Plein Air Ensemble Fall 2015 Painting Trip to Lake Clear, Part 3

 Blog 42


This is part three and the last part of the travelogue about the Plein Air Ensemble trip to Lake Clear.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Today, was a great day. The sun never appeared but it cleared up and was quite mild. There was absolutely no wind, and the couple of raindrops fell before we even woke up.

Hélène and I stayed at the resort. Katia, the owner, showed us a spot behind her trailer where she looks toward a beautiful marsh with a couple of fallen and crooked trees. She named the scene “The Star Tree”. We spent the whole day on the spot working on a single painting but we are both very happy with the result.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Because Hélène and I forgot the time while chatting last night, I never continued writing my travelogue. Usually, I write my blog at night when we are on painting trips because both Janis and Hélène go to bed before me.

Last night after supper, we had “Show and Tell”. Everyone put up some of their best works and we looked at all the places everyone had gone to. It is always one of the highlights of the trip. It was nice that our friends Sharon and Bill as well as some of Kathy’s artist friends were able to join us.

For the first time, we also had a name tag competition. Usually, one of the members prints nice name tags with the name of the venue but this time he was out of the country, so we decided to ask the participants to decorate their name tags. Everyone received a white tag with their name. Hélène and I were overwhelmed with the response. Everyone loved the idea, and they want a repeat at the next trip. This is awesome!

Later, Hélène and I played “Paquet” again. Despite one phenomenal game where she got rid of all of her cards in one turn, I brought home the total win for the evening. Having been done with our job of organizing the trip, we were tired but also happy and got into a long chat. It is great that we get along so amazingly. Hélène has been a friend for many years but working with her as coordinators of the Plein Air Ensemble activities has brought us even closer.

This morning, we got ourselves organized and the car packed, then decided to paint “Big Rock”. The weather channel had forecasted a sunny day with 18 degrees, and it was quite mild but we never saw the sun, even though it tried really hard to break through the clouds. We spent the morning at the shore of Lake Clear painting “Big Rock” and “Little Rock”. Just when we were ready to pack it in, it started drizzling. Not enough, however, to prevent us from eating our lunch on the rocks of the shore. Then it was time to get on our way home.

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We had a fantastic time. It was so great to see so many regulars return to the trip, we enjoyed the lovely music Charlie, Louis, and Mary played for us during “Happy Hour”. The food was great, and the cottages were cosy. The German resort owners and their staff were amazing. I have to admit that it was a special bonus to be able to speak German with them.

On one of the colder days, they even put the fireplace on in the restaurant which was also our meeting room and (in case it had rained) our painting room. We will definitely come back.

If you are looking for a nice cottage or camping resort on a beautiful lake, I can highly recommend the Opeongo Mountain Resort, RR # 2, 949 Lake Clear Rd., Eganville, Ontario K0J 1T0. Telephone: 1-800-565-9623 or 613-754-2054. Email: info@omresort.ca.

If you would like to get more information about the Plein Air Ensemble and upcoming trips, please contact me at kpeters@DomingoInformatics.ca. Right now we are working on the details for our spring 2016 trip.