Blog #39 The Lake Effect

Happy New Year to everyone!  This new year brings a host of new changes for me: a new home, a new studio, a new location, bunches of new ideas, new art materials to try out and a new verve to create new paintings!!!  That’s a whole lot of ‘new’ for me.  How invigorating!

I have moved away from the Halton Hills highlands area to the dreamy scenic Niagara region full of wineries, orchards and the Welland canal.  I am now on the other side of Lake Ontario which sits north of my home and I find that strange seeing for me the lake has always been south my whole life.  Since moving into these new gorgeous surroundings I have found that one of my favourite activities is to walk along different routes with the goal of reaching the lake’s endless shoreline. 

My journeys are always delightful taking me through greenbelts and parkland into woods, over streams, down into ravines and back up again until I reach the shore. Once there I like to see if I can view the cityscape of Toronto from across the water, and on a clear day I can.  Lake Ontario never disappoints; she reveals her ever changing daily moods to me and its a thrill to see what she’s is up to.   Whether she is as grey as melted metal, a cheerful balmy blue, or dirty brown when all stirred up with choppy ocean-like waves, the lake’s waters are always a gift to see.  I try to capture it all in photos to bring back to my studio to work from. I feel so fortunate to have this beautiful view accessible and so very close to my new home; lucky me.  

It also gives me an opportunity to enjoy another passion of mine: bird watching.  Surprisingly, I see that many water fowl are still hang around here even in these cold winter months. I consider this a strange choice, they do have wings after all.  Mallards, buffleheads, cormorants, Canada geese, and long-tailed ducks, are some of what I have spotted dabbling and diving around these waters.

I think we are all drawn to large bodies of water.  You instantly relax in its presence and we begin to just feel good.  I know how much I enjoy trying to capture a lake’s beauty in my paintings and I’m always savouring its vista in front of me when I am painting on location. The above river and lake paintings are a sample of some of my work created from many different regions in Ontario. Coming soon will be postings of my Niagara area landscape paintings now that I am living in this new fabulous location.

To see this finished original acrylic painting Kiss My Tulips’, close up and for more of my paintings available for sale please go to my original  watercolour and acrylic art galleries on this website.