Days of Winery... and Roses - Chapter One

Summer is see-sawing and shape-shifting as she always does during the month of August. One day is humid and typically summer... the very next is cold and fall like with impatient September hovering on the wings ... awaiting her time on stage. It is indeed that fretful and uncertain moment of Transition in the pageant of summer... where all Creation seems simultaneously on the move... in all directions. It is both a time of energy... and decay - paradox!

"Transition" - oil on gallery wrapped canvas 24x24 inches - SOLD
A creative project from the past... but it describes exactly, the time that I am speaking of in this post... in terms of wild flowers

Thankfully... I have been able to return once again to my preferred plein air mode again. On Tuesday, I joined my long time friend and painting pal Frank A. Edwards of nearby Kingston for a day of painting on location at Eagle Point Winery. It is a quiet place these days, just before the upcoming busy harvest season in October. We pretty much had the run of the place. It was wonderful to paint together... uninterrupted under the shade of an ancient maple... with summer spread out beautifully before us. It was a time of painting... laughter... teasing and sharing company again. Our lives and spirits are so entwined after more than thirty years of plein airing together... that there seems no need to catch up. We simply pick up from where we left off last.
"Summertime... and the livin' is easy..." And on that day... and on many others it has been... with The Loner (Frank) and Tonto Me)... sharin' our painting trails of adventure.

"Summer ..... Spread Before You" - Eagle Point Winery, Escott, ON - oil on acrylic toned panel 10x12 inches

 My right side of the stage view,  expressed... as I "saw" it. I revel in the playing with the multiple greens that summer offers. I simply add a small focus to wrap the greenery around. In this case... "a tomato in my summer salad ... HA HA!! Works for me .... every time!

"Touched By a Late August" - oil on an acrylic toned panel 10x12 inches

Frank's technicolour version of the left side... leaning towards fall rendering... completed literally with a rigger. He hates the greens of summer... hence the "global warming" of  his palette. Works for him wonderfully. Both paintings stand on their own individual merits and visual interests.

Frank and I both have maintained very distinct and differing methods for plein airing. Our training and our goals vary greatly... but our passion and desire to share the trail remain constant. We are... both of us, in many ways,  the brothers we were each lacking in our personal adult lives. And that has made a HUGE difference for both of us at certain difficult points in our separate personal lives... when life was less than fair.

The roses part of the title for this post?????....
When rose bushes... and many other perennials are tended lovingly and "dead headed" after the initial blooming... they offer a wondrous and often more spectacular second blooming. Could that be true for Friendships as well?


I wonder.... Stay tuned for my second winery adventure... comin' at ya' .... SOON!

Good Painting.... to ALL!

Here's a small reflective thought  from the hit song "Morning Glory" by Oasis that I feel suits the post topic and sums my own personal feelings.

All your dreams are made
When you're chained to the mirrror and the razor blade.
Today's the day that all the world will see
Another sunny afternoon.

Walking to the sound of my favourite tune
Tomorrow never knows what it doesn't know too soon..........

What's your story.....Morning Glory?

This post is... but part of "Mine"!