of water connects to what is confirmed to be Long Reach and part of Red Horse Lake. As a result, I think it only right to call it Long Reach... and that has implication on development!
This is an indigo bunting seen at Singleton Lake. It has made the forests and meadows home along with a hundred other species of birds - that we know about anyway. We will keep the land unchanged so that they will want to continue to live here as do the Chadwicks.
Freezing rain again ... but a warm fire in the wood stove. No one is moving anywhere.  About 4 mm of ice coats all surfaces – especially the smaller branches which are very efficient as ice collectors.
The number one priority was to stand outside and experience the freezing rain first hand and then go back inside to paint in front of the fire. Three doe bounded across the field while I painted. By the time I finished the atmosphere had lost the above freezing layer aloft and large flakes of snow had replaced the freezing rain... I won't bore you with the atmospheric details of what this means...
Does looking out the studio window count as a plein air painting? That is what I did because the weather behind the cold front was way too nasty. Heavy wet snow quickly added a thick layer of white to the ice that never melted from the trees. I would have needed some kind of umbrella to keep the very heavy and wet snow off my canvas. As I result I painted in the comfort of the studio looking out the south window. Both the wood stove and stereo were on. If plein air painting requires one to be out in the elements, then this certainly doesn't apply...
The rocks of Ragged Falls are an effective set of teeth to chew up the waters of Algonquin Park. The water flowing off the highlands has to plummet through the tumble of Canadian Shield on it ways to the ocean. The result is the colourful splish and splash of water as it stumbles over Ragged Falls.
This revisits #1069 "Oxtongue Rapids" and it is also called "Revisit to Oxtongue Rapids" as I have written on the back of the canvas. I felt that the sketch needed a bigger format. The sketch was very powerful possibly because the voracious black flies prevented me from overworking any of the brushwork. I barely had time to grab some paint and stroke it on before swatting off a black fly. Blood stained the brim of my hat ... The bugs got hungrier as the morning progressed and that certainly saved me from labouring on the brush strokes and leaving the vitality in the paint. The black flies deserve the credit if any is due.
“Monarch of the Forest”
“Home Sweet Home”
“Bedford Mills”
“Spring Reflections”
“Long Reach March”
“Falling Down Ragged”
“Jim Day Reflections”
“Singleton Ice”
“February Spring”
“February Ice”
“Long Reach Gray Day”
“Indigo”
“Fire and Ice”
“January Snow”
“Ragged Waters”
“Oxtongue Rapids Revisited”
