Bud Spruce #11 (2021)

Ron Loranger
Bud Spruce #11
2021
watercolour on Arches paper
12 x 9 inches
 
"Bud Spuce as these watercolours are called was the Kap Karnival mascot. KAP MUSONS NOUS. LET’S KAPPER. This year is the centenary of my little outpost town of Kapuskasing which I still love and miss. I last made it up just before the COVID lockdown to eat chicken balls at The China Clipper for my birthday in 2020. It feels like a year and a half long true Nordic winter now.
 
My memories live in these greens. The sea of black spruce that surrounds this place at the top of the tree line. The pine trees that creep and push against the old tennis courts built way back by the New York Times as we provided all their newsprint from the 1920s to the mid-80s. The ancient conifers that grow out of rock cliff along the Kapuskasing river on the edge of town. Bike rides drowned in bright green aspen afterglow. Night cross country skiing under big sky shores of stars and full moons lapping at the little tree line firmly planted in blue and purple snow." — Ron Loranger