Willowick Lakefront Lodge

This beach sits below the bluff where the Lakefront Lodge sits, which is available for rentals. I painted a young couple that was using a metal detector to search for coins, with the high rise apartments of Euclid as a backdrop. All they found was a twist of wire. This was done last spring, and I finally did some touch up to complete it.

Animal House

I found this hollow birch in the Grand River flood plain at Hogsback Ridge.
It housed some type of creature, as I found tiny wisps of fur along the edge of the bark at the opening to it's den. This was taught to me by a coon hunter in the early 60s, when lots of men set their hounds loose in and around the river valley in eastern Lake County, causing the woods to resonate with the sounds of dogs howling as they pursued the scent of raccoons, whose pelts fetched a lot of money in those days.
SOLD

Hidden Lakes Lodge

This lodge sits in Leroy Twp. on Kniffen Rd. on the land once owned by the AMLA, an insurance firm. The lodge is being remodeled for the public to use for scheduled events. There is a large lake on the property, which is open to fishermen who aquire the proper permits at the park headquarters on Spear Road in Concord. I saw lots of ducks and Great Blue Heron last fall as I circled the improved trail around the lake.

LMP Rental cabin

This cabin sits at the edge of the woods at Hidden Valley North, accessible by an entrance off Palisades Drive. It has a large deck in the rear, and a path connects it to the Crooked Tree trail that borders the edge of the cliff along the Grand River.

Concord Furnace

I painted this at the junction of Jordan and Big Creeks in Concord. The LMP owns this land, but it is rough country and is not open to the public at this time. Concord Furnace once stood where I set up my easel, a metal-working operation in the 18oos, of which I could not find a trace. Our forefathers wasted nothing, so it was probably dismanteled, saving the bricks and hand-hewed beams for other sites. The shale cliffs here comes to a sharp angle, which we named "The Point" when we were kids growing up in Concord.

I saw lots of beaver tracks here , resembling a trough in the snow, formed by dragging their wide, flat tails as they munched on thin saplings, falling them to drag to the creek to build their nearby lodge.

Sleeping Maples

This row of sugar maples borders the Girdled Road South Reservation, looking east on Radcliffe Road. They might have been planted by George Rayl, the farmer who sold much of his acreage to LMP some years ago. He also drove my schoolbus for years, not tolerating me and my friends questional behavior on the daily trip to and from school. He kept a paddle hanging on the dash, drilled with holes to cut wind resistance, but I never saw him use it. He was a big, strong man and we feared getting our butts spanked in front of the other students.
As I was painting, a lot of cross-country skiers were heading to the park, slowing down to watch the crazy painter working in 7 degree temperatures. I was having a ball !

Greenway Corridor

I grew up along the southern terminus of the Greenway Corridor in Concord, when it was the old B & O Railroad. I witnessed the end of the age of steam, watching and listening to those fire-breathing monsters laboring up the grade to Chardon,

blowing the whistle for the Girdled Road crossing behind our house. I am surprised at how many people I've talked to on the trail that never realized it was formerly a railroad bed. I hope that the two seperate trails are someday joined together, providing unbroken access to the Greenway in Geauga County.
SOLD

Beaty Landing

This park is for more than just fishing access; it's got over a mile of well-groomed trails. It occupies the flood plain just east of the Rt. 84 bridge in Painesville, and has views of the high shale cliffs that line the river's bank.

I saw a large deer herd while I painted here.