ANOTHER MEMORY REVISITED - Old Woman Bay, Lake Superior Provincial Park.

Another memory. Some years ago we travelled up to Lake Superior Provincial Park in late October, or maybe it was early November.  I do recall that we encountered snow in Saulte St Marie, and had to slip slide our way into the park, and up to Wawa where we stayed for a few days. One morning we headed into the park to sketch stopping off at Old Woman Bay. It was really quite cold, and there were a few flurries in the air. But, we'd come for me to do some sketching so I found a place on the shore and sat down in the sand, and sketched. Later, a couple of years later, a cold morning back home reminded me of that cold morning in Lake Superior Provincial Park, and I wrote....

NOVEMBER 3, 2018

Early this morning, 

early that is for me,

I went outside and stood,

enjoying the freshness of a November morning. 

The air was cold, and was tinged 

with the smell of wood smoke. 

Signs that warned that winter would soon,

too soon for me, 

make its unwanted appearance. 

My mind wandered for the moment,

back to a similar morning years ago, 

spent sketching at Old Woman Bay,

up Lake Superior way.

It was cold that morning as well. In fact 

it had snowed, 

not much,

just a few flurries. The wind 

coming off of the lake

was bitter cold. Still, 

I had no choice,

I had come to sketch, and

sketch I must. So,

I pulled out my sketchbook, and

sitting at the side of Old Woman River, 

with the waves roaring onto Superior’s shore,

I made a sketch. 

Sketch made,

fingers frozen,

I stumbled to my feet,

brushed the sand from my jeans, and

sought shelter. 

A memory well spent,

I went inside, found my sketchbook,

and once again

found my way home.  

Old Woman Bay  2015    Pencil Sketch

Old Woman Bay  Pencil Field Sketch   2015

Old Woman Bay   Watercolour Field Sketch  2015

Old Woman Bay  Pencil Field Sketch  2010

As you can see Old Woman Bay has been for me, a favourite place to grab a sketch, or two, when visiting the park. If you, the reader, should ever find yourself up that way, do stop and make a sketch, a memory to last a lifetime.

THE LONG HOT SUMMERS...OF LONG, LONG AGO.

Still Waters. (Loon)    Intaglio Print

Written on July 19, 2019

These past few days we’ve experienced weather temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius. On one occasion, figuring in the humidex , the temperature felt more like 40+ degrees Celsius. Global warming?

It got me to thinking about the long hot summers of my youth. Back then there was no humidex, and apart from lamenting about the heat, unless you were a farmer, no one really thought much about the weather. It was expected that in the summer it would be hot, sometimes really hot, and come winter it would be cold, really cold at times. 

In fact some winters the temperature would dip to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit was the method used to record temperature before we accepted the metric system at which time Celsius became the manner in which to describe the temperature. Interesting in that the reason that we embraced the metric system was that it was thought that the whole world would change over from the Imperial system to Metric system. When the United States, Canada’s largest trading partner didn’t Canada was left hanging with having to think both systems. 

Anyway, back in the day, the days of my youth when few homes were properly insulated, and air-conditioning consisted of a block of ice and a fan, nights would become a bit of a durance test. Sometimes it became so hot in the house that entire families would sleep out doors. In the cities people would gravitate to the public park and sleep out in the open. People did die from the heat, older people mainly, but we survived and we came to expect the summer heat as the norm. 

I remember as a teen heading out to the sand beaches of Georgian Bay to hang out with other teens lying on the beach soaking up the sun and lathering ourselves with baby oil in order to get a dark tan. This was in the time before exposure to the sun could result in skin cancer, and the time before the depletion of the Ozone Layer. An interesting personal anecdote, I suffered greatly from acne, huge sores on my back and chest. My doctor’s advice, go lie in the sun to dry them up. It’s pretty doubtful that this would be the advice given a teen in this day and age. Anyway, we’d lie there soaking up the sun until we got so hot that we’d seek relieve with a dip in the cool waters of the Bay. The trip, however, from our towel on the beach to the water involved a sort of hop-skip-and jump routine to avoid scorching the soles of our feet on the burning hot sand. 

