Osprey Overlook Outbounders

by Phil Chadwick

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Dimensions

11.000 x 14.000 x 0.875 inches

Title

Osprey Overlook Outbounders

Artist

Phil Chadwick

Medium

Painting - Oil On Canvas

Description

A lighthouse stands on a rocky platform surrounded by calm blue water, with two birds perched on its top next to a nest. In the distance, a sailboat can be seen beneath a sky filled with soft clouds.

These photos were taken by my good friend Cam who I have known since 1985 when we moved to Schomberg, Ontario - right after the Barrie Tornado that occurred on the afternoon of May 31st, 1985. Most meteorologists remember that date! One of the tornadoes along the cold front passed a couple of kilometers north of the home we had just purchased at 81 Western Avenue. We lost a few shingles from the roof but that was all.

Plein air painting of this vista would have required a significant vessel. The water is much too deep for an easel.

The painting is looking toward the southwest. The distant lighthouse to the right of the much closer Spruce Shoal Lighthouse is the "Gordon Rock Lighthouse". That lighthouse is correctly identified as "Jones Island Range Front Lighthouse" on Google Earth. Jones Island and the actual Jones Island Range Rear Lighthouse are further to the south.

Gordon Rock is just a rock since it has no trees. Officially, in the Thousand Islands and perhaps elsewhere, a piece of land must support at least one living tree to achieve the title of "island". As my friend Cam aptly points out, this is contrary to the 1965 Paul Simon lyrics of "I Am a Rock" which clearly states "I am a rock, I am an island". Creators of all breeds can apply artistic license.

Lighthouses were essential to safely navigate the 30,000 Islands of the Georgian Bay Archipelago. Archipelago is a fancy geographical term for a chain or group of islands scattered across a body of water. There are even way more rocky shoals which are more treacherous for ships. It is impossible to avoid what one cannot see.

The SS Atlantic sank in November 1903 when a fire broke out after the ship had survived gale-force winds. All 23 crew members and their three passengers escaped the ship in two lifeboats. My friend Cam went SCUBA diving on the wreck twice. It lies in 15 to 50 feet of water inclined on the rock of Spruce Shoal just feet north of the main lighthouse in the painting.

The painting was named by Cam as "Ospreys Overlooking Outbounders" because of the inhabitants of the upper nest surveying the route to points north of Parry Sound.

It was another very chilly winter day in the forest so I was painting in the Singleton Studio. Life is good!

Uploaded

February 4th, 2025

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