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Friday 7 October 2016

Lake Clear - Fall Plein Air Painting Trip 2016, Part I

 Blog 41

Following is the first part of my travelogue of the fall painting trip of the Plein Air Ensemble:

Thursday, September 29, 2016


Hélène and I are on our way to Lake Clear in Eganville for the Plein Air Ensemble fall painting trip. As usual, we go up a day early to get everything organized. While we prepared as much as possible before the trip, we still have to get maps, and buy wine for the Happy Hours of the week.

The weather is great. The sun is shining and temperatures are supposed to go up to 17 degrees. At first, we got through nicely on the highway. Hélène and I did not see each other over the summer, so we had lots to chat about. This makes time just fly by. However, now we have been stuck for about an hour at a construction site on the 17, just before before the exit to Calabogie. What a waste of precious painting time!

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When we finally made it to Eganville, we went to the tourist information, then to the 4th chute near the Bonnechere Caves. On our way, we saw two deer looking at us from the side of the road. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough to capture their image with my camera.

After a picnic, we hiked along the Bonnechere River which was extremely low. There were lot of picturesque spots to paint, but we would need a whole day to make it worth dragging all of our equipment into the woods.

Instead we went back to the lakeside and set up there for the afternoon. Hélène painted the waterfall, and I was fascinated by the deep blue water of the lake and the fall colours in the back. However, I started to struggle when the sunny sky was pushed out by the clouds and the colours changed dramatically. When I decide to incorporate the huge flocks of Canada Geese that were swimming in the lake, I got really frustrated. In the end, I wiped the birds out of my painting again. I was still not happy with the painting when we had to pack up. I will give it a couple of days before I will look at it again. Hopefully, I will feel better about it at that point. If not, I have to figure out what exactly is bothering me.

On our way to the Opeongo Mountain Resort, Hélène and I were guided by the GPS through the woods following Corrigan Road. Fortunately, we ended up at Cormac Road where we saw two beautiful marshes.

We had just enough time to pick a cottage and unpack before we went back into town to meet our friends Sharon and Bill for dinner in “The Granary”. As we knew from the last time how big the portions were, Hélène and I shared a schnitzel in mushroom sauce. This way, there was enough room for the restaurant's delicious desserts. Each of the different desserts looked fantastic. If you are in the Eganville area, I can highly recommend the restaurant for its very good food. Just be advised that one plate easily serves two.

As Sharon and Bill are taking part in the Madawaska Valley Studio Tour this weekend, we enjoyed a special preview of their beautiful artworks displayed for the tour.

On our way back to the resort, through the dark landscape, both Hélène and I agreed that we would not like to live so far out in the country. Driving through the dark woods was putting me on edge. I was not surprised that we saw more deer at the side of the road and a fox crossing the road right in front of us.

Back at our cozy cottage, it is now time to turn in for the night to be well rested for tomorrow's adventures.

I hope you enjoyed the first part of my travelogue and will join me again next Friday for the continuation.


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