Winter Sketching in my Car

When it's -21 degrees C. with some kind of wind chill and you still want to paint outside, you have no choice but to do it in your car.  I had it in my head that I wanted to do a couple of really great trees. There's a beautiful specimen tree right on Park Boulevard South which is particularly interesting in the winter time when you can see its skeletal form. I also have this thing about willows and wanted to go back to Beaumont Park to sketch the long row of willows that just happens to be right next door to my sister.

Now ... what to take to sketch? I decided on a BEE sketchbook that had black paper in it. I'm doing a pastel course on February 28 in Carmen and was looking for a good subject for a black painting for the group. I also brought along a tin of 5 or 6 Derwent sketching pencils that have really never been used. They had the usual lovely range of white, very dark, ochre and some reddish pencils. I also threw in a few oranges to red Derwent pencil crayons, thinking these were needed for the willows.

In both locations, I parked on the street where I had a clear view of my subject in front of me. In both cases, I was able to work for nearly 30 minutes; running the car for only a few minutes near the end. I worked without gloves. It helped that it was a bright, sunny day so there was some heat gain through the windows. This was so much fun! Making art really distracts you from feeling cold.

Working with soft, velvety pencils is very similar to working with soft pastels. I really enjoy making short, agitated strokes which is probably why I keep coming back to subjects that make good use of this type of mark making.

A beautiful tree on Park Boulevard South of Grant

My favorite stand of willows in Beaumont Park

Another Good Winter Painting Day

Today was another good day to be painting outdoors. It was just below 0 degrees with some wind; perhaps upwards of 30kmh. I had thought that it was going to be too windy but after being out for the morning, decided it was pleasant enough for painting.

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.

Assiniboine Forest - the view I selected to paint

A closeup of my STRADA box and painting

The painting as it stands after painting outdoors

Winter Painting

Winter Painting - January 20 and 23rd

We have had a much better winter in Winnipeg so far as compared to last winter. Through the xmas season and just the last few days, the weather has been unseasonably warm; hovering around 0 degrees.

I was scheduled to paint indoors today with a friend but due to a cancellation, I found myself wondering whether I should take advantage of the +4 degree temperature outside. I didn't have a car available so I decided to take my plein-air gear out in the backyard. I have a large berm in my backyard to shield us against the noise of the main CN line which runs right behind our house and yard. It gives  a great vantage point for the developing shopping, condo and restaurants going up behind our house.

In addition to the weather being great, I also have some new equipment. I have been painting using a Judson's pochade box which I enjoy using. To streamline the weight and size of my box, I ordered a new STRADA box in December. I had used it indoors 3 or 4 times but until this week, hadn't taken it out in the "field". The first session outdoors was at Assiniboine Park on Tuesday morning.
Today's session felt much more comfortable than the previous session on Tuesday. I believe that's due to the difference in temperature. It was at least 5 degrees warmer and above 0 which meant I could take my mitts off once and awhile to do things like the setup of my tripod/easel.  My toes still became cold today but still not as cold as the Tuesday session. I have not yet tried to stand on a mat; I've heard that that helps keep your feet warm.

Condo Construction - Friday morning




 

Today's subject was very appealing to me. It was of the condo development which is underway. You can see the condo off to the right with the green Hydro boxes in front. One of the cranes is suggested in the distance. I liked the bands of snow and grass which were in front of the condo construction. The sky looks a bit dark but this probably has a lot to do with the fact that I was painting on a very dark support; one of my many painted with Venetian red.  I had very few colors on my palette; white, transparent red oxide, burnt umber, ultramarine blue, and cad yellow.


Setup at Assiniboine Park - Tuesday afternoon

Assiniboine Park Duck Pond - Tuesday afternoon

A good view of my STRADA easel - Tuesday afternoon



Capturing the last fall color

When I saw what the temperatures were going to be this week, I called on my friend Diane to come plein-air painting with me. Today it was projected to be 20 degrees c. with no wind; a perfect day to paint. My goal for this painting session was just to paint the fall colors. Not having slept well, I didn't feel ambitious enough to drag out my oil box so watercolors and pastels came only.

