One Man's Possessions

Terrance Bay is a remote rocky edged cove tucked away on Nova Scotia's South Shore. The fishermen there have had hard times over the years because of the remoteness, absence of trees for lumber and poor ground for growing vegetables. Man cannot live by fish alone! I found the scenic beauty of the area was enhanced by the man made structures, Boats, Pole Wharves, Fish Stores and the Fishermen's family homes, all of which helped in designing compositions for painting. Others seemed to agree because paintings of such areas always seemed to sell well. People seem attracted to paintings with water and reflections.

Barn Door Latch

The textures of weathered wood seem to be complimented by a little rust on an attached piece of metal. Rough textured watercolor paper seems to be the ideal surface to use when attempting to capture this subject. Will there always be such "objets d'art" for artists to study, or are they quickly disappearing from the changing modern world?

First Up

Canada Geese fly in 'V' formation, so there is always a 'leader'. Because the leader gets tired, they alter this position in flight. It seems that those behind fly in the cover of the forward ones which makes their task easier. Thus the leader gets a break when he or she drops back and lets another take the front position. This one was 'first up' and so led the way for the others. I have noticed that the old Chinese artists frequently painted a solitary bird staring off into space, enticing the viewer to wonder just what was attracting the bird. I used that ploy in composing this watercolor of a lone Canada Goose.

Canadas Over Baddeck Bay

The light house on Baddeck Bay at the entrance to Baddeck Harbour is a noted regional landmark. Canada Geese are now year round inhabitants of Cape Breton Island and are frequently seen circling the Bay. My preference has been to paint them with watercolor but this oil painting is a favorite of my wife Lauren, so it's a 'keeper'.

Narrow Inlet at MacDonald's Lagoon, Cape Breton

A snug little inlet to a beautiful lagoon at South Cove, Cape Breton is the subject of this 6"x8" plein air oil painting. It's done entirely with palette knife and fingers from a very limited palette of colors. The 'S' shaped design carries the eye through the predominantly cool colored composition.

This 6'x8' painting is available on Ebay. Starting price $75.00 US

Autumn Morning on South Cove Lagoon

The shore line of Loch Bras d'Or in Cape Breton is dotted with fascinating lagoons. Ducks fly in and out in all seasons. In early spring, pairs of Canada Geese fight for nesting rights along the shores - one pair per lagoon seems to be the rule! The connecting channel between a lagoon and the main lake is often very narrow but sometimes big enough for a pleasure boat to enter and exit. The reflected shoreline and distant hills attract my artistic attention in all seasons and all times of day. I think that lagoons were meant especially for artists. This 6"x8" oil painting is available on Ebay with a starting price of $75.00 US

Inshore Fisherman and Lobster Boat

Beautiful to watch but always a little scary to contemplate, a fisherman heading out alone on a rough sea to deep water. And the truth is that most of them couldn't swim! It still makes for one of the nicest of marine compositions and I have long been hooked on painting them. The old canvas 'steadying sail' was not used to propel the boat but just to keep it headed into the wind and 'steady' as he lowered his traps overboard. Inshore fog usually burned off quickly as the sun came up. In the meantime, it made the shoreline much more interesting and mysterious as it hung like a veil over the land.

Dory in a Country Field

Many Nova Scotia fishermen made their own dories and re-caulked and re-painted them each spring to make them sea-worthy for another season. But wooden dories don't last forever. The salt water has a way of getting to the wood and the dory eventually weakens as the wood begins to rot. The fishermen would then sell one for $100.00 in order to unload it and make room for a new one. I owned two of them at the same time and used them on the fresh water lake at our summer cottage. They looked great floating off shore, tied to a real wooden hand made fisherman's buoy at a mooring. My real purpose in owning them was to include them in my paintings. They were always available when I wanted to use them, either for rowing or for a painting. Beached on the shore, tied to the wharf or pulled up into a nearby field like this one, they made for a good centre of interest in my marine compositions. Mix in a stand of spruce and hardwood trees with a lone white pine towering over all and 'Voila' you're ready to paint!

