Winter Paintings

In the late winter, my son and husband took me by snowmobile a long way across frozen lakes and creeks, down forest trails, to a remote spot on Clear Lake in the Haliburton Highlands where water had tumbled over the rocks and froze solid and turquoise. You could even walk behind the wall of ice. We drove home at dusk, across pink lakes and by soft, purple hills. It was magical!

On Friday- Sunday, Ahne, Graham and I have opened a winter cafe at Pizza on Earth where we sell hot panini sandwiches, hot drinks and home-made soup and pastries. Since I work there on weekends, I have to combine cafe work with painting. I don't always have time to go outside, so I set up the easel in the cafe and paint cafe scenes, like this one. All paintings come with a solid maple floater frame, custom-made in Dorset.

This was the very first painting of the year 2025, on January 1.. The scene is right outside my door. I love the playful, jaunty way snow rests on the branches after a big snowfall. The painting comes framed in a solid maple floater frame.

I heard that the new owner of Robinson's General Store had painted the outside stair pink! Now that would shock any staunch Dorset dweller. We modest Canadians lean toward subtle colours that blend iinto the landscape. I had to paint a picture of these pink stairs before they got repainted. To by delight, I found an orange forklift parked beside it. The bright colours cheered my very chilly painting day.

Behind my pizzeria is a yard where we cut the firewood for the giant pizza ovens. Up on a small hill are these slender birches. I painted this on location when it was -26! The sun was shining and since there had been precious few days of sunshine, I just had to get out there and paint. I froze! All of my paintings come framed in solid maple floater frames.

My family and I own and run a wood-fired pizzeria from May - October. We have to cut, dry and stack a lot of wood. Our neighbour lends us his wood processor to do the tedious job more quickly. In exchange, we give him free pizza all summer.

Downtown Dorset.

On a winter hike along the Seabreeze Trail that follows the shore of Lake of Bays, I came upon these delightful shadows on the snow and the old log building.

I live on a windy, twisty road, that weaves up into the hills and dips down to small Shoe Lake and my home. I walk this beautiful road most days and often find inspiration for my paintings.

It is called "The Bug House" because the scientists at the Dorset Environmental Research Centre used to keep their bug specimens in this building. It is now behind the Dorset museum.

Winter in Dorset has been like an old-fashioned winter with tons and tons of fresh snow. Snow piles are up to the roofs!

Winters in Dorset are quiet - such a difference from the lively summer and all the bustle of business, cottagers and tourists. I found this array of chairs at a cottage on Rabbit's Bay on Lake of Bays. The light in March is beautiful, especially in the late afternoon. The chairs reminded me of people, quietly enjoying the last rays of sunshine and patiently waiting for the cottagers to come to enjoy the beautiful view of Lake of Bays they are facing. All paintings come framed in a solid maple floater frame, custom-made in Dorset.

I pulled my toboggan with my easel about a km. through the woods to reach my friend's hunting cabin beside a brook. Noone was around. It was a delight to be there and to paint such a charming building in complete silence and solitude.