Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Sweet Thoughts of Spring... Hope...and "You"!

Happy Spring everyone... even though we are still fully swaddled in Winter's ermine mantle of snow and cold! I think that under such circumstances...  little is to be gained by "grinchin' and  grumblin" or complaining about something which cannot be changed, or even hurried along! I choose to celebrate the fact that weather is one particular phenomena which cannot be governed or taxed  by any government. Also... there is comfort in the fact that in my area,  at least for the moment... all residents live under the same conditions, with no exceptions to this rule regardless of of income or creed! Pure equality and equal opportunity... as far as putting up with the weather goes! So one more time... Happy Spring to ALL!!!

I thought that I might offer some of  my images from past Springs and particularly those related to the Canadian maple syrup gathering tradition for those who are not fortunate to have experienced such a yearly ritual... and might not ever perhaps. So an early "Happy Easter Egg" for everyone... from this ol' Hare! Hope that these images lift your spirits and hearts to thinking Spring... no matter where you are! Enjoy!!


This pen and ink sketch depicts a typical rural sugar shack and its various parts ... before the new technology arrived. This shack owned and operated by The Smail Family and was located at Glen Smail, Ontario , south of Ottawa. It operated continuously each spring until the mid- eighties since their United Empire Loyalist  land grant was issued to them as entitled settlers in the early 1800's. It no longer exists... nor the bush tapped.


This is an ink rendering done en plein air at the shanty of our friends The McCutcheon Family in the Oro-Medonte Hills north of Barrie, Ontario. They are World Champion Maple Syrup producers quite regularly at the Royal Winter Fair held each year in Toronto. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.... Good !!! Great Syrup!!!


 "Up the Lane to McCutcheon's" an oil on panel 20x24 inches. I painted this en plein air during the run in February of 2005 and it quickly became my passport to travel with this family each Spring with my own family... for almost ten years. I am proud to say that it hangs in the living room in their brick home to the right in the painting! How sweet... it is!!! I am deeply honoured!


 A "retired" shed near Westport, Ontario.... typically abandoned in many parts of rural Ontario.


This painting of Sheppard's Bush shanty in Aurora entitled "Sugar Moon"... 24 x18 inches on canvas was gifted to a special friend who admired it! I will add a poem / word thought that goes along with this painting in my next post. The painting speaks really the same thoughts... but expressed slightly differently in pigment... not print!.... "Two voices"!


"Late Evening Shadows", Deloro , ON - oil on panel 16x20 inches en plein air painting. Traditionally sap was gathered using team and sleigh. Getting through mud and brush was achieved more easily even than using tractor. Plastic tubing has now replaced both methods and delivers the sap from the entire maple stand continuously;y while the run last.. The problem that the producer faces now... is the constant need for repairs to the on going and huge amount of damage to the tubing caused by marauding squirrels with a penchant for sweet maple water. Every method has its unique problems it would seem!


 "Team Canada... Two... at Afternoon Recess" - oil on canvas 36x36 inches. They do seem attentive to what's going on inside the shed... and they are indeed! The coats they wear greatly reduce the effects of cold. Hauling such a load through heavy bush and often muddy terrain really does work up quite a sweat. A rest is good for both man and beast. Believe me! ... It's hard work!


"Three Bucket Maple" - watercolour 22x30 inches. This award-winning watercolour belongs to my son Andrew and currently hangs in his Rockwood home. The rusty patina of these buckets belie their many springs of service. At the conclusion of the run... all that remained was that the buckets were washed in soap and water... laid out in the sun upside down to dry... and then stacked away inside the shed in tall columns of tin... awaiting the next year's run! The maple bucket brigade!


"Team Canada One" - oil on canvas 5 feet x 7 feet now lives somewhere... "Down Under." An unscrupulous Ottawa gallery... once based (now, thankfully for other artists out of business) in Ottawa sold this piece.But I never was paid for it! Life ain't always fair folks! But life is about choice. Suck it up... and carry on! Focus on the positive and Present... let go of the Past. It's gone... and Tomorrow... bringing with it Hope and Promise... is already on its way!

