Another view from our patio towards noon

Another quick oil sketch done from our patio looking into Maureen's backyard when the sun was shining brightly from the dome of the summer sky.

In the full morning sunlight

A quick oil sketch early in the morning from our patio

Balmoral Bay in summer morning

A quick oil sketch of our neighborhood early in the morning.

Park Theatre on Wasagaming Drive

The park theatre on Wasagaming Drive in late afternoon is a popular spot for lots of visitors who came to watch movies as well as to dine here. Before heading back to Brandon I decided to paint there, and it will be my last painting in the collection for the coming show in August.

A cottage right on the edge of wildness

Back to the north-shore of the lake again to paint this impressive cottage located right on an edge of wildness. On a previous visitor, its owner took me to its deck facing a stretch of beautiful wood with a small creek running through.

Visitor Centre of Riding Mountain National Park in late afternoon sunshine

The three young kids were indeed thrilled to see themselves on my painting when they returned  to see my finished work.

a cozy cottage on Grey Owl Estate

So impressed by its owner's story about how they built their cozy home away from home by recreating a piece of natural habitat of vegetation to fit the surrounding. Came to the spot early in the morning when the full sunlight was on the front of the cottage.

Catching the last light

A quick oil sketch from our backyard when the last light was on part of the wall of our house.

From our patio early in the morning

A quick oil sketch from our patio early in the morning

After a downpour of rain

a quick oil sketch through the window after a downpour of rain.

Ready to fly away

The three baby robins are ready to fly , and  a few hours after this oil sketch, they all flew away.

Stopping at Grayling Lake on a rainy morning

I tried to make it to the Moon Lake but stopped at Grayling Lake when it started to drizzle. Half way through the painting it started to rain heavily and I had to stop and got into my car. The rain was pouring down the windshield , I sat there watching with the second movement of Beethoven's 5th piano concerto playing on my CD. Suddenly I could feel the converge of a stream of emotions from both the music and the nature. When the rain stopped I got out of my car and finished the rest of the painting.

Garden behind the Wisitor Center of Riding Mountain National Park

Returned to Clear Lake. It was cloudy and cold  late in the afternoon. There were few visitors around.  People were supprised to see me painting so late of the day. Had a very nice chat with Mary from Lake Huron area. The very word lake Huron just fascinated me somehow conjuring up images of enchanting solitude.

A cottage on the north shore of Clear lake

No doubt, this is a beautiful cottage on a beautiful secluded north shore location on Clear lake in the Riding Mountain National Park. However, equally intriguing is the story behind the cottage narrated so vividly by its owner whose kindness and generosity is so infectious. Also equally friendly are her three dogs who came to greet me and " pose" right in front of me for a minute before they were distracted and all started to bark.

Day lily blooming by the basement window

A quick oil sketch of some lilies blooming by our basement window in the afternoon.

A cottage on Lake Metigoshe

We left Brandon early in the morning when it was dark and foggy with impending downpour any minute. We drove south on Highway 10 for over an hour and located the cottage I was commissioned to paint on Lake Metigoshe which I had never been to before. It was sunny and a bit windy but certainly not the kind of weather we would have anticipated. It was a beautiful lake with most of it on the US side full of beautiful cottages. After I finished the painting of the cottage , its owner was so kind as to give us a boat ride around the lake with her kind neighbor navigating the boat and serving as a very knowledgeable tour guide to us. We left at 4 p.m not knowing that Brandon had been hit by a huge rain storm while we were away. We stopped at Boisseevain to have a picnic in a very quiet park. It was so relaxing when the sweltering hot muggy weather was suddenly behind us.

Time to feed

A quick sketch of a mother robin coming to feed three baby robins in a nest built in a niche in our patio.

An aspen wood on Lake Katherine

After a short rest, I walked a little further up the road and found this scene where a downtrodden path led the view into distance flanked by tall aspens. It was close to noon hours when I started this painting of quite a big dimension. The glare from the blank canvas in the strong sunlight had a rather strain on my eyes. However, nothing could deter me from painting this beautiful view. Aspens always touch string of my heart. While painting in the morning alone on the lake I had always been a little concerned about encountering a bear. By the time I finished the first painting visitors started to arrive , and the thought of bear was not a concern to me anymore somehow. However, as soon as I drove away around 2 p.m after I finished this painting, it just happened that I spotted through my rear windshield of my car  a big black bear walking right pass through the spot where I had been standing painting this aspen wood! Had I been packing up just two minutes later I would have had a very close encounter with the bear! A interesting ending note to my happy painting for the day!

