I got my acrylic paints out last Monday, April 9th, and gave this willow another try on canvas.
Battle Scarred Too
09 Monday Apr 2012
Tag Archives: Plein Air
Battle Scarred
06 Friday Apr 2012
Posted in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Watercolour
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Back to Ojibway Park again. There is so much going on there. This old Willow has been hit by lightning definitely more than once, and maybe its even weathered a tornado or two. Although, it maybe ravaged by storms but it will not give up. There’s still life in the old limbs.
Three Bumps on a Log
02 Monday Apr 2012
Posted in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Watercolour
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I’ve got to catch up on my posting! So, Ojibway is the place I’ve been hanging out at lately. It was a gorgeous day this Monday. It was great to be painting with the group again. Margaret, Mary and Patrick all made it out. We are hoping for more next week. These three turtles had a lovely day basking in the sun on this log.
Birdhouse in a Hail Storm
30 Friday Mar 2012
Posted in Art, Plein Air, Watercolour
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Mary and I, suffer for our art at Ojibway Park.
Mary and I were chomping at the bit to get back to Plein Air painting, so we braved the bad weather forecast and headed to Ojibway Park. It was cold when we got there so we opted to hide out on the porch at the bird feeding station. It did block the wind, and it wasn’t long before it started to rain and hail! But, what surprised us the most was the number of different birds at the feeder in spite of, or maybe because of, the bad weather. I could have kicked myself because I forgot my camera. A partial list of birds at the feeder that day were: Blue Jays, Cardinals, Juncos, Black Capped Chickadee’s, White Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpeckers, Red bellied woodpeckers, and common sparrows. They were all there that day and I forgot my camera!! *cry*
March Break
19 Monday Mar 2012
Posted in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Watercolour
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With the wonderful early spring break in March many Windsorites are flocking to the riverfront parks to witness nature’s awakening. Three of our group managed to visit the beautiful river front Coventry gardens located at the foot of Pillette Road. .
However, the weather didn’t seem to know what to do. It was foggy all morning, but by noon it had warmed up, so we headed to the park. While we were in the midst of our painting, a sudden chill swept fog rolling into the Detroit river from Lake St. Clair. It was amaizing to watch this dark cloud roll towards us. It didn’t last long, but the gentleman that I was painting got a chill and moved to sit in front of this lovely tree. I think he was hoping it would block the chilly breeze. But, the cold and damp weather persisted, and chilled the bones.
This crazy early spring has everything all mixed up. The plants are not quite sure if they are supposed to bloom or not. I was hard pressed to find anything but crocus to paint. I do have a painting of crocus that I did yesterday, and I will post it soon.
By 3:00 we were cold enough to call it quits. But, getting into the car I found it sweltering. After the paint out I met up with 3 of my granddaughters and we headed for a walk along the river on the west end. By this time the chill had left, and we were peeling off our jackets, or wishing we were in shorts.
Reflection overload! Fruit en Plein Air
16 Friday Mar 2012
Posted in Art, Plein Air, Still Life, Still Life, Watercolour
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Spring has sprung, but the colours are just not out yet. So Margaret and I opted to bring some colour outside and paint fruit on a cake plate on the glass patio table. Reflection overload!
34th World Wide Sketch Crawl
21 Saturday Jan 2012
Posted in Art, Moleskine, Plein Air, Watercolour
34th World Wide Sketch Crawl., originally uploaded by photographerpainterprintmaker.Well, winter put a bit of a damper on my painting until today, that is. I signed up our Plein Air group to participate in the 34th World Wide Sketch Crawl. I’ve been wanting to get out and do some snow scenes. Finally the weather co-operated! I was the only one of the Windsor & Essex County Plein Air Society to make it out to sketch today. We were all to meet at the Tim Horton’s on Walker Road, by the Chrysler plant. But, it seems life threw the rest a curve ball. No worries, I’m sure they will make it out to the next event. If they don’t well I will definitely be sketching, even if I have to do it from the shelter of my van.
You would think living in Canada would guarantee snow. Well, trust me it doesn’t, especially when you live in the most southern point in the country. But today it was cold as heck. However, I did have my van to keep me warm while I painted the coach house at Willestead Manor, in Windsor, On. Canada. The thermometer in the van read 17°F or -8.33333333°C (to infinity and beyond). I do so like Fahrenheit so much better then Celsius. 17°F sounds so much warmer then -8.3333 °C (to infinity and beyond) ever will. I digress…
Even the van could not totally keep the cold away from my toes forever. So, I warmed up with a Tim Horton’s black coffee, and also celebrated what would have been my Dad’s 100th birthday. He was here in spirit. How do I know? He saved the last Oooey gooey good Boston Creme Doughnut for me, that’s why! You see, Boston Cream was his favorite. Sorry, the doughnut didn’t make it into the photo.
Now for a wee bit of a clarification on the image above. No, the roof is not falling off the Northern addition to the coach house. I think by the time I got to that side of the painting my brain was frozen. Also, (lame excuse for bad drawing number two) sitting in a van is not conducive to backing away from your work to check your progress. I usually stand when I paint, so this really sucketh rotten eggs. But, I show my mistakes as well as my successes, because I’m masochistic that way. Now, now please don’t tell me how wonderful this is. I know, when it sucks, K! Why is it you never notice these goof ups until AFTER you take the photo? Blarg! Oh.. I still had fun, and I will go out and do better next time!
Artspeak Holiday Show & Sale 2011
10 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Still Life, Watercolour
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Artspeak Holiday Show & Sale 2011, a set on Flickr.
Our local arts council opened their doors to their annual member’s Christmas Show and Sale. Each artist was allowed to hang 5 pieces that had not been shown in previous members show. Seeing that I’ve been a very busy beaver this summer it was no problem at all to find 5 pieces. These works were all created at special events from the summer. The trip we made up north to Wilberforce, Ontario. Our group was invited to two events at the John R. Park Homestead, and two of these pieces are from that event.
Read more about this event here.
Help! I’m Having Too Much FUN!
27 Thursday Oct 2011
Posted in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Sketch, Watercolour
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Art, cityscape, Landscape, Plein Air, Watercolor, Watercolour
What an incredible summer, and fall looks like it’s going to be great as well. I’ve been painting every week, and I tell you it feels very good. Invitations to demonstrate Plein Air Painting have come to us all summer. We were invited to participate in Explore the Shore, The Lost Arts, and the Migration Festival. We were rained out for Canada Culture Days which was a disappointment. Hopefully next year the weather will co-operate. Next week our city is having an all day cultural think tank for the arts. I’m going to post a few of my works from the summer, so you can catch up with my whirlwind life.
This is Killing Us
27 Thursday Oct 2011
Posted in Art, Landscape, Plein Air, Watercolour
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Art, cityscape, Drawing, Landscape, Opinions, Plein Air, Watercolor, Watercolour
An ominous red-brown cloud hovered over the area this day. Zug Island in Detroit, Michigan was spewing toxins into the air without care. The factories in that area send an incredible amount of pollution across the river into Windsor Ontario Canada. No-one seems to be able to stop this. I can find stats on almost all of the US and Canada on Cancer rates, but not Ontario. Why? On the maps that I did find, Michigan is among the worst for cancer rates. We are down wind of them, so if a conclusion can be drawn, I would think we would at least equal Detroit in environmentally induced cancers. We went to paint a lovely picture that day. I could not.
Elizabeth Gaye MacDonald 