I live on Wellesley Island NY, facing the portion of the St. Lawrence River known as the Narrows and which also serves as the St. Lawrence River Seaway. The Seaway is that portion of the River marked by navigation buoys for the freighter traffic carrying cargo from and to the Great Lakes Region from and to the rest of the world. The island is about fourteen miles long and four miles wide and is connected to the mainland by the US Span of the Thousand Islands Bridge on NY Interstate Route 81. Interstate 81 continues across the island through the US/Canadian Customs, across Hill Island ON, and on to mainland Canada. My last blog showed paintings I had done of the some of the Victorian style cottages /homes in Thousand Island Park on the western end of the island. I have often said that one could spend a lifetime just painting scenes on or views from the island. Here are a few I have done over the years.
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| Spring Walk 9 x 12 inches oil (sold) |
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| Blazing Maple 11 x 15 inches watercolor |
Spring walk is a studio painting composition incorporating two photos. I painted it in 2013 after an early morning walk along Boldt Canal on the eastern end of the Island. I took about 115 photos on that walk. Some earlier blogs show some cattails paintings also inspired by that walk.
This Maple tree is on county route 100 which traverses the 10 miles from the west to the east end of the island. The tree is about 100 yards before turning in the road to my house. I worked from some photos. I can't recall having seen this tree in this bright shade of orange before or since then in 2012.
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| Winter Storm TI Bridge (sold) |
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| TI Bridge from Peel Dock Road 11 x 15 watercolor |
I had to drag the garbage can on a tow-bogon 150 yards down the driveway to the paved road one Sunday night, as the trash vendor would not come up our drive in the winter. It was snowing heavily with about a foot on the ground, no breeze, and a comfortable 30 degrees F. I put on my cross country skis and put a camera in by pocket for a trip up peel Dock Road toward the bridge. The eerie orange colored reflection of the bridge lights on the large falling snowflakes and on the ground made a good pic. I did the paintings (18 x 24 inches) years later (January 2011) while in a Van Gogh impressionistic mood.
The bridge is a popular subject for local photographers and is included in many local artist paintings. I did this from a winter walk photo on a calm morning . The water temperature of the River was higher than the air temperature causing the misty vision of the bridge. The view is from Peel Dock Road.
Three of a Kind, below, is a 2007 painting when I was interested in Chinese Brush painting. It uses Chinese Ink and watercolor. These are Turkey Vultures. A group of about 25 to 30 migrate to the bay in front of our house-fortunately they roost about 150 yards away. They are know as natures garbage collectors. I paddle boat out in the bay with my camera often and this day the birds where enjoying a breeze, Just hanging on the branch while extending their wings. More Wellesley Island paintings next blog.
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| Three of a Kind 11 x 15 watercolor |