Good Painting to ALL and Happy Spring!!!

18 comments:

  1. these sketches and paintings are beautiful!!!

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  2. Good Evening Bruce. Thanks for a very interesting "taste" of the maple syrup tradition. I love the ink sketches and the watercolour as well.

    Roll on Sunday morning! /-)
    Keith

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  3. Lovely work, Bruce! We are lucky to have a friend who shares her Maple syrup. There is nothing like it!

    Love all of theses paintings, but in particular, "Sheppards Bush! Marvelous!

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  4. I do so love all of these pieces, Bruce! But then I always do love your work. Haven't seen a piece I haven't fallen in love with yet. I especially love the sleigh piece...

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  5. Good Morning Mary... Thank you for your encouraging response to these pictures!

    They certainly encapsulate the joy I feel when this part of "my" annual spring finally arrives!

    Thanks for dropping by!

    Good Painting!... and Happy Spring Mary!

    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  6. I love hearing about these traditions. You made me think of home (Jersey) with it's black butter making.
    Best wishes for a happy Spring.

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  7. Good morning Keith!... Thank you for encouragement! Always a privilege... to "share a taste"... with a friend who shares my path and recognizes a similarity with their own!

    I knew that you'd like the ink and watercolour offerings. I too... love the crispness of one and the soft transparency of the other... as do you! I love to work back and forth from time to time... when the spirit moves me!

    Good Painting!... and Happy Spring to you Keith! Thanks for dropping by!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  8. Good morning Mary!... Thank you for dropping by and for sharing your own thoughts!

    Must be a real friend... who generously shares maple "magic" so freely! A keeper! HA HA!!

    I too... loved "Sugar Moon." As a matter of fact, I would have kept it myself, but a very kind and generous beyond belief, good friend really needed it... for reasons that will remain private... and it is "Hers." That is why I paint. Paintings bridge all borders... heal wounds and seal friendships. That is the real "coinage of the realm"... in my value system! It has a wonderful and loving home!

    Good Painting!... and Happy Spring to you Wendy!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  9. Good morning Sherry!... Thanks for once again contributing your positive words and your presence here on my blog!

    "Team Canada" was a great painting... despite the sad situation surrounding its (no) sale ending! Perhaps... it represents Canada in the same positive and colourful fashion that this post might.

    Perhaps... it will in some small way further educate the outside world about the unique beauty... friendliness and historic tradition of my wonderful country... Canada! That's payment back... in a sense! N'est-ce pas?

    Good Painting!... and a VERY Happy Spring to you and yours Sherry!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  10. Good Morning Lisa!... So nice to hear from you! Thank you for your favourable response to the post!

    You point out a very strong reality... that all places have a unique character and customs which cannot be found anywhere else. Sharing those little known facts... educates and encourages further discussion like: "What is black butter?"

    Go Girl!... Your turn to educate! Look forward to hearing back!

    Good Painting and Happy Spring Lisa!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  11. Beautiful work on all of these, Bruce!! I especially LOVE Sheppard's Bush!! Three bucket maple is absolutely beautiful as well..I love how you painted it to look antique.
    Happy Spring!! even though I'm freezing!!! Ha..ha.ha.

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  12. Good evening Hilda!... Thank you for visiting... and for your enthusiastic reception for my maple syruping paintings!

    I truly love this part of the year and look forward a lot to its arrival. This yearly ritual... along with the change in light and the arrival of birds back from their southern wintering grounds fill my life with pleasure... a sense of joy and a renewal of energy to get on with my painting!

    Wishing you a Happy... and warmer Spring Hilda!