After picking Diane up at 9:00am, we headed to St. Vital Park. We had hardly started down the road, when I spied an open reflection of the far river bank in the water. It was absolutely breathtaking because the water was like glass; reflecting the scene in its full color detail.

We went down to the bank and I did two watercolor sketches; one facing the trees behind with the sun coming through the trees and one facing the beautiful reflections in the water. It was a little chilly but I had dressed for it with my Costco down jacket and gloves. Only my big toe was cold. After approximately an hour and a half, we drove around to the duck pond which now has a beautiful new shelter which we had lunch in. Enjoying the warmth, we decided to stay inside and sketch a tree right outside the shelter.

This was a spectacular day and makes you wonder why anyone would want to paint in their studio!

Beautiful pattern of sun and shadows through trees

Diane sketching the above scene

Shirley about to paint what's behind her

Rather abstract pattern of light and shadow

My attempt to capture the glorious fall reflections

A particularly nice shaped tree 

Glorious Fall Painting in Headingley

Tuesday was a really warm and pleasant day. My first thought was to paint in Assiniboine Park; someplace close by. As I drove through the park, I just didn't see anything that really grabbed me. This is probably due to the familiarity of the park. New or less frequently seen locations really help to inspire. I got back out on Roblin and headed out to Headingley and right through the town until I hit the gravel road. There is some low wetland there but a fairly new posted NO TRESPASSING sign turned me off of stopping there so I headed back to the first intersection into Headlingley. Here, there was a small area to pull off onto and it was right beside a walking/cycling path that took you down past the old railway bridge.

I had intended to do a small pastel but decided to start slowly and do a watercolor sketch of the old bridge. Only once cyclist passed while I was working on this sketch; nice quiet location to paint. After finishing this sketch, I walked back to the car and hauled my rolling backpack out that contained my pastel painting gear. I set myself up in the shade beside the walking path and decided on a nice pair of trees right at the intersection with a stop sign.

I did the initial drawing with charcoal. I don't normally use charcoal but the trunks were quite dark so I decided it wouldn't be something I would have to work hard to cover. I really liked the composition of this little pastel. I've "zoomed" in close to take in only these two trees and there's the nice curve of the road on the left hand side. I also like the contrast of the fairly dark oak tree on the left with the brilliant gold tree.

This was a satisfying and very relaxing outing; probably due to the lack of traffic in the area and the absolutely gorgeous day. One thing I am finding increasingly frustrating is that unless you go to a park, it is hard to find a place to pull off and paint. It's not a good idea to park yourself on private property or on the side of the road so it really limits your options as to what you do. This makes it difficult to paint all those really scenes that I see as I drive down highways and roads.

Watercolor sketch of old rail bridge at Headingley

Pastel sketch of Headingley intersection

From St. Boniface to Transcona

It really is nice to think that you have a whole day in front of you when painting or sketching. The Charleswood Art Group was meeting at the St. Boniface Cathedral today.  I decided to start in this area and then head to Transcona to paint. I brought both my watercolor sketching and pastel painting art supplies.

Last year I had completed a nice little oil of the St. Boniface Cathedral so I was looking forward to again visiting this site. I had admired the St. Boniface Museum building last year and hadn't done anything with this so I decided to start there. There was a nice picnic table in front of the museum to set myself up on. This is a fairly large old wood building with a lovely center windowed porch and green wood shutters at every window. I chose to just sketch the front porch area.

My second subject was a view of hi-lited tombstones leading to the front of the St. Boniface cathedral. I didn't spend time with this subject so the cathedral itself is very loosely suggested. The rest of the gang decided to go for lunch and I decided I wanted to keep going. Just as I was leaving, the bells at the cathedral began ringing; announcing 12 o'clock noon.

