Painting Trip to Kamouraska 2019 - Part II

The Abandoned House, acrylic, 8" x 10"

Block 28

Usually, this would be a blog-free week, but I decided to post the sequel to my Kamouraska painting trip today to be able to publish all the parts before my next painting trip to Lake Clear in Eganville at the beginning of October.


Tuesday, September 10, 2019

When we woke up, it was sunny, but only 6 degrees. However, there was hardly any wind and the tide was out. Therefore, we decided to go to the Route de la Grève, where we painted the monadnock and part of the riverbed. As you can see, my painting still needs work.

Then, we went towards Rang du Mississipi as we wanted to paint a barn, but we could not find a space to set up. Before looking any further, we had a picnic at Sentier du Cabouron. After lunch, we drove back to Kamouraska, where we first looked at the old mill at Chemin du Moulin Paradis before continuing to the Rang du Petit Village. There, we all found a spot that inspired us. I decided to paint an old abandoned house. It did not go well, and I was very frustrated at one point. However, I persevered and suddenly the pieces fell into place (see image at top of blog).

In the evening, we enjoyed Bill’s spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce and coleslaw. For dessert, he treated us to a variety of sweets: almond shortbread cookies from the bakery, two-bites, vanilla ice cream and different toppings.

Sweet Candy, Wool, 9.5" x 11.75"

After dinner, we sat together chatting. I was surprised to be able to finish the felted version of my painting “Sweet Candy”. This was the only evening project that I had brought thinking that I would probably need the whole week to create it. As I brought a lot of yellow wool, the memory of the sunflowers inspired me to start a felted sunflower. I am not sure whether it will be a felted painting or a three-dimensional object. Time will tell.


Thursday, September 12, 2019

Tomorrow is already the last painting day here in Kamouraska. We had very bad weather on Wednesday with high winds and pouring rain. It was quite dark the whole day and so cold that we were freezing in the winter garden, where most of us finished paintings that we had started at the beginning of the week. None of us went outside. I was able to finish my sunflower painting and the first painting from St-Andre.

In the evening, Sharon served a hearty meal of ham, potatoes, corn and carrots followed by a very light mousse with apricots.

Kamouraska Monadnocks, acrylic, 6" x 12"

This morning, we were delighted to wake up to a beautiful blue sky. The first stop was the bakery Niemand that was open for the first day since the weekend. Once we had our delicious goodies, Hélène, Janis, Leslie and I decided to go back to the Rang du Petit Village. A farmer had talked to Hélène and Leslie on Tuesday and permitted us to access his property to paint the monadnocks from his fields. He was so excited about having us paint his monadnock that he had taken Hélène on his ATV to show her the great view. Actually, several spots were great for painting. I decided to paint the monadnocks that were a little further in the distance as their shape inspired me more than the big one right in front of me. However, I was struggling with the small board. To fit a huge mountain on a 6” x 12” board felt very restricting. Moreover, the green of the field in front of me was very bright and looked unnatural. I have no idea what kind of crop I was looking at as I do not know anything about farming, but the fields very brightly green. I adapted the colours and shapes a couple of times, but I was still not too thrilled with the result. This would be a great scene for a huge canvas. Maybe, I will create a second, much larger version, in my studio.

1st panel of "Wild Rose", acrylic, 4" x 4"

Leslie had decided to enjoy a quiet afternoon. The rest of us went shopping for groceries after lunch because it was my day to cook. After shopping, we went back to the house. As it was such a wonderful, warm afternoon, I did not want to waste the time inside. Instead, I set up at the side of the road in front of the house to paint a wild rose on a 4” x 4” linen board that I had ordered thinking that it would be much bigger. I enjoyed painting the rose even though I kept wondering how the bloom looked different every time I looked up from my canvas until I realized that the front petal was slowly falling while I was painting. I felt a little bit like in the movie “Beauty and the Beast”, where the falling rose petals signify that time is running out. I was happy that I finished my little painting just in time to start cooking. I spent a long time chopping vegetables and peaches, as I served a vegetable casserole followed by peach compote on top of vanilla ice cream. Tomorrow, we can all relax. No-one has to cook as we still have lots of leftovers. We are all looking forward to another great day of painting.