Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lavender Festival

29 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by in Art, Event, Landscape, Landscape, Oil, Oil painting, Plein Air, Uncategorized

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The Lavender Festival was a two day event.  Our group was supposed to paint on location in the lavender beds on Saturday, but mother nature decided to dump torrential rains on us once again.  Will it ever end?!  I know California could really use some of this rain.  Fortunately, Sunday was a much better day.  It was a bit windy, but their were bright fluffy clouds, and beautiful sun.

Serentity Now! 9 x 12 Oil on Ampersand Gessobord $350 framed

 

Pelee Island Plein Air with Friends

27 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by in Art, Botony, Flowers, Hike, Landscape, Landscape, Nikon D90, Oil, Oil painting, Photography, Plein Air, Portrait, sunset, Uncategorized, ViewNX

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It was my first trip to Pelee Island, Canada’s most southern Post. I am so blessed to have good friends. My Plein Air group the Windsor & Essex County Plein Air Artists is chock full of wonderful people.  I could not be more grateful.  One of our members and incredible artist Vera Graham, invited the group to spend the night at her cottage.  Two of us, Kathy Hudak and I, were able to take advantage of her generous offer. 

A large backhoe barely fits in the Jiimaan hold.

A large backhoe barely fits in the Jiimaan hold.

It was an early day Monday.  We had to be at the Leamington dock by 9:00 to board the Jiimaan Ferry to the island.  It’s amazing what this vessel holds!  A huge backhoe on a trailer bed, large trucks, a garbage truck, a cherry picker lift, and many other smaller vehicles. 

 

 

Life jackets ... check Life boat ... check

Life jackets … check
Life boat … check

It was a full and heavy load.  The ferry listed on the Port side from the incredible weight of the trucks.  I’m sure she was never in any danger of capsizing, but I was very grateful for calm seas.    Just to be sure I made note of the life jackets and lifeboat locations! 

 

 

 

Bon Voyage!

Bon Voyage!

Once we’ve boarded we headed up to the deck to watch the boat leave the harbour.

The one and a half hour cruse was pleasant.  The brisk breeze was refreshing.   I could hardly contain my joyous anticipation of what the two days ahead would hold for us.

 

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OOps!  We got into a bit of trouble.  We walked down a set of stairs into a restricted area.  Well they didn’t have any signs, and the steps were not roped off!  How were we supposed to know?  The equipment was just so COOL!

OOps! Ship's hand chased us out of here, but not before I got this great photo of a huge winch. They need better signage!

OOps! Ship’s hand chased us out of here, but not before I got this great photo of a huge winch. They need better signage!

We reach the Island docks.

We reach the Island docks.

First order of business snacks! Chips, salsa and Pelee Island WINE!

Relaxing on the beach.

Relaxing on the beach.

Then off to paint.

Vera’s Refuge 8 x 10 Oil on Ampersand Gessobord $275.
Painting Vera’s Refuge on the East Beach, storm incoming

 

The rest of our 2 day painting holiday was filled with a great beach bonfire, nighttime thunder storms, hiking on the beach, hiking in the woods, sack lunch at the winery, snacks at the cottage,  and good friends.

Chairs positioned to catch the last rays of the day.

Chairs positioned to catch the last rays of the day.

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Monday’s sunset is an incredible light show.

Monday’s sunset is an incredible light show – looking west
Monday’s sunset is an incredible light show – looking east
No trip to the cottage is complete without a good campfire. One on the beach is the best!

No trip to the cottage is complete without a good campfire. One on the beach is the best!

 

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Tuesday’s tour of the island saw that Monday night’s storms flooded much of the farmland.

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A walk through the forest at the south west end of the island.

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The southern most tip of Canada, which is the south west tip of Pelee Island.

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The harbour lights signal we are home again.

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DSC_9600A beautiful end to a wonderful 2 days.  Sunset on the north shore of Lake Erie.

Monday, June 16 Painting Peche Island

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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Peche Island, Detroit River

Peche Island, Detroit River. Plein air painting 8 x 8 oil on stretched canvas.

