Painting Life in Winnipeg: Plein-Air Painting in Winnipeg

I became very interested in plein-air painting after attending the Door County Plein-Air Festival in Door County Michigan. On that same trip, I purchased a Judson's painting box and tripod along with some oil paints. Last fall, I took an online plein-air painting course with a friend which was a great way to get introduced to painting plein-air and in oils. Homework was three to four sketches for the duration of the course which forced us to get out and get painting.

This winter, I registered for a plein-air painting course with Marc Hanson. The course is scheduled for this coming July on Madeline Island. I'm feeling the pressure of needing to get lots of plein-air painting practice in before going on this course. The course description said it was for intermediate to advanced plein-air painters and I'm still at the stage where I'm struggling with how to get my pochade box mounted on its tripod. I have also found a second person who is interested in plein-air painting and the really great thing is that she lives close by.

To date, I have gone out twice with my box and paints. The late start is due to the unseasonably cold weather that Winnipeg has received. My first outing was just my backyard. There's comfort in knowing that if you've forgotten something, you can quickly duck back inside to retrieve whatever you're missing. My subject for this painting was the bags of mulch lying near our apple tree. I wanted to take what might seem like a boring subject and see if I could make it interesting. I was particularly interested in the lovely lines of the still bare apple tree with the lights and darks on the branches.

The second outing was with my new plein-air painting partner Angela. We chose to go out last evening to Omand Creek. We had been there before with our sketchbooks so this was our second time to this location. The weather was absolutely perfect. The sun came out just for us and created those long shadows that we artists love. There was no wind to speak of and it was comfortable without a sweater or jacket. We weren't alone; there were a few people fishing in the creek. After we had been painting for awhile, an older woman stopped and spent a few minutes looking at Angela's painting. Based on the comments she was making, she had obviously done some painting herself. I guess I was just far enough away that she didn't come to look at what I was doing. It was a very successful evening and makes me look forward to going out again. I'm feeling relatively organized as I had spent a great deal of time adjusting an old backpack and making sure I had all the supplies I needed.

We will hopefully be out again early next week ... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get some good weather.