10 September 2009
Canada: Ontario: Grenville County: Oxford-on-Rideau: Bishops Mills, Middle Creek bridge. 31B/13, UTM 18TVE46 442.7 690 44.87423N 75.70516W. TIME: 1830-1945. AIR TEMP: 22 ca, clear, calm. HABITAT: riffles of slow creek at bridge in rural village. OBSERVER: Aleta Karstad Schueler. AKS09Sep101830/a, visit first daily oil painting of the 30 Years Later Project. 18:30 Arriving at the bridge, the sun low in the northwest, my scene, chosen in advance of seeing, it, does not offer any strong contrasts that would help with composition, so I choose a tall thin Poplar, arching high over the creek, to brace against the otherwise gentle, traditional scene. I choose yellow ochre for underpainting.
The creek is lower now than it’s been all summer, though only a few stones are exposed. It used to dry down to isolated pools every summer, with Orconectes virilis (Northern Crayfish) huddling in the moist, air-filled “rooms” they’d made under the large flat stones. This has been the third wet summer in a row, and the wettest of them all, with spring freshet levels in mid-summer. The riffles upstream reflect the evening sky, and a thin lazy trail of bubbles winds its way toward the bridge.
There must be a barbeque at the Robinsons’ new house. A blend of laughter and happy chatter floats down the street to me – the sane music of voices young and old that filled summer evenings of my childhood. As I paint, the Lousleys walk their old Border Collie across the bridge heading southward. A woman who looks familiar greets me as she walks home from the barbeque. A Ceryle alceon (Belted Kingfisher) rattles and swoops low over the creek, rising steeply to my arching Poplar. . . a few moments later its call and dive is reflected by a second Kingfisher and the two fly off together. No sound or sign of other birds, and no frog voices either.
19:45 My light has gotten dusky. The sun has left the tree tops, and I’m painting fast, putting the dark values in the creek, and noting the sky-reflecting lily pads nearby. As I wrap up my wet brushes, the Lousleys return, sympathizing with my loss of daylight for painting. I will have to put a few finishing touches on it at home.
