Plein Air Painting

This year I finally did some Plein air painting. Pixie Blue Studio had organized a session at the Arts at the Port event this summer. Since I am in my #lifeisshortsoimcramming mode I thought I should finally try this out. So glad I did!

It was a beautiful summer day at Port Credit and I found the perfect spot, a view of the lake and the Port Credit gazebo through the trees. I painted my favourite muse, a nice little wave on the lake.

A beautiful day to paint!

Some of the other artists’ work

My finished piece

That first experience got me hooked! I said what the hell and signed up for the McMichael’s Plein Air event, not really expecting to get a reply. But they invited me! No harm in just taking a chance and applying I guess.

The McMichael gallery grounds are beautiful, but to be honest I had a hard time finding what I wanted to paint, there wasn’t enough water in the river that runs through the grounds. There were huge vicious mosquitos everywhere and I got tired walking all over the place trying to find inspiration. Till I saw this….

I realized I would love to present a unique view to the audience. An ant’s eye view, everyone else was standing with easels to get a human’s eye view, this would be something fun!

Needless to say, I broke my back in the process.

However I loved the way my painting turned out,

Unfortunately, there were no points given for originality. All the winning work and honorable mentions were very group of seven style. But I should not have expected anything else, McMichael is the permanent home to more than 6 500 pieces of art, much of which is Tom Thomson’s and the Group of Seven.  I still like my ant’s eye view though! I guess I’m just a snooty artist.