Reflections
Oil on Canvas Panel
8 x10 inches
2007
Temagami, Ontario
The Temagami forest area is a vast wilderness in northern Ontario. It is so large that you can canoe for two weeks and never pass a town or road. I had just finished working at a canoe camp for two weeks and was off on a week-long trip with my sister and my daughter Savannah.
We were all in a small 16’ wooden canoe and quite loaded down. My painting kit is not light and I realized after about an hour out, that we were seriously overloaded. The wise thing to do would be to cache the painting kit and pick it up on the way back. What I ended up doing is caching some of the food (probably had too much anyway) and taking the kit. I really wanted to paint.
The second day, we arrived at Diamond Lake. It is a scenic beauty with clear water and cliffs all down one side. Our campsite was on an island almost dead center. It was dreadfully hot and with the heat comes the biting flies. These are the worst insects as they never leave you alone and you are already miserable from the heat.
It wasn’t until late evening before they departed and I dared to paint. The light was dipping and turning a brilliant pink. It was hitting a jumble of rocks behind the island and it reminded me of icebergs. By the time I finished, it was nearly dark.
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