September is a great month of change in Canada,particularly in the Canadian Shield Region in Ontario where I currently live and paint.The changes in the landscape are perhaps the most vibrantly beautiful in the world. Tourists from all over the world travel to view this spectacle year after year and to bear witness to the colour symphony created by the changing tree colours....particularly the crimsons of the hard and sugar maple stands which mix with the dark spruce and pines.This period usually continues well into late October.
It is my favourite time to paint....and usually is one of my most productive times to paint in the outdoors. The weather is most often crisp,cool and sunny in the first half of the season when the leaves reach their peak...then sullen and muted when the maples cast off their clothes.Softwoods like the birch turn golden and dominate this period...as do the coniferous tamaracks morphing into bright ochre attire...before their needles are dropped for the dormant winter period.
I love painting during both stages ...although the last stage brings colder and wetter weather that can be challenging...even discouraging to the outdoor painter.The woods in Algonquin Park...or the small villages in Charlevois where I travel to paint in this season...once overrun by "holidaying hordes"...blackflies and mosquitoes are mine alone at this time. It is truly a time for reflection and solitude ...which I crave at times. I feel so at peace with my "Self"....far from the din of modernity...to worship in my spiritual sanctuary...or Cathedral of choice. It is here when "I" am "One" with the Universe...and my Creator!Good painting to all!
"I am blessed"!
The word 'kaleidoscopic' springs to mind!
ReplyDeleteI can empathise with your need for "reflection and solitude". I feel the same when I get out into the moors and mountains. There is something peaceful about being in a more-or-less wild landscape, experiencing all the sights and sounds of Nature.