Fickled Spring!

Spring has been playing tricks on us here in the Oro-Medonte! It has been a roller coaster ride during the past week... with temperatures bouncing from highs during some days of + 16C... then plummeting the next to -3C... cold enough to ice over puddles in the mornings and heavily frost windshields on cars.

At the same time, trees are leafing out and blossoming... "peepers" sing nightly in the swamps... golf courses have greened up... as have lawns that are now being mowed weekly. Strange!... very strange indeed! Even the much despised black flies have erupted in swarms... and are biting... a full three weeks before we normally have to expect them.

For the last two days ... I have been busy working in the studio getting three new pieces to send to my gallery in Nova Scotia. I lived in Nova Scotia for five years and consider it my second home really. I loved the friendly, caring people and the diverse landscape of the Province. I felt very much at home and was tremendously productive while there. To put it succinctly... it was ...."Heaven on Earth" for "me" as a person... and as an artist.Locals nicknamed me "The Winter Painter" because of my constant presence and activity in that season up and down the South Shore where I resided. I lived for a time in Chester... which proudly touts itself as the "Sailing Capitol of Nova Scotia... and later in a small, sleepy fishing village called Broad Cove further down the Shore.

The two subject sketches that I completed this week conjure up many happy memories of my time there. I painted the Red fish sheds/ boat houses at East Chester a number of times... and several sites in the famous Peggy's Cove as well. My wee boys and I "lurked" as they referred to it.... or beach combed up and down the coastline... searching for "treasure' which they exhibited in their "gallery"/shed... for any tourists who might want to visit. "They"... never appeared... but the treasure trove and activity never ceased to grow during our time there.It was indeed a "treasure"... rich in memories and new discoveries... which all three "pirates" continue to carry in their "chests"!

I hope that these sketches capture some of that magic for my readers... and that they motivate each of "You" to record your own.

I will close today's post with a thought that came to "Me" while creating the outline for my book "Two Voices-The Poetry and Paintings of A.W.Bruce Sherman":

"Art is the Garden of Humanity.
And we then as Artists,
Are its constant Gardeners".

Plant... Create... and tend your own unique Garden. Arrange it as "You" please... Expand its content as only "You can"... and share its blooms with the world!

Happy Spring!... and Good Painting All!