Lake Katherine

Drove all the way to Lake Katherine to paint early in the morning at 8 a.m. Lake Katherine is a picture of serenity with loons dashing across the surface of the lake with their serene and hunting voice reverberating through the air, with fishing turning its back near the shore, and with dragon flies darting in the air chasing mosquitoes. I was deeply touched by what I see all around me, and this is the moment when you can not help but just marveling at God's creation, from the universe down to a single blade of grass! I just want to savor every single minute of my presence there to  feel deeply the pulse of nature,  to be engulfed by complete silence , and to hear my heart pounding with excitement. This is the moment when you just want to repeat John Keats' last  lines from his Ode on a Grecian Urn    "Beauty is truth, truth beauty"---that is all
            Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

Looking down into Clear Lake from the grove of aspens on the top of the golf course just before sunset

Drove back to the golf course and painted this last picture there to mark the moment when the sun started to sink below the horizon. Too many mosquito there ,  and had to paint in a hurry. It was already past 9 pm when I left the spot.

An accidental discovery

Captain Ron finally fixed the problem with his boat and loaded all of us onto his beautiful boat to cruse on the lake! After cruising around over the water of the  lake we pulled into a dock on the north shore of the lake. I was quite impressed with the view of the green cottage on the shore and with two canoes lying face down on the bank, and decided to paint right on the dock to mark the moment.

Boat fishing on the lake

Early in the morning before breakfast, I drove down to the spot where you will find  the entrance to Golf Course, I was struck by the  mirror like surface of the lake where two guys on a boat were fishing and a husband and wife with their dog were jogging along the shoreline. Before the sun broke out of the clouds breaking up the mirror like sheen of serene surface of the lake, I did this quick oil sketch.

On the way to Riding Mountain National Park - a glimpse of Highway 10 from Onanole

After a visit to the Pool Michael Bookshop in Onanole, we drove across the road to the home hardware store there , and I was captivated by the view looking down the highway, and decided to do one more painting there before returning to Wasagaming for the opening reception a show at the art center. It was already 6 p.m, and I have one hour to go. Here hopefully after one hour of work, I did capture what first impressed me.

A distant view into Deep Bay

After I finished my painting of the deep bay cabin, I walked down a path which led me to this turning point where is actually the focal point of  view of my yesterday's painting. It was quite a relief from the heat to stand on a dock to paint this sweeping  view of lake and sky.

The Deep Bay Artist Cabin

Drove down to the Deep Bay again after breakfast, and at the end of the stairway, combating tons of mosquitoes I painted a profile of the famous cabin nestled in the wood right on the edge of the beach. So many times people asked me if I was the artist staying at this cabin, I would have to tell them no I was not. Hope that next year I would be able to apply for a residency here.

A red cabin nestled in an aspen wood on Grey Owl estate

Without Ron and Sally's generous offer to let me stay at their cottage, the whole project of painting Clear lake would be impossible. Ron and Sally built their beautiful cottage from scratch many years ago. From their cottage deck, I set up my easel there painting this view of a red cottage nestled in the wooded area when it remained cloudy in the evening.

An aspen grove in Wasagaming

Accidentally found myself on a stretch of seemingly abandoned road which was not for motorists anymore. I stopped my car and tried to make a U-turn when I spotted this grove of aspens , and decided make a memory of my mistake . I set up my ease right there and painted this picture before I turned my car around.

A stroll down towards the Deep Bay

David , Ann and Fengping came to visit from Brandon with Ron and Sally today , and together we went for a walk along the shoreline after lunch. It was still overcast when we walked down the apparent popular path for both pedestrians and cyclists which leads us all the way to Deep Bay. Before we reached Deep Bay, I stopped to paint this view of this stretch of shoreline of the lake with the Martese visible in the  far distance.

Clear Lake Lodge

At the request from its owner, I came to paint Clear Lake Lodge located just a stone thrown away from the beach of Clear lake. A few minutes into the painting, the weather changed from sunny to overcast. However, I stayed on with my first impression , and kept its sunlit appearance.

a serene moment after sunset

I went back to the top of the golf course at 9 p.m after sunset. There permeating the lake and the sky is such a beautiful  serenity as could only be found at this particular moment when the sun had sank  below the horizon leaving her last glow onto the clouds in the sky as her last blush.