Canada Geese Over Loch Bras d'Or

Loch Bras d'Or is a very large lake in Cape Breton, N.S. Wherever one goes, Canada Geese are usually seen coming or going to their special places on the picturesque shores. This watercolor painting of misty headlands shows a pair taking off from the foreground while others circle in the distance. Most of the painting was done with pure watercolor, but the foreground was done with 'opaque' watercolor, known as 'gouache'. Gouache is watercolor with added opaque white which allows us to place it in front of a transparent watercolor passage and have it stand out, which is impossible with regular watercolor.

Mr. Wilneff's Fish Store, Stonehurst, Lunenburg County, N.S.

Nova Scotia's South Shore has long been a magnet for Marine Artists. Jack Gray and Joe Purcell, class mates at the NS College of Art back in the 1960s are legendary for their sensitive portrayal of the villages, the fishermen, their homes and their 'fish stores', referred to by many as 'fish shacks'! Tela Purcell, Marguerite Zwicker, (ladies first!), John Cook, Anthony Law, Leonard Lane, Kelsey Raymond and David Whitzman all struggled to portray the life of the Maritime Fishermen in the 'early years', when I was yet a struggling Med student, but already a confirmed 'art addict'! I learned from them all. Ain't Art Great!

Mallards Rising Over Cape Blomidon, Nova Scotia

Cape Blomidon, in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley is as beautiful a scene as most would wish for. But, to see the very common, and ever beautiful Mallard Ducks rising, with Blomidon in the background, is a real treat! Capturing that moment in time with paint is a thrill beyond description! This painting was composed looking across the Avonport 'flats', heading west and just before reaching the bridges that cross the Gaspereau River. One of my all-time favorite 'spots' to view, it provides a visual thrill regardless of weather. Bright sunlight, foggy dew, or blowing snow - makes no difference to me!

The Gorgeous Great Black Backed Gull

The cry of the seagulls along Nova Scotia's sea coast calls attention to their graceful flight. Although called 'sea' gulls, they are truly land based birds, seldom flying far out to sea! We see Grey Gulls, Herring Gulls, Lesser Black Backed Gulls, and perhaps most beautiful of all, the Great Black Backed Gull. They are as majestic in flight as they are strutting along a sandy shore, or perched on a fish store or wharf pile, ever searching for morsels of sustenance. The red disc on the mother's beak is a place for her young to 'beak peck' when they want 'Momma' to supply more food!

Heading for the Corn Fields

The honking overhead draws attention to flocks of 'Canadas' flying in from their overnight rest on the waters of Minas Basin. They're heading for their first meal of the day at the corn fields of Hants County in early autumn mornings. Samuel de Champlain first plied the waters of Minas Basin and the Avon River in 1604, when the native Mi'kmaq called the area "Pesegitk" and the French pronounced it "Piziquid". The first French settlers arrived there by 1684. Today it's called Windsor, Nova Scotia. It's Canada's oldest town, founded in 1750, a year after the founding of Halifax, known to the Mi'kmaq as Chebucto.

Daisies by the Sea

Beautiful white daisies with golden centres pop up in June along highways, in farm fields and by the sea shore. They are delightful in themselves and add an extra note of beauty to every scene that they choose to grace. They are exciting to paint face to, side on, at an angle, or sparkling in the distance.
Gouache comes in handy when rendering them in a watercolor.

Nova Scotia's Cape Island Boats

A Cape Island style fishing boat, 'putt-putt-putting' off to the fishing grounds with steadying sail in place, always catches my attention. This one, under a soft sky and by an autumn colored rocky foreshore, presented all of the elements for a good marine composition. It would have been just as good painted in watercolor but I just happened to be in an "oil" mood that day. The Cape Island Boat is low to the water on sides and stern which makes it ideal for launching and retrieving lobster traps on the Nova Scotia coast. It was designed by Ephram Atkinson of Cape Sable Island, after observing seagulls floating easily over waves. The steadying sail is in a fixed position - fore and aft, which keeps the boat headed into the wind and steady, when the traps are being loaded or dropped overboard.