“Those were the days”… remember the words of the song sung by Mary Hopkin, Those Were The Days. The song went on …”we thought they’d never end.” But, they did, the days of our youth that is, and now we’re old, at least some of us are, and all that we have are memories. Mostly good memories, however. Yes, I remember the sweltering heat of summers long gone, nights spent tossing and turning in damp sweats soaked sheets praying for morning to come so that I could go out to play. I remember spending the month of June in public school, no air conditioning, writing exams with one’s forearm sticking to the desk as you attempted to write answers to questions the results of which would determine your future. I remember the Ice Man with his horse drawn wagon containing blocks of ice for the family ice box refrigerator. He’d sometimes chip off a pieces of ice for the children who ran alongside the wagon in the hopes that a chip of ice would bring some relief for the afternoon heat. I remember when we got a real refrigerator and my mother would make Freshie popsicles in the ice tray. Most of all I remember the gallons of Freshie drank cold from the fridge. Orange flavour was my favourite. So many memories, family picnics in the park, row boats, fishing from the piers, picking strawberries….so many memories of long hot summers spent so long ago…..

In between writing this and that I've done a little sketching and painting, nothing serious, just enough to prevent my forgetting how to do a watercolour and keep my memories of days spent sketching alive....

Autumn Lake of Two Rivers - Algonquin    Watercolour Painting

Thumbnail Sketches                 Pencil

Thumbnail Sketches  - Pencil

For those of you who may be interested, here's the link to my writing blog. Check it out, you might just be surprised....

https://mytimespentmusing.blogspot.com

A FEW MEMORIES.....

A Few Memories: -

It's been a few years since I retired from the business of art. I must admit, however, that I don't miss packing, travelling, setting up a booth, and spending time with other artists, ....and of course working at selling my art. It's a hard sell, art that is. Understandably art isn't for everyone, and to attempt to make art to please everyone is quite impossible. Cheap lodgings, bad food, and the packing up and heading back home with a few dollars in your pocket, enough to get to the next showing, wears on you after a few years. Working with art galleries was no better. Your better pieces tied up for months, with very few sales and ridiculous commissions, was enough to decide to pull back and try to survive from one's own studio. Having your own studio sort of works, especially with the help of a website, but even so there's not enough to make the effort worthwhile. Fortunately, when I decided to work at becoming an artist I was already middle-aged, so my suffering so to speak was only for several decades.
Retirement has been far more satisfying. Free to sketch and paint without product in mind I began to write about my experiences as an artist, and producing books, books in which I could introduce readers to my art and encourage sketching and painting, or as I call it, making memories.
The books should anyone be interested are available from Blurb.ca a print-on-demand publisher located, I believe, in California. I don't sell the books, the publisher does, nor do I receive a royalty for any sales. By not doing so I keep the price of the books down by just a bit, possibly encouraging a sale here and there. Besides, not unlike selling paintings, art books do not appeal to everyone, and the sales are not tremendous. It's not as if I'm a famous personality. I simply want to share and encourage.

By the way of encouragement to pick up a brush and sketch I'm attaching a few thumbnail sketches and small watercolours that I've made lately while visiting memories of my time spent making art.
Enjoy....and get out there and make a few sketches. It beats the hell out of watching TV.

Thumbnail Pencil Studies

Northern Ontario Landscape    Pencil Sketch

Tea Lake - Algonquin  Watercolour Painting

Birch Tree - Pencil Sketch

Canisbay Lake - Algonquin Ink Field Sketch

Frood Lake - Killarney   Watercolour Painting 2019

Whitefish Lake - Algonquin  Pencil Sketch

Opeongo Lake - Algonquin   Ink Field Sketch

Thumbnail Study   Pencil

Tea Lake - Algonquin  Ink Field Sketch

Several Thumbnail Studies