Peche Island is located at the entrance of the Detroit River.  Monday was a lovely day.  There was rain in the forecast, but I was delighted that the weather network was way off on their predictions.  The day was sunny, warm with a bit of a breeze.  Some of my group had difficulty hanging onto their paintings, but I had no issues at all with my new Sienna all in one Pochade Box.  I have mixed feelings about my new box.  There are some great features, but a few drawbacks.

Positives:

  • The price is great!
  • There is a lot of room to carry paints and brushes.
  • It’s well built.
  • It stores 2 wet paintings in the base.
  • It can be attached to a tripod.
  • It has a brush holder station that sits on the side of the open box
  • It has a large easy to clean wooden pallet that slides out to the right.
  • It has a suitcase type carry handle that doubles as a towel holder.

Negatives:

  • It weighs 10 lbs empty, add your supplies and it gets worse.
  • Because of the weight it requires a very sturdy tripod.
  • The tripod head must not be a ball type.
  • The tripod head should secure with a screw rather than a spring load.
  • The towel holder is useless and falls off.

I had to buy a new tripod to hold the box because of the weight. I thought I found the perfect tripod on ebay, but when I attached the box, the head could not hold the weight of the box at all.  Lucky though the head could be removed and I purchased a new head that ended up working out just fine.

Sienna All in One Pochade Box

Sienna All in One Pochade Box

 

The True Morels vs the False Morels

21 Wednesday May 2014

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It’s spring again and we are hearing a lot about the morel season. This is one of my most popular posts. I hope you enjoy it. All photo’s are my own.

Elizabeth Gaye MacDonald Original Art

Ascomycetes – Morchella – The true Morels vs the False Morels


If I told you where these were,  I would have to shoot you! They are a spring mushroom, and highly prized. We also encountered some false Morels, which are poison. I’m grateful that I have my Dad’s mushroom books to help me identify them.

Morchella The True Morels

Gyromitra, Helvella, and Related Species of the False Morels

Gyromitra, Helvella, and Related Species of the False Morels

Gromitra Brunnea Underwood

Cap large 5-15 cm broad, often saddled-shaped, lobed, often veined, chocolate-brown, white beneath, Flesh brittle, white. Stalk large, 16 – 15 cm long, 2-5 cm broad, Slightly larger base, somewhat ribbed to smooth, white, nearly hollow to cottony inside. Spores 28 – 30 x 12 – 15 elliptical, finely warted.
Single or several under hardwood forests in eastern North America in early Sp. Causes severe illness from high levels of MMH. (Group V toxins). G. fastigiata (Krombh.) Rehm (394B) is similar but looks…

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Privacy and Internet Invasive Widgets

25 Tuesday May 2010

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Lately I’ve seen some of my dear friends using an application that tracks their visitors. The problem with this is that whoever has provided the software is also tracking your visitors. I know that our every move is tracked anyway, but actually seeing my city on your page, and where I got your link from is a bit disturbing. I hope that my visitors will see this and abandon these practices on their pages.
Elizabeth

Doodle in Stormy Weather

05 Wednesday May 2010

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No it’s not Sunday, and while this is a photo, the subject is not photography.

So, we had a thunderstorm today. I usually shut down all electrical equipment when this happens. Then face the silence. Well all except for the booming.

I played with the puppy a bit. Mainly so show him that thunder storms didn’t bother me, and that they should not bother him. So far so good, he’s not afraid. Which is amazing as for some reason all of my dogs in the past have tried to go through windows to get away from storms. But, then Pugsley is no ordinary dog.

Anyway, in the process of unplugging stuff I happened upon this old pad of paper, which gave me the inspiration to draw something. I hate drawing ellipses. Heck, I can’t even say ellipses! So attacking something like a pop can to me is a real challenge. I didn’t do such a great job on this can lid, but I’m going to keep practicing till I can not only draw and ellipse but pronounce it too!

I think what I really enjoyed about this little drawing was the shadow cast by multiple light sources.