My next and last stop was out to Transcona. After having a quick lunch at a Tim Horton's, I headed down Dugald road and right on the perimeter highway where I took the first right to an access road that winds around and goes past the cemetery. As I proceeded around the curve, I notice the field full of those lovely wild purple flowers in random mounds. There was a place to pull off the road which made it easy to stop and sit myself down on the grass to do a small pastel painting. I was running short of time as I had agreed to meet two daughters for a coffee so rather than set up my easel and travel adaptor, I held the small 5x7 Ampersand pastel board in my hand to paint. I had brought my Unison landscape set, my new Diane Townsend blue set and a few Unison dark pastels in another small box. I had a lot of fun doing this last little painting and think it would scale up well to a larger pastel painting.

It was a good day ... still wanting to get out and find a wonderful sunset!

Pastel of field in Transcona

Sketch of St. Boniface Museum

Tombstones in front of St. Boniface Cathedral

A Day at the Beach

Summer just isn't summer if you don't spend a day at the beach. I had wanted to get to the beach for some time now and finally this past Monday, it seemed to be the perfect day to go. I had two sketching ideas in mind; the obvious kind of sketching you would do on a beach and canola fields. I love the bright chartreuse green of canola fields.

Our first stop was Whytewold, where I was hoping to sketch the dock that's so beautiful with it's spindly supports.  Unfortunately, the water was high enough to cover a lot of the supports. Also, you can see that they have brought in chunks of rock to try and preserve the shore but they aren't at all natural looking. Also, there is no place to park right at this spot. Cottagers would hate me but I would rather see no one allowed to live directly on water and leave it open for everyone to enjoy the view.

After Whytewold, Winnipeg Beach was next on the itinerary. There weren't a lot of people on the beach but what caught my eye was the water tower which is on the south end of the beach. When sitting on the benches, the water tower was not in view so I plunked myself down on the sand and did a watercolor sketch of the tower. I really liked this view with it's strong diagonals of the beach and boardwalk set against the horizontals of the trees and their shadows and the narrow spit of land on the left.

Being almost close to lunch time, we headed for Gimli where we enjoyed fantastic battered pickerel and French fries ... just delicious. Following lunch, we set up our lawn chairs in the shade next to the beach where I had a view of people doing what people do at the beach. It's always hard to sketch people. The easiest ones to sketch are the ones that are sitting or lying down rather than standing. Sketching was followed by a little walk aound town to see what was new and to stop in the must stop spots like Tergeson's.

About 3:30pm, we left Gimli and as we started down the highway, it occurred to me that I hadn't been out on Willow Island for years and years. Bill had never been so I took us down the narrow peninsula known as Willow Island. It was just starting to spit a bit but I did stop and take some photos. I liked the marsh area on the south side of Willow Island where people docked their boats. This was the most inspiring material I gathered on this little trip and resulted in a pastel painting of the scene which I show below in a nearly finished state. On Willow Island, again I was struck by the difficulty in getting to the shore on the north side as it was built up with cottage/home after home lined along the shore.

As we continued home down number 9 highway, I'm still on the lookout for a chance to get in those canola fields. When I was almost to Petersfield, there it was ... the perfect canola field, fringed with lovely Manitoba ditches full of a variety of grasses and weeds full of colors and textures. From the car, I did a quick watercolor sketch. This will probably be done up in oil on the same size board.

A very successful and enjoyable painting expedition!

Willow Island Marsh done in pastel on black

Sketching a the beach at Gimli

Canola fields near Petersfield

Painting in Saskatoon

Although the name of this blog is "painting life in Winnipeg", I am very interested in going further afield to paint outdoors. When a family wedding came up that was being held in Edmonton, I suggested to my husband that we make a small vacation out of it. Our plan was to get out to Edmonton quickly and take a little time on the way back to sketch and paint. On the drive out, we encountered amazing scenery along the North Saskatchewan river just west of Saskatoon. The days were bright with beautiful clouds in the sky ... remember I said I was going to paint on the way home. Unfortunately for me, the weather was not quite the same on the return trip but we did spend two mornings at Cranberry Flats south of Saskatoon thanks to a tip from a friend who lived many years in Saskatoon.

