I decided to park my car on an access road on West Taylor which butts right into Assiniboine Forest. My plein-air gear fits nicely into an Oakley backpack that I had bought just for this purpose. It was a short walk across Shaftesbury into the forest. I decided to not go far down the path as occasionally people will treat the forest as an off leash dog park which is not good for setting up an easel. I tried this last winter and found my tripod/easel seemed to be a magnet for dogs. I found a spot just off the path that didn't have a lot of snow on it and set myself up. I had a nice view of a larger tree with bands of grasses and clumps of grass poking up through the snow.
I had a 1/2 inch canvas which didn't work well on my new STRADA easel. It was really designed to hold boards rather than stretched canvas. Fortunately, I had a few clamps in my bag which I used to secure the canvas. I started with a very turpy wash of color; a little too wet as I had trouble trying to put more paint down. I did like the texture it created in places however. This was a little bit larger canvas which I was glad I had taken. It is difficult to work on too small a piece especially when you're trying to manhandle brushes with big mitts on.
There weren't a lot of people out in the forest today but one runner stopped to talk to me. She said she does do some painting outdoors; but not in the winter time. She does take her paints out on the water in her canoe. I should have asked her if she was interested in going out sometime since she probably lives in my neighborhood or not too far away.
I was happy with this quick painting. I think I will try and do just a bit more work on it in my studio. The grasses seem to need some more definition.
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| Assiniboine Forest - the view I selected to paint |
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| A closeup of my STRADA box and painting |
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| The painting as it stands after painting outdoors |
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