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Posted by on Jan 29, 2024 in Gallery

I Am A Rock

I Am A Rock

I Am A Rock – 12″ x 12″ Acrylic Painting – $300

“I am a rock, I am an island”

– Simon & Garfunkel

The Elliot Lake rock off of Spruce Beach in my hometown of Elliot Lake, Ontario, has become an icon for the city. Anyone who has grown up in this mining town will know it well since Spruce Beach was one of the major hangouts on a hot summer’s day.

I still make a point of swimming out to the rock every summer. An achievement I continue to be proud to check off! The rock is beyond the area patrolled by the lifeguards so there are warnings that to swim there—you do so at your own risk!

Since the famous rock has been photographed, painted, and graphically stylized countless times, it was not a priority of mine until I was approached by a fellow Elliot Laker to take that on. They were looking for something different!

I’m very happy with the result!

This particular painting is a fall image. There will be 4 more paintings added to this series…

winter, summer, and spring, plus a wide landscape image including the beach itself in the foreground.

So stay tuned! This is only the beginning!

There are several options if you are interested in purchasing:

1.) The original canvas is available for purchase (12″ x 12″)

2.) It is also available as a framed print under glass with a 3″ white mat board and a black wood frame – finished size 19″ x 19″,

3.) A mounted canvas reproduction (12″ x 12″), with or without a recessed wood black frame (13″ x 13″).

Contact me at csvela87@gmail.com if you’re interested.

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Posted by on Jun 27, 2023 in Gallery

Peaceful Bay

Peaceful Bay

Peaceful Bay | 12 x 24 acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

An ideal escape for me on any given day is to be out on a lake in my kayak.

We are lucky to have a ton of bays just like this one on any of the hundreds of lakes that surround us here in Northern Ontario. Throw in a beaver dam, a cluster of water lilies, a turtle sitting on a rock, or a rotting tree trunk plus some grasses swaying in the wind and you’ve got yourself a peaceful bay just like this one to drift into. And here you can just take a deep breath and float for a while.

As for the painting… there’s a lot of contrast going on here. I had a lot of fun with the strong colors and the looser brushstrokes toward the bottom of the painting.

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Posted by on Jun 27, 2023 in Gallery

The Breakwater

The Breakwater

The Breakwater | 30′ x 60″ acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas

You might look at this painting and think…it’s just a piles of rocks! But this pile of rocks was intentionally placed in this location to serve as a breakwater on Lake Huron, one of our amazing “Great Lakes” in Ontario.

Everyone needs some type of breakwater as we go through our lives. That wall of strength that we resort to during times of rough waters. The wall of strength that holds back the rough waters with the strong winds and waves that keep bashing in, and provide that calm protected space where we can find shelter.

It’s the largest painting I’ve completed to date! It seemed a little daunting to begin with but once I got the bigger brushes out it seemed to paint itself. A lesson to myself…don’t let “size” get in the way!

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Posted by on Apr 21, 2022 in Gallery

By the Lake’s Shore

By the Lake’s Shore

Have you ever wanted to just jump into a painting?

Well, this is one that I could literally jump into. It is the quintessential Northern Ontario scene along the shore of any lake. I can almost smell the dried pine needles on the ground—that wonderful earthy smell combined with the fresh breeze off of the lake. The sun makes its way through the trees and creates long afternoon shadows reaching out as though to grab your attention.

By the Lake’s Shore 18 x24 acrylic on canvas

I left this painting sitting unfinished on my easel while my attention was diverted with a journey away to a warmer climate. A family member that was minding our house and cat while we were away, was captured by it and claimed it on the spot!

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Posted by on May 4, 2021 in Gallery

The Road North

The Road North

Driving on this road north holds many good memories.
12″ x 36″ acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas – SOLD

Anyone who lives or who has lived in Elliot Lake, Ontario at any time is very familiar with Highway 108, the 30 km stretch of highway that leads into the town from the Highway 17 turnoff. But not everyone has driven it to its’ most northern tip beyond the city where the highway ends and merges into Highway 639. At this point, you can still see part of the old road that turned off to right towards Quirke Mine, which no longer exists.

Comments from a Facebook post featuring the painting:

“I seen this painting and in my heart I knew it was E.L 💜 you’ve got the big whispy white pines perfectly (I live in AB now but grew up in Elliot Lake. I knew right away it was the 108!).”, and

“Absolutely stunning! I am familiar with that area. My brother worked in the mines. Really captured well.”

You would travel on Highway 639 on your way to Mississagi Provincial Park, or Laurentian Lodge, a beautiful log home with rental cottages on Flack Lake, or up to meet Highway 546 on your way east to Wilderness Lodge, or west to follow the Little White River, all the way around to Iron Bridge which brings you back to Highway 17! We still call this route along the river, “The Little White River Road”.

If you were a miner you would regularly travel along this highway back and forth at all hours on your shifts to Denison, Quirke 1 & 2, Panel, or Stanrock Mines.

This stretch of highway still holds on to many of its characteristics of earlier days like the old guard rails. The asphalt gives way to a more compressed gravel and it’s seems to get narrower the further you go.

We’ve driven this road many a time, often in the spring and most definitely in the fall. The views and the vistas from the high elevations are absolutely breathtaking! There is bush as far as the eye can see, and the colours in the northern fall forest are stunning! Mother Nature is an awesome artist!

After a long winter, Elliot Lakers often get a yearning to go somewhere! When they aren’t in the mood for a highway drive east or west to the larger cities, they will often drive the road north. The breathtaking beauty of the scenic nature here has a way of rejuvenating us.

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