Cranberry Flats was named so due to the presence of high bush cranberries. It is situated on the South Saskatchewan river. The first morning we went there it was extremely windy and I had to clamp down my sketch pad just to doing some sketching. The meandering river with its sand bars was a great subject as well as a nice hill with a sandy path winding its way down. I particularly like the local vegetation which consisted of a lot of wolf willow and junipers that crawled over the ground and prevented erosion of the very sandy soil.

The second morning we took our paints with us; I took oil and pastel and Bill took acrylics. The weather was perfect and we set ourselves up on the scenic overlook over the river. I mostly completed an oil study on an 8x10 Judson's carton board and a small 5x7 pastel painting on Ampersand pastel board.  One of the highlights was a squirrel that enjoyed hanging around us and even came right up on Bill's shoes.  A perfect day of painting!

One of the things I learned from this trip is that it is very hard to find time to paint. There is always something else to do; driving, eating, shopping, etc, etc. It is also hard to find a good spot to paint if you are driving on the main highways. For future trips I will have to consider this carefully if I want to get some serious painting time in.

This particular painting trip also was a test of some new gear that I bought. The day before I left on this road trip, my parcel came from Sun Eden with my new travel adaptor. I bought this specifically for plein-air painting and it worked really well. One of the photos shows an ampersand pastel board set up on the adaptor. This will mean I have a very lightweight setup to do plein-air pastel painting. I also worked with the Ampersand pastel board which I think is fantastic. It's a nice rigid surface and takes layers and layers of pastel beautifully. I also found that you don't get a lot of dust falling which is great when you're on the road and might want to consider working in your hotel room for example. I think I may have to invest in some more of these boards.

In addition to the painting at Cranberry flats, I got some sketching done in Edmonton and on the road to Saskatoon. I have also posted some photos below to support the sketches and paintings I did.

country road west of Saskatoon

Getting a quick sketch in of the scene above

Cranberry Flats, south of Saskatoon

Note the squirrel at my husband's feet!

Nearly complete sketch of Wilson Is, Cranberry Flats SK

Set up to start small pastel study of same scene

Cow sketches done at the University of Saskatchewan

West of Saskatoon - sketch of country road

Sketch of Janzen Nature Centre in Edmonton

Ink Sketch of Janzen Nature Centre in Edmonton

First time out this spring

Like many places in Canada and the States, we have had an unusually long and bitterly cold winter. The leaves are now just finally coming out on the trees which is a particularly magical time of year. There's something special about that moment when the branches of the trees are still visible but are now cloaked in a haze of bright yellow green.

Diane and I met at her place out near Birds Hill and upon seeing the stand of trees which included one particularly nice treeing that was leafing out, we agreed that there was no reason to look elsewhere. After setting up our easels, we started by having a coffee and a fresh baked muffin.

It was nice to see that after several months of not touching my oils, I still managed to remember to bring along all that I needed. I do have a list which I keep in my bag to double-check that I haven't forgotten anything important. I did read recently about one painter's experience of dealing with not having any white paint with him. He substituted silver and had some unexpectedly good results. It just goes to show you that we are good at improvising and we can always make something work. It also helps to paint with a buddy so that you can borrow what you haven't remembered to bring.

Before tackling our subject, I made a sketch of the scene; making notations about colors or lighting details that were important if the light shifted too dramatically before we finished. I worked on a panel support that was prepared with a venetian red acrylic gesso. This is rather strong for a spring scene but I was still happy with the result. I worked very patiently and slowly, taking care that I had mixed the right color and value that I wanted. I also used a new Italian palette knife which worked very well. It was a much better size for the scale of painting I do outside and very flexible. It also saved me from mucking up my brushes with paint because of using them to mix paint rather than a knife. I think I am getting smarter about painting and am relying more on my observations.

After lunch we moved indoors as the temperature was around 30 degrees C. When I left to go home, it poured rain making it difficult to drive the first kilometer or so. The first set of lights were also blinking red due to the moisture causing a huge backup of traffic but it didn't spoil my good mood having had such an enjoyable painting day with Diane.


