Blog 42
Friday, September
30, 2016
Today, Hélène and
I returned to Cormac Road where we painted the marsh. At first, it
was nice and sunny, but later it got quite chilly when the clouds
rolled in. I was struggling with the changing light conditions again,
but managed to solve most of my problems by adjusting the colour
temperature.
In the afternoon, we
had to drive to the centre of Eganville to buy the wine for the Happy
Hours, as well as some flowers and gourds for the still life we will
set up tomorrow for everyone who would like to stay indoors for
painting.
On our way back, we
made a detour to Manning Road that was pointed out by our resort
owners as having beautiful fall colours. We were not disappointed. On
both sides of the road were some beautiful swamp areas, a couple of
huge interesting rocks and beautiful trees in full fall colours. On
our way out, we also saw a big flock of wild turkeys. This might
become tomorrow's painting location. It is only minutes from the
cottage and offers many picturesque spots.
We have figured out
that it is best to stay in one spot or some spots that are close to
each other to avoid the travelling time which cuts down the painting
time.
In the evening, we
were relieved that everyone made it safely to the resort. It was nice
to welcome some of the older members back who had not been able to
make it to any of the trips for the last couple of years, as well as
one newcomer.
We had a good time
catching up with our painting friends during Happy Hour and the
following delicious dinner prepared for us by the resort owner and
staff.
Saturday, October
1, 2016
The weather was
treating us to another good day. Hélène and I went to Manning Road
where we had discovered the beautiful, but very smelly swamp
yesterday. Hélène picked the side of the road where the smell was
not so bad. However, the beautiful red trees that captured my
interest were on the other side of the road, so I set up there. After
a while, the smell made me cough, but I got lucky when the wind set
in and drastically reduced the smell of decaying plants.
I was struggling
with the overload of sensations, but managed to pull things together
at the end. I am not completely satisfied, but curious how I will
feel about the painting in a couple of days.
For the afternoon,
we picked a huge rock as our subject. Having had to concentrate so
hard in the morning, I decided to be a little adventurous with my
colours. I used quite a lot of purple and pink for the rock and was
doing quite well until I almost lost the impact of the rock in my
painting. Luckily, I was able to recover my rock. So far, I consider
this my best painting of the trip.
We had set ourselves
a time to drive back to the resort to be able to prepare the plates
for the Happy Hour and get changed without rushing. However, we had a
hard time to stop painting because we were so close to the finish
line. At the end, we were already late when we had packed everything
into the car, only to discover that we could not find the car keys,
or the spare. After looking around everywhere in the vicinity, I
found them between the driver seat and the console. Despite this, we
managed to have everything ready just in time. However, there were no
minutes to spare.
We were happy to
welcome the last two participants of our group that had to come a day
late. We were treated to some wonderful music by our very talented
musicians during the Happy Hour which we feel very fortunate to
enjoy.
Tonight, Mette was
nice enough to tell us about her adventure into the fashion world.
She gave us a glimpse into how she has created beautiful clothes and
home decor articles based on some of her flower paintings. It was
fascinating – even the gentlemen of the group stayed for the talk.
If you would like to see for yourself please go to
www.MetteBaker.com.
To follow me on our
final two days of the Plein Air Ensemble trip, please return next
Friday for the final part of the travelogue.
No comments:
Post a Comment