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I tried my new snow shoes out to paint en plein air. With more than 50 centimetres of snow on the ground, it was the only way to get around. It wasn't overly cold at minus 9 Celsius but the paint still got stiff.

The radar gave a good overview of where these white out conditions were coming from. These Lake Ontario snowsqualls rarely get as far north as Singleton Lake.

Necessity is the mother of invention. The steering wheel easel comes in very handy when the elements are just to nasty to get the paint to stick the the surface.

In February, the mild days are more than comfortable enough to start plein air painting again... there are no biting insects. You do have to be very careful about the ice conditions - especially for an El Nino year.

This is painting number 1713... after retirement from meteorology, I paint between 100 and 200 paintings a year so the numbers are steadily increasing. This 8x10 inch panel flowed like I hoped it might.

Tom Thomson painted from this same location in July 1914. He had spent the early summer at the Go Home Bay cottage of his patron Dr. James MacCallum. In a July 8th letter to Fred Varley, Tom wrote "This place is getting too much like north Rosedale to suit me — all birthday cakes and water ice etc. Will be over in Algonquin Park from about a week from today-couldn’t you and Mrs. Varley come up and camp for a month or two." Tom painted his "Parry Sound Harbour" in the week after he left Go Home Bay, on his way back top Algonquin.

For me life is all about learning... curiosity might have killed the cat but for me, it makes everyday events somewhat exciting. Perhaps I have a low thrill threshold. Perhaps medical science can fix that but I won't let them.

This painting is an attempt to establish my style... I write about it in my Niume post. There is nothing really special or unique about using this particular painting to illustrate my style. It was simply the next one in my list to publish. Artists are continually in search of who they are. They are never sure. Even when they get there, they may still not be sure. I am not sure either but I am still on my artistic journey to find out.

As one of the the founding members and CEO of The Group of One, solitary painting has evolved into a unique style over the years. With no one else nearby, there is no one to emulate. I paint like me, myself and eye. Style is certainly a product of the paint surface, the media, the brush selection, the colour palette, the painting environment and certainly the subject matter. However, there is also the wild card of personality that creeps into the art to make it truly unique. It is great to admire the style and art of others but more important to be happy with your own uniqueness no matter how flawed that might be.

Nothing can quite replace the experience of out standing in the center of a forest... if you are in the zone, the tree get into the paint and pigment....