Might use as a study for a larger studio painting

Diane's backyard view - beautiful!

 

 

The first winter paint-out

Weather: Although it was overcast, the sun was out as a hazy orb and the temperatures were about -2C.

On Monday just after lunch, I left the church where the Charleswood Art Group meets. The weather was absolutely beautiful outside. No wind and the sky was bright blue and sunny. What a perfect day to be out painting and I was inside instead. That afternoon I emailed one of my painting buddies Angela and suggested we go out on Tuesday as this was supposed to be the best day this week temperature wise with a high of 2C.

We headed out to Assiniboine Forest and got set up around 9:30am. We set up at the junction of a few different walking paths that you soon realize are equally busy in the winter time with people out walking their mostly large dogs.

I chose one pathway looking into the sun. I liked the haziness of the still visible sun in the sky above the forest. Angela chose a different path view with lots of leaning trees. We worked for approximately an hour and found that we were dressed well enough except for our boots and mitts. Next time I will wear my big Sorel boots and my new down gloves with some rubber gloves over top. The new hat that I bought at Cabela's was absolutely perfect. It kept my whole head warm.

This first time out during "winter" was for me as much a test about the problems I'm going to face if we continue to paint throughout the winter. The obvious problem of wearing the right clothing is problem number one. I had thought that I needed gloves but Angela wore mitts which I think will work equally well if not better. This is because painters generally don't hold a brush like a pencil which means you don't really need great dexterity for the actual painting. Of course, you do need some dexterity for setting up your box/easel, squeezing out paint tubes if you haven't done this beforehand and other little tasks.  I still intend to try my new downfilled gloves with the appropriately sized rubber gloves over top. I don't intend to muck up my expensive gloves if I can help it!

I recorded the temperature at the start of this post as this is important information to have so we can gauge just how low the temperature and wind-chill gets before we just can't work this way outside. Of course there are other ways to paint the outdoors without painting outside which I would like to explore; one of them being to paint in your car. Liz Haywood-Sullivan, the pastel artist I studied with this fall, let us know that she has a few new DVDs out; one of them on painting in inclement weather. She mentioned that you can go out for 10 minutes and do a quick sketch/value study, take some color notes and then go home and do your painting in the studio. I am waiting and watching for the release of this video.

Until next time and I do hope there is a next time!

Angela taking a photo of her view

My setup and view

My new warm hat



My finished painting

Painting Manitoba Sunflowers

Who doesn't love sunflowers.  One of my plein-air painting friends met a farmer just the week previous who had sunflowers and was willing to have us on the property to paint. It was meant to be! We decided to do an evening session so we left Winnipeg at 6:00pm and headed out to a farm just past the perimeter highway on number six highway. This was a very large, well kept farm and the sunflowers were gorgeous and at their prime. It was hard to decide just what view to paint ... should we paint individual flowers or try to capture a portion of the field. Angela settled on doing a "portrait" of the sunflowers while I took a longer view.

I did my painting on a piece of Arches oil paper and toned the paper first with a mixture of colors on my palette leftover from a previous painting session. Angela chose to do her painting on a textured ground and used a palette knife. We worked for about an hour and a half when we started to feel a few drops of rain. We packed up and went back to thank Bruce for allowing us to paint his field. He suggested that we might want to look out back which we decided to do. By this time, the sun was a brilliant orange red ball of fire that had almost set. A very large piece of farm equipment was silloutted against the sky with the backdrop being the sunflower field. We both agreed that we had to come out again to paint these sunflowers. We both took photos but they just don't do justice to the incredible sky we had on the way home. Thankyou very much to Bruce and we hope to have the opportunity to paint again at your farm.

Sunflowers painted with oils on Arches oil paper

 

How many times can you get lost?

I'm a little slow at posting about our most recent plein-air adventure. Diane and I went out together this past holiday Monday. It was one of those really glorious days where the sun is shining but it wasn't too hot. Also, most importantly, it wasn't windy. Wind can cause real problems with tripods, easels and canvases.

