INTRODUCTION
“Over the last few years I have been fortunate to find myself painting in many inspiring landscapes – from scenery that I see everyday looking out my studio window in the Caledon Hills, to mountains at one end of country and the sea at the other.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2000, however, that I discovered the immense beauty of an inland coast that lay within my own province of Ontario. So here I am, on the edge of an adventure in art that will give me the opportunity to fuse many of my loves together over the next year; painting, paddling and my family. During our time in each season, we will journey along the coast and my senses will no doubt be overwhelmed with views to paint.

In addition to the challenges of painting in the field, hauling the painting gear around, having our small girls with us, the winter snow and cold to come (along with numb fingers clinging to a stiff brush), and everything else, I think there is one overwhelming difficulty that will overshadow all of this; trying to decide what to paint with so much to choose from.”
– Cory, Sept. 1, 2001

BACKGROUND
In the spring of 2000, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources set apart a 2900km stretch of coast, beginning at Port Severn in Georgian Bay to the US border of Lake Superior, as the “GREAT LAKES HERITAGE COAST”. As part of their awareness initiatives, Cory was commissioned to create a painting depicting the above and below water environments of this region, which was then published as a high-quality poster. It was during the research for this painting that the artist experienced Lake Superior for the first time, and parts of Georgian Bay that he had not seen before. This short, but inspiring trip, has been fuelled Cory’s desire to return and paint this vast, magnificent region in great depth and sharing it’s splendour with others.

TIMELINE
The first trip launched on September 15, 2001 and continued through all 4 seasons for approximately 1 year (almost 4 months in the field).

FALL (Sept/Oct 2001), WINTER (March 2002), SRING (May/June 2002), SUMMER (Aug 2002)