The Canadian Shield

Re: Our website at http://www.henschel.ca/, on the Home Page under "What's New" you will find "Canadian Shield". For many visitors, to whom this term is new, let me explain. The Canadian Shield is a massive area about 3000 km. in length and varying in a width I wouldn't want to guess at. It lies in a south east to north west direction, beginning in northeastern USA and ending at the Arctic Ocean in Yukon and Northwest Territories. With a rock base of mostly granite, the last ice age carved all sorts of shapes into the surface which later filled and became lakes. The rock base is really the remains of the most ancient mountains on earth. Incredibly hard, one can still see the striations on the surface of rock outcroppings that the Ice Age produced.

The reason that this section is on our website is simple: I was born and raised at the western edge of The Shield, in Manitoba. Although we moved to B.C. in 1974, we still make regular forays into our old stamping grounds, especially in Autumn when the whole area turns gold! So this is why, if you look at the Canadian Shield section on our website, you will find a lot of Autumn paintings. It is so delightful to sit and paint by one of the lakes in Whiteshell Provincial Park and paint the brilliant yellows and reds while listening to the Canada Geese honking and flying in huge V formations overhead. This is one of the biggest flyways for North-South movement in North America. Enjoy the paintings in this section of our website. There will be more!