The first part of my journey was to get to Diane's house. I put the address into my GPS and soon figured out somewhere off of Bishop Grandin, that I was not heading to her house. I called on my cell phone and got directions. That's "getting lost" number one. Once I arrived at Diane's house, we set out looking for a prairie crop scene. As we were heading down the highway along the Red River floodway, I noticed all these nice round bales and a piece of farm equipment. Fortunately, there was a nice access road right beside us so we turned onto it and went back towards the view we had seen. It was just a perfect painting; a beautifully shaped lone tree in a field with a nice red combine sitting on the hill. There were just a few grey wisps of clouds close to the horizon. We set up right behind the car which makes it much easier when you don't have to haul your gear too far away. After painting a few hours, my stomach was telling me that it was time for a break. I hadn't brought lunch but gratefully Diane shared her lunch with me.

We both had the whole day free so we decided to head to Pineridge Hollow. On our way we got confused about which way to go which is getting lost number two. Once we got to Pineridge, Diane requested permission to paint on their grounds. We chose to set up in front of a large white tent canopy with a nice background of flowers. We were out of the way of the main path so not too many people stopped by to see what we were doing. Following completion of our second paintings for the day, we took a well deserved break by having coffee and sharing a cinnamon bun in the restaurant. What a nice way to end a very productive and wonderful day.

Getting lost number three happened when we left Pineridge ... neither one of us could remember which direction to turn. After getting turned around and headed in the right direction, I dropped Diane off at home. Do you think I could remember how to get out of her condo complex? No, I headed the wrong direction and took a big loop around which makes it four times that I got lost in one day. I'm really pretty useless without my GPS when I'm in unknown territory.

Diane and I agreed that we must do this again so the plan is to go out another time this week.

Harvest time near Birds Hill

 

 

Wedding tent at Pineridge Hollow

Painting away from Winnipeg on Madeline Island

It has been a long time since I posted in this blog. Of course I have all kinds of reasons such as one of my plein-air painting friends is away all summer, helping my father move, blah, blah, blah. My most recent excuse which is the reason for this post is that I went to a painting workshop on Madeline Island, Wisconsin. The course was entitled "From Field to Studio" with artist Marc Hanson. The medium was oil or pastel. I made the decision to work in oil but took my pastels along just in case I wanted to try using them.

I had not been to Madeline Island before but had heard good things about it. I was not disappointed. I liked everything about Madeline Island. I enjoyed the relative quiet and remoteness of the place and the small size which made it easy to get around to different places. The Madeline Island School of Art was a beautiful facility and Marc Hanson was a good instructor. My husband came with me and we chose to stay in one of the school cottages and to have the meal plan which included breakfast, lunch and snacks each day.

The objective of the course was to venture out for the first two days and paint small field studies. On the third day, we were to take the field study which interested us the most and do a larger mid-size painting. The last two studio days were to be used to work on a large painting based on our small and mid-size study/painting. The very first day we started by doing field studies using only black and white to focus on value studies.

One of the measures of how successful a course is for me is whether I was able to complete the work that the instructor requests of the group. I'm happy to say that I did complete the work required in the course and went a little beyond on the last day by painting with one of the other participants after the formal end of the course. Marc saw us painting and said he gave us A+. Yes ... who doesn't like to get A+! The other personal successes were that I did tackle a large painting, 22 x 28 inches and also did a pastel study of another compelling scene I found downtown. Besides this experience, the most fun I had painting was downtown LaPointe.  While painting on the main street, I had several people drop by to see what I was doing. I particularly enjoyed a visit with Vanessa, a young girl who was spending the summer on Madeline Island.

Below are several photos of scenes from my time on Madeline Island and the paintings that I did.

Pastel study

Old Town Park Oil Painting 22x28 - started but not finished

Oil study painted in downtown LaPointe

Quick oil study done in Old Town Park

Oil study of Madeline Island School cottages and red umbrella

Oil study of red umbrella and meadow on Madeