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Friday 9 October 2015

Plein Air Ensemble Fall 2015 Painting Trip, Part 1


Blog 40

This is part 1 of my travelogue of the Plein Air Ensemble trip to Lake Clear in Eganville.


Friday, October 2, 2015

Right now we are in the area of Lake Clear in Eganville where the Plein Air Ensemble is spending the next couple of days. Hélène, Janis, and I arrived yesterday to get everything organized for the arrival of the rest of the group. We still found time to paint.

The colours are not as intense this fall. Many of the trees are just too dry and the leaves just turn yellowish brown. However, there are pocketful of really beautiful colours. The reds and oranges bring a lot of vibrancy into the green landscape.

After driving around a little bit to check out the area, we ended up at the historic stone fence which was erected by hand by the German immigrant Carl Ludwig Neumann. We stayed there to paint. I decided to paint the curving road. After having spent the summer finishing up paintings, and not having painted “en plein air” since May, it was quite a challenge.

In the evening, we met up with Charlie and Mike who also had arrived a day early. We drove together to downtown Eganville to meet our friends Sharon and Bill who moved to the area a couple of years ago. We had a great German dinner at “The Granary”. The schnitzel were really good and the dessert was just amazing. It took three people to finish our crepe Denmark.

Back in our cottage, Janis, Hélène and I played a game of “Paquet”, where Janis did not give us a chance.

Right now, we are on our way to the store to get the groceries for the daily “Happy Hour” when all the artists get together before dinner. In the afternoon, we will be going out to paint.
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It is nighttime by now, and I should be getting ready for bed. I am too worked up to sleep even though I am tired.

  
We had another very windy day, but we found a beautiful vista in Cormac. I managed to finish a small painting and got a good start on a second painting before we had to head back.

At 5 pm, we met everyone at “Happy Hour” for a presentation by Christine, the former owner of Opeongo Mountain Resort and now full-time artist. She and our painting buddy Kathy had put a lot of work into marking maps with interesting painting sites, and giving us information on picturesque spots.

The evening held a couple of excitements. First, one of the cottage doors did not open even though the electric lock opened. Luckily, the resort owner was still on site and able to help.

Then, Janis, Hélène, and I were waiting for the return of one of our participants while trying to distract ourselves by playing cards. She had left her purse at an Ottawa gas station and gone back to get it. However, we were worried whether she would find the resort again in the darkness. Once four hours had passed, we got more and more worried with every minute that passed. After more than 5 hours and repeated checks at her cottage, we were ready to call the police. Right at that moment, she arrived. We were too relieved to be angry at that point. As organizers you just feel responsible for everyone’s safety. Starting tomorrow there will be a new rule: Everyone running unexpectedly late has to inform us. There is always the possibility that someone loses track of time or gets lost, which is not a problem as long as we know what is going on.

On the bright side, we saw a beautiful yellow moon over the lake and a sky full of stars. I am sure a beautiful day lies ahead of us.

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I hope you enjoyed my travelogue and the photos of the beautiful region so close to Ottawa. There is a lot more to come. To read more about the painting trip, please return to my blog next week.




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