Fascinating would be an understatement when trying to describe the ways of these birds of the sea!

Learn more about the puffins of Newfoundland as you listen in to Mother Puffin’s advice to her wee puffling.  I don’t think she’ll mind.

In the meantime, the puffin under the rock (watch out for this little guy) let it slip that the artist who brushed them into life is preparing to paint her absolutely most favourite of all spring wildflowers:

Dutchman’s Breeches

Mother Mould

Lloyd is mixing the two components for the silicon rubber mould.

Pouring moulding silicon rubber into cavity between master sculpture and mother mould.

Completed silicon rubber mould.  Lloyd will brush in casting material impregnated with either bronze or marble dust.  

One returned to her burrow under a rocky shelf on the right, and sat peeking out from its dark entrance.

The other joined his comrades on the centre rocks, standing with his back toward me.  I’ll try to capture the sheen of his dark plumage in spite of his rudeness.

This makes ten little puffins in all, and Pete, my studio companion, apologizes that the late arrivals have caused yet another delay in showing his kinsfolk to you.  Why puffins don’t have the decency to arrive on time is more than I’ll ever know!

My Pal from Newfoundland

On New Year’s Eve, we had friends over for dinner and an evening of croquinole.  It turned out that the wife was the mystery donor of the puffin that flew to my door a few months ago!  Of course, I took them to the studio so they could see Pete the Puffin, and also have a peek at the puffin painting.

Pete  sits on the edge of the sewing machine not far from my easel.  His delightful arrival and his presence in the studio has actually been an encouragement while I have been painting his “kinsfolk!”  I was delighted to learn that he was purchased a few years ago while they were on a visit to Newfoundland, which makes him authentic.

Listen!  Pete is trying to say something:

 Keep an eye on the blog.

You will soon be getting a peek at my relatives,

all eight of them!

]]> http://mcdonaldart.com/blog/meet-my-%e2%80%9cpal%e2%80%9d-from-newfoundland/feed 0 http://mcdonaldart.com/blog/a-christmas-puffin http://mcdonaldart.com/blog/a-christmas-puffin#comments Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:44:16 +0000 Eleanor http://mcdonaldart.com/blog/?p=52 Continue reading →]]> Toddling down a busy Montreal street in mid December, a veterinary technician spotted a disoriented puffin.  It was less than a year old.

How did it get more than 1,000 kilometres away from its east coast home?  Some have theorized that it might have boarded a ship in Atlantic Canada and hitched a ride.  Maybe the deck of the ship was wet, and the puffin thought it was landing on water.

Cared for at a bird rehabilitation centre in Montreal, the tiny celebrity dined on small fish.  The adorable puffin made a TV appearance which was aired over our local station!

Two days before Christmas, it was flown to St. John’s, Newfoundland, in a heated cargo hold, and will be held in the swimming pools of a rehab centre there for a week or more.

Wait till Mother Puffin hears about this!

I never tire of looking at WIND IN MY MANE:

http://mcdonaldart.com/sculptures/windInMyMane.htm

In the meantime, Pete, the patient Puffin, sits on the corner of the sewing machine in the studio, keeping me company.  He wishes I’d quit dabbing and scraping on the rocks and concentrate on his cousins instead.

Above the coloured photo of him on the page was this note:

A little bird has told me

that you are putting your lovely painting ability to the test

of creating pictures of my relatives on “the Rock.”

I just thought that I’d drop in to see if I can be of assistance to you.

I don’t charge much for my modeling talent, just a bite of food now and again.

Needless to say, the bright-eyed little puffin got our day off to the happiest of beginnings!  I’ll let you know if I can unravel this delightful mystery.

Bert Kempster, tall with black wavy hair, loved to ride horses, drove a Model-T Ford, which had a rumble seat, and was ever so patient with my four sisters and I.  He had a marvellous way of recounting anecdotes!

Most exciting of all, he chewed Dentyne gum!  Back then, we tykes had never heard of such things as germs.  Unbeknownst to Bert, when he was out, my younger sister and I snuck into his room, pried off some gum he thought he had hidden on the back of his metal bedstead . . . and chewed it!!

Although I haven’t rode or exhibited horses like Bert has, I do share a love for them, and have painted four, fascinated by their intelligent eyes and graceful form.

Westmount Gallery

88 Advance Road

Toronto ON M8Z 2T7

416-239-5427

www.westmountgallery.com

Email westmountgallery@bellnet.ca

Good riddance this week to the remaining white space on the canvas!

Onward to the right-hand mountain, planting spruce, aspen and tamaracks in its jags and crags!