The Charm of Old Buildings

Painting weathered wood in watercolor is always a nice challenge. When it surrounds a window with a view inside it's a downright thrill! This abandoned old weather worn house was ready for the roof to cave in when I came upon it. Capturing various aspects of it on film allowed for several subsequent watercolor paintings. This one of the kitchen window with the roll down blind and tattered curtains is my favorite of the series. It's done on D'Arches 300 lb. paper - the very best!

Nova Scotia's Beautiful Bald Eagles

DDT infestation almost ruined the large and wonderful Bald Eagle population of North America back in the 1960-70s. Cyril Coldwell of Gaspereau Valley, Kings County, N.S. is credited with reviving the population by bringing this fact to the notice of the public and by organizing chicken farmers into providing 'road kill' and dead chickens, culled from their chicken farms in the Annapolis Valley at hillside feeding sites for the remaining eagles. As a natural ornithologist and bird lover, he also nursed injured eagles back to health at his farm in the Gasprereau Valley. The Bald Eagles live mainly in Cape Breton for three seasons of the year and then fly off to those feeding grounds in the Annapolis Valley for the winter months. Need I say that I LOVE watching the eagles soar overhead in our beloved Cape Breton, let alone capturing them in their natural habitat in all media, graphite, WC, Gouache and Oil!

Canada Geese Rising Over Bras d'Or

I love drawing and painting our world famous Canada Geese. We simply call them 'Canadas'. People often ask what I like doing best, WC or Oil. Truthfully, I love them both and shift from one to the other often with a hiatus of a few months between, but 'always and forever' painting one or the other. Also, a drawing or two always precedes the actual laying on of paint. Drawing and composition are the most important of all. Folks also ask which I prefer, brushes or palette knives. They never seem to mention 'fingers' which I seem to use freely regardless of what other tools I use! Truth is, I use them all - all the time. I just can't seem to keep my fingers out of the paint! I'm certain that stems a way back in the history of all of us!

The Highlands of Scotland

The ancestors of many of the families in Cape Breton were from Scotland, particularly the Outer Hebridean Islands on the west coast. Therefore, visiting Scotland is a favorite vacation plan for Cape Bretoners. The stone homes in beautiful settings amongst the mountains and glens and along side the lochs make for great painting compositions. The skies seem always to highlight the scenery, making everything more exciting to view and to paint.

Nova Scotia's Rural Beauty

Windsor is the Shiretown of Hants County, home of North America's oldest Agricultural Fair, 1765. As a young country doctor, I became familiar with many of the farms as I made house calls to visit patients, beginning in 1960. The rural settings are as beautiful in one season as another and lend themselves equally to interpretation in all media. Often a quick sketch or photo was all that was possible, as I gathered images for later painting, as time permitted. The first farmers were the French Acadians, as early as 1684. They built dykes along the river shores, trapping ancient silt and thus created magnificent farm soil. The Acadians were expelled by the English in 1755 to New England and Lousianna. Today, in that setting they are known as Cajuns. Next, The Planters came from New England in the 1760s, followed by immigrants from Scotland and Ireland. Next, British Empire Loyalists arrived following the American War of Independence.

Boutilier's Cove on Nova Scotia's South Shore

My home town was Windsor, a few miles from the South Shore of Nova Scotia. The coast is lined with fishing villages and beautiful coves - all favorite sites to paint. I went there as often as possible and loved meeting the fishermen and drawing and photographing them and their boats, fish stores and wharves as well as their homes by the coast. I wasn't alone in my love of these places and so paintings were always easy to sell regardless of size.

Canada Geese

Canada Geese are plentiful in the Windsor area where I lived and painted for so many years. They frequent the corn fields by day and fly overhead out to the Bay of Fundy where they spend the night away from predators. They used to fly south in December and return late summer. In recent years, some have been staying all winter. In Cape Breton where I now live, they have lots of open water and coves throughout the island. We see them year round nowadays. They always add to a composition of the shores of Loch Bras d'Or. BTW, that means "arm of gold" and refers to the valued beauty of the huge lake that occupies the central part of the island. It is a salt water lake, entering the island from the north and dividing the island into two almost equal parts. Ferry boats and one large bridge are used for crossing.
Canada Geese Over Bras d'Or, Cape Breton, NS painted in oil 18"x24"