    Good Painting!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  13. Hi Bruce, black butter is a kind of spread with a very distinctive taste. It is black but it's not really butter. It's made from apples and cider with lots of added spices and a touch of liquorice. Traditionally it was cooked up slow in a communal pot over a couple days by the community who came together to make it after the apple harvest. It was a weekend long party and I would guess much cider was drunk during the process ;o) It must have been a good excuse for letting your hair down after all the hard work of apple picking which was one of the main crops. It's produced commercially and sold now as a bit of a tourist novelty but I think the local historical society probably still keep up the tradition. ...best wishes.

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  14. Good Morning Lisa!... Thank you for taking the time to answer my question regarding the term and origin of "black butter" onyour Isle of Jersey!

    It is always interesting to me to discover that while the traditions may vary in cultures... that the behaviours and what drives a culture do not!

    Harvest time was/remains always a community undertaking because the window of opportunity is very short to complete the harvest before winter sets in. Harvesting of anything remains labour intensive and at the peak moment of ripening... no matter even aided by swifter and new technologies.

    Even today, rural communities in Canada hold harvest dinners... and inevitably harvest produce is a staple in the celebrations carried out.

    At maple syrup time... a treat that my lads... and that all children in the "gatherers" looked forward to... was the pouring of still boiling maple syrup straight from the boiling pans and on top of clean snow. One can roll the quckly congealing maple mass on a finger or stick... and Presto!.... instant maple candy treat!

    We also looked forward to the molded maple sugar candy)shaped like maple leaves) and the jar of maple butter spred... yummmmmy... which the McCutcheon family produce each year to add to our maple syrup for pancakes. I will miss that this year... along with our yearly Spring visit to catch up with the McCutcheon clan! They are fine ... rare kind of folk who live from... and with a passion and respect for the Earth!

    Thank you for taking the time to enlighten me Lisa. I much appreciate our connections and sharings... across borders and an ocean! Isn't blogging wonderful? We would never have met otherwise... and I am glad that isn't so!

    Good Painting!... and Happy Spring!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  15. Very interesting story and history lesson, illustrated with your beautiful paintings, it's always educational and a real treat to visit your blog, thanks so much for sharing.

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  16. Hi there Diana!... Thaks for visiting and for responding so positively to this post!

    Sharing our cultural differences along with our paintings is a wonderful opportunity to enlighten and educate people... and to celebrate our differences and similarities!

    It is my hope to create an open forum to do so... and it seems to be working and enjoyable to all who visit!

    Good Painting... and Happy Spring!
    Warmest regards,
    Bruce

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  17. Loved reading these sugar shack entries after our chat today about the laborious process! "Up the Lane to McCutcheon's" strikes me as an extremely strong painting in particular. Something about the way you've laid in the composition, especially the snowy road up to the buildings reminds me of Gagnon. I'm glad it is being appreciated in the home of the hardworking folks back at McCutcheon's!
    Love Allie xoxoxo

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  18. Good Morning Sweet Pea!... What a "sweet"... and uplifting breath of Spring to find your cheery and very estute comments here on my site!!!! Thank "You"!!!!!

    I painted this one en plein air... in weather well below the zero mark that day as I recall! I so remember being greatly appreciative of Ken's coming out to meet n' greet me on the road... and his generous offer of a "shin warmer" and cup o' java after the couple of hours needed to complete the painting!

    The rest is now history... as is our long friendship as families... joined sweetly by our common love of the land and being "out there."

    Gagnon would, I think... not consider it a bad comparison. I certainly have a strong and abiding admiration for his work ... and our common love for painting his home "turf"... Charlevoix , Quebec! We do indeed share a common "joie de vivre" for both painting en plein air... and particularly in that historic part of Quebec!

    Happy Easter Allison! Have a great weekend holiday with your friends in The Big Apple! Lots to share... when you get back next week! Safe journey!

    Hoppy Easter Egg!

    Be safe!
    All our love Always!
    Dad and Deb
    XXXXXOOOOOXXXXX

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