Well it’s been sometime since I felt wooed by my Mistress of the North. Thinking back over the last couple of months I guess it’s because I’ve had some other things on my mind. In other words, I’ve been preoccupied you might say. This isn’t to say that I completely shut her out by any means, but I will admit to pushing her to the back of my mind. Oh, my Mistress of the North would surface on occasion and beguile me for sure but I resisted her temptations.

That has changed.

Once again she has claimed me and pushed her way to the fore front of my mind. I have to confess that I welcome her attention though. I suppose it  began again when I decided to start my first serious painting from information I gathered on the Long Ride North last summer. This decision was made a couple of weeks ago. I knew what would happen if I did it but I could no longer ignore what needed to be done.

This is a completed 24×36 oil on stretched canvas of the North Saskatchewan River Valley about half way between Banff and Jasper in Alberta, BC. I choose this scene to paint first as I feel this is where my love affair with the North began. I am absolutely impressed with the vastness of the river valleys of the North country. They are wide and wild. The farther North we went, the wider and wilder the rivers got. This one was just a prelude to what was to come. The only thing I would change in this painting is that it needs to be bigger. That’s big country up there and it requires an artist to paint big paintings. I need to do her justice. The next one will be better suited.

I’m not a poet by any means but this little ode came to me in a fit full dream the other night. I felt compelled to put pen to paper. My infatuation is overwhelming.

Mistress of the North

Seductively she whispers and calls me by name…my mistress of the North. She winks and she smiles and beckons my way…my mistress of the North. She calls me by name and urges me to come…my mistress of the North.

She goes by the names I now know so well. Liard, Teslin, Whitehorse and Bell. I’ve felt her cool rain and seen her long days for she lives in my soul, and my heart and my gaze…my mistress of the North.

I have seen of her children, the bison and bear. I have slept in her bosom and felt her cool air. I have seen her wide rivers and felt her night sun. I have met of her people and shared in their fun…my mistress of the North.

Her call is so strong, and my will is so weak, I know I will return and love her mystique. My chance will soon come and ’til then I’ll wait. The day will soon come, when I can go forth and be with my mistress, my love of the North.

I’ll keep you posted. Thanks for stopping by.