A week camping and canoeing through the Georgian Bay archipelago brushes stress away like a broom through cobwebs. Perfect canoe weather with lots of sun and more sun and even more sun. 
The Bay, The Bay, aaaaahhhh, The Bay
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Category Archives: trees
OMG!!! It’s September already.
After visiting the cheek to jowl State campgrounds in New York and Pennsylvania in August, it was a treat to canoe out into the peace and quiet of northern Georgian Bay’s archipelago.
At some point in the past some really, really, strong individuals arranged a few really, really, massive stones into a fireplace complete with seating with, of course, a wonderful view. The sketch was an attempt to capture the tangle of trees on the opposite shore.
In Flanders Fields
One hundred years ago one of Guelph’s better known sons, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a soldier, physician and poet wrote ‘In Flanders Fields.
As part of exhibitions marking the occasion the Guelph Museum is hosting a juried exhibition of related artworks. My print ‘The Survivors’ was one of the artworks chosen.
To me the war conjures up visions of more than poppies and crosses. I envision the other casualties of war, of the long lines of refugees and of wounded soldiers returning to their homes. I see the shells of buildings and a landscape badly scarred.
My print was for those people who, having survived, were now ready to move forward towards a sparse landscape but one with a promise of better things to come.
The poem reads as follows:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields. .
Sentinel
At the moment, what I like about this print is the total absence of snow. Perhaps even more is that it reminds me of a sunny afternoon sitting on a huge rock with a friend drawing rocks and trees and water and rocks and trees and water, but mostly enjoying the sun.
Snow at Starkey’s
Outside the wind chill makes it feel like -30C. I’m back inside now, huddled over my mac for warmth and wondering why my ancestors paid good money for passage from England to this frozen real estate when they could have just stolen a loaf of bread and been given a free trip to warm, sunny Australia.
I spent a (much warmer) day last March wandering around a bush near here sketching the aftermath of a snow storm. This three colour print is from one of the sketches.
Northern Morning
No matter how nice an air mattress I drag along when I’m camping I wake up about 4:30 – 5:00 am then turn from side to side to side like a rotisserie, trying to get comfortable. I never do so I get up. The upside is that I have lots of drawings done in the early morning calm. I liked the tree in this sketch and so, pining for the north, so to speak, engraved it. It’s 6.5×9 with five tones of grey ink on Stonehenge paper.
Backyard
There’s a voyeur aspect to train riding that I like; mile after mile after mile of backyards. If you were on the right train you’d see mine. I did the drawing last summer but changed it to a winter scene to cover up all the stuff that was scattered about and to spare me the pain of engraving tree leaves. The lazy way to clean up a yard.
Cedars and rocks and cedars and…
As you move away from the mainland to the edge of eastern Georgian Bay the pines give way to cedars and vast expanses of rock ground smooth by glaciers. I spent a few days canoeing, enjoying the sun, doing ink washes of cedars and trying not to scratch multiple spider bites.
Cedars
The ubiquitous Georgian Bay cedar. This is a three colour engraving that attempts to juxtapose the permanence of the rocks with the impermanence of the life around them. 
New Moon
Nice when the moon is out, when it disappears the islands and mainland become one big, black shape.
4/c, 6.5×8.5 engraving.
SafeHaven
Georgian Bay gets rough in a hurry and finding a flat camping spot out of the wind on an island like this is great.
A huge thunderstorm with torrential rain is quite enjoyable from inside a tent. Bring a good book.
3/c, 8×13 engraving.
Foggy Island
I canoed out into a foggy waterway some years ago and have made a couple of attempts at making a print of the experience. The best I seem to do is to show one frame of what should be a movie. It looks foggy but nothing is emerging out of, nor disappearing into, the mist.
New Day
After a couple days of warm Spring weather it is snowing again. I posted this as a reminder that warm weather is on its way.
From inside this heavily shaded woods the sunlight pouring through the trees seemed absolutely brilliant. And warm:-)
The ‘black’ is actually violet but looks more naturally black than black ink did; a trick I borrowed from oil painters.
Canoe Route
Just when I thought I was safely out of the woods, another landscape. This was from a sketch I did last summer in the 30,000 Islands, an archipelago in northeast Georgian Bay. It shows one ten thousandth of the islands.
Time is running out!!!
BEYOND LANDSCAPE
Recent Engravings by yours truly, a colourful, thought provoking departure from my usual barns and trees and barns and trees and barns…
These are much more abstract, more ‘graphic’, more insightful than most of my work over the past couple of decades.
OPENING NIGHT PARTY: November 5th
You are welcome to attend. In fact, I’d be quite happy to see you there!!!!
The Show runs from October 29 thru November 26th
The Whitestone Gallery, 80 Norfolk Street, Guelph ON
clive lewis, printmaker 