We visited Sand Harbor State Park on the Nevada (east) side of Lake Tahoe yesterday afternoon and I did this little watercolour sitting on a rock looking out onto a gorgeous beach. Ron spent his time wandering the pathways with the camera. It was a very quiet and relaxing time together. Ahhhhh, vacation!
Last Saturday I wandered out to Leighton Centre to do some plein air painting. It’s nice out there on the weekend as there are a number of other artists painting and other folks visiting the gallery and schoolhouse. It certainly makes me feel less nervous about the cougars that have been seen prowling around in that area lately!!! Anyway, this is a bit of the vast, panoramic view from the Centre… if you live near Calgary but have never visited the Leighton Centre, you are missing out!!!
Cheers!
What beautiful weather we are having right now in Calgary! It’s perfect for plein air painting. This is the view from Bowness Park looking across the Bow River towards Baker Park. The light was amazing – it illuminated the tips of the yellow trees and cast beautiful shadows across the ground. It’s kind of weird that I stood right beside the Bow River yet and it doesn’t show up in the painting but this is the scene that captured my imagination. Enjoy!
This is the view from a pathway beside Allen Bill Pond looking towards Kananaskis Country. I love clouds, and painting clouds… these are cirrus or mare’s tails. Their feathery appearance makes them looks like they’re dancing across the sky. Our weather continues to be gorgeous here, although the wind is up today. It’s been perfect weather for harvesting this September – much needed due to a late, wet spring. Cheers!
I rebelled against my indoor, moving in activities Thursday and went painting with some friends. We intended to paint Elbow Falls but the rangers had closed the park up while they assess bear activity. According to some other hikers, the closure due to the bears has been going on since last Saturday. So, we stopped just a bit earlier at Allen Bill Pond and took up places along the Elbow River. I decided to paint a beautiful spot just a bit up the path where I could seen the elbow of the Elbow.
It was great to get outside again! Plein air painting is so much fun and it’s multiplied when shared with friends. It was nice to see Sharon Williams, Ingrid Christensen, Jan Chalupnicek, and Linda Wilder again. Check out their blogs/websites for some really great art.
Cheers!
I spent last week on Franchere Bay near Bonneville, Alberta. My two daughters and 4 of my grandchildren attended Moose Lake Gospel Family Camp there. It was a lovely week – just one rainy day. We had mainly sunny skies but it was cooler than normal except for Monday when I decided I had to paint “the honeymoon cabin”. This 7’x14’ log cabin was built by A.D. & Ruth Marshall in the early years – the first to be built on the current site. It was quickly dubbed “the honeymoon cabin” as A.D. and Ruth had been recently wed. Can you imagine being thankful – VERY thankful – for a 7’x14’ log cabin????? Puts our whining into perspective, doesn’t it?
The challenge with this painting was to get a “likeness” without painting all of the wonkiness in the structure as it has settled over the years. That wouldn’t be believable… I liked how the light was hitting the west wall and the roof mid afternoon and that’s what I tried to capture.
Any of you Moose Lakers out there – this painting is currently in the canteen at camp. A silent auction is underway this week to raise money for camp. Bid ‘er up boys and girls! It’s all for a good cause. The grins on the kids’ faces when they arrive at camp and the closeness one feels to God while there are two very good reasons for supporting Moose Lake Gospel Camp.
I vowed that I would paint plein air Thursday if the weather held. Well, it was touch and go. I decided on go… but I didn’t go too far. This is literally a “hop, skip and a jump” from my house. I live in the furthest most development in Calgary, Crestmont. The bottom of this painting runs along the western boundary fence for the city of Calgary. It’s about 400 yards from my house… but it’s quite a climb to get this view. Also, it’s a great week to paint a ranch as the Calgary Stampede is in full swing – YEEHAW!
I was intrigued by the fence/brush line on the right side of the painting so I made sure I included it. I love the color of Silverberry/Wolf Willow shrubs and they grow everywhere nearby – they can be small trees or just a tiny shoot. They add a great texture to our landscape.
The clouds were threatening but in the end I didn’t get soaked – although the folks to the north definitely did. During the course of my painting session the clouds were flying by at an incredible pace. I decided to sketch them in quickly and then do the land. However, by the time I had the land forms in I liked the shadow patterns that didn’t match my clouds – and so it goes. I changed the clouds… several times. This is pretty much how it felt out there today. I had to collapse my umbrella when the wind came up – some pretty serious gusts this afternoon. Despite that, I saw 5 light planes willing to take off from Springbank Airport this aft – unwise to say the least IMO.
I had some company even on the topmost road in Crestmont today. I’m beginning to enjoy stopping to chat with the passersby. That’s amazing to me because I was terrified of the “watchers” at the beginning of this process in May. They love looking at what I’m doing and are always kind. Cheers!
Lately my daughter Kim has been biking to work along some of the beautiful bike paths here in Calgary. There are over 1,000 kilometres of paved bike path within Calgary’s city limits. I enjoyed biking to work until I lost my balance, fell and broke a wrist back in 2004. The peace of the pathway before and after work was a wonderful contrast to pressured work days. Since then my health hasn’t allowed me to get back on my bike and I’ve come to terms with that – don’t need any more broken bones, that’s for sure! But last week I pulled my golf/art cart along a bike pathway in Tuscany and found this little view that pleased my eye. Enjoy!
There are so many scenes available to paint at Lloyd Park [SW of Calgary]. None are quite as tempting as this gnarly spruce tree which imposes itself in the foreground of many views. It’s an interesting contrast to all the horizontals in the rest of the land/lakescape. I struggled with the shapes in the background and although this was painted 90% on site last Saturday, I puttered a bit with it at home as well. I can see that it’s important not to overdo the studio putzing… the freshness needs to be retained. Looking forward to more plein air this weekend at Leighton Centre! Have a great day!
This little painting was also done at Big Hill Springs Provincial Park yesterday. After a morning of chatting with passersby at the main falls, I took a rest break and then set up in a more secluded spot. This little scene was so peaceful and calm. Relative to some of the views it was quite boring. However, sometimes “boring” is just restful… except we’ve lost our capacity to rest! The sound of the waterfall was peaceful in the morning so I didn’t want to go too far away from it. Consequently, I stood with a smaller waterfall spraying just a bit onto my left foot when I painted this scene. Refreshing indeed - plein air painting was made for such a day a this!
I just had to get out of this house today… packing and reorganizing seems to be the theme at our place right now. It’s been inspiring to reorganize my art room and find all kinds of ideas that I’ve jotted. All are now safely stored away in a much more organized fashion. My art accounts and invoices are also. Phew!
So, to reward myself for all that hard work I grabbed my gear and headed to the park on the ridge in the community of Tuscany. Set up is so fast with my BestBrella and my Alla Prima pochade box. I was looking west towards the Rockies and the clouds were rolling towards me. I expected rain before I finished so I was hustling to get started. That’s when I discovered that, although I remembered the all important mosquito repellant, I’d left my medium pots at home. No walnut oil nor thinner to help with paint control. Too late for that – I sketched in quick and grabbed my palette knives. Consequently, this painting is thick. I basically slathered the paint on with my knifes and used a bristle brush on most of the sky – it was amazing how fast those clouds were moving! But, the distinct line of dark was constant like this for a long time. It didn’t rain on me but it certainly was raining at Springbank Airport. Eventually the wind picked up enough that I had to collapse my umbrella but I kind of like this painting – LOVE painting with the knives [loved the sale at Curry’s too]!
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