Summer is starting to come to an end on the Rideau, and you can already see the light beginning to change.

I was out painting plein air this past weekend and that was really what I wanted to capture in this piece. The days are still warm and the trees are still green, but the light is lower, the shadows are getting longer and there are little signs that fall isn't far away.

Newboro Lake has so many islands, shorelines and wind-shaped pines that I've come to recognize from being out on the water over the years. I wanted this painting to feel like one of those familiar views you pass by on the boat and take a second look at because the light happens to be just right.

This painting started with that tree.

The shoreline and autumn colours help frame the scene, but for me the pine is the subject. It has probably stood there for decades, adapting to whatever nature has thrown at it. There’s a strength and resilience in these trees that I find fascinating, and they’re one of the things that makes the Rideau feel like the Rideau.

When you spend as much time as I do out on the boat, you start to recognize certain trees along the way. They become landmarks without you really thinking about it. A tree at the entrance to a bay, one on the point as you come around an island, or one that tells you you're getting close to home.

That familiarity with the landscape is a big part of what I wanted to capture in this painting.

Part of my ongoing Rideau Lakes Series.