Sending out invitations, baking, buying supplies, wrapping favours, creating name tags, designing a quiz, preparing two boards of pictures depicting Lloyd’s 75 years, hunting down recipes for hors d’oeuvres (and making them) was all done on the sly! Special friends helped carry it off, and Lloyd was TOTALLY surprised!

The party room in our son’s condo in downtown Kitchener accommodated about 50 all told.

Some of the guests

 Daughter Joanna, Eleanor, Granddaughter Rebekah,       Son John, Lloyd

Now that I am no longer working undercoverfrom dawn to dark, it’s great to get back into the studio, brushing some of Newfoundland’s rugged grandeur onto canvas!

Hopefully, the right-hand rock face will get some attention this week.

Their temporary home was a large pail topped with lily pads so they could relax while the temperature of the pond water in the bucket became the same as the temperature inside the house.

On top of the thick layer of pebbles on the bottom of the aquarium, we arranged some of the corals collected during the years we served with Trans World Radio on the island of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Roots of live water plants were buried in the pebbles, as well as a piece of Bonaire driftwood and a couple of sea fans.

What fun we had arranging the white shells in the black stand below the aquarium!

Meanwhile . . . in the painting . . . you can see that the water has begun cascading through the crags!

Hopefully, by next week, the habitat surrounding the waterfalls will begin to appear in the painting.  Its green canopy beckons some 239 species of birds to the hills of Gros Morne. Those fortunate enough to hike here may see anything from featherweight warblers to 40-ton whales.

Sorry to be late in getting this posted. When Tuesday rolled around, I didn’t like the crags in the right part of the painting’s background, so began bulldozing them around. They still need more work, but I’ll let them dry a bit before inserting more cracks and crevises.

These blogs show the work in progress . . . which sometimes makes me cringe!

No doubt you noticed in the first painting that the waterfalls changed its location between postings. It seemed to fit better a little further back.

In the spring, the woodland caribou head up these ridges to upland plateaus which provide perfect birthing areas for rearing their young. Large patches of unmelted snow furnish a constant supply of succulent new plant growth. The herds move down into the forested lower elevations during the winter months.

At the moment, the waterfalls in this painting are just a blah outline on stark white canvas. Hopefully, by next week, the waterfalls will be splashing joyfully downward . . . causing you to rejoice in its musical tumblings!

On the north side of Gros Morne Park, the town of Rocky Harbour on the coast was lovely, and our first B&B experience in Newfoundland.

Norris Point. Don’t you love it?

Later, on the way up to St. Anthony’s, we drove through Sally’s Cove, St. Paul’s, and Cow Head in Gros Morne National Park. However, time didn’t permit us to visit the towns on its south side: Woody Point, Glenburnie, Winterhouse Brook, Shoal Brook, Birchy Head, and Trout River.

Six overnights scheduled for Newfoundland just weren’t enough!

I would have liked to see the Atlantic Salmon in the river that surfaces from an underground cave, and also the pioneer village depicting the early 1900s.

Hopefully, the middle ridge in the above painting will look a lot different by next Tuesday.

Arriving at the inland dock of Gros Morne, one is delightfully aware that he is embarking on a sight-seeing voyage of remarkable beauty.

Westbrook III is heading into the fiords.

Typical snow-filled gullies spawn numerous waterfalls.

Below you are witnessing the birth of “Splashing Through the Crags” sketched onto a 20” x 16” canvas. Is it possible to pick out the waterfalls?

A light wash removes the white of the canvas. Now the fun begins! You’ll have to wait until next Tuesday to see how much of this canvas comes to life !

Excitement builds as each snow-fed waterfall comes into view.

Some waterfalls had unbelievable (and unrepeatable) names!

This rock formation was called The Tin Man.  Do you see his face?

The 20″ x 16″ oil-on-canvas painting below is now finished.  The original will be available, as well as limited editions on canvas or paper.

Check back next Tuesday to see the beginnings of the next Gros Morne painting . . . a close-up of a churning waterfall high up in the craggy cliffs!

You can pick out Deer Lake Airport where we arrived in mid June via West Jet.  By rental car, we wound through the snow-gullied hills into Rocky Harbour for our first seaside B&B.  Outside the gate, a motorcycle was idling.  No, it hadn’t been forgotten.  A guest was charging his cell phone!  He happened to be a frequent visitor to Newfoundland, and inquired about our itinerary for the next four days.  Looking at the location of one B&B, he said, “There’s nothing there.  Absolutely nothing.”  So we did some re-routing on the spot.  Hosts and guests at B&Bs are a great source of information and enrichment.

The face of the left cliff in the painting has been taking on a bit more shape since you last stopped by my studio.    

Before you visit next Tuesday, I hope a waterfall will be splashing its way down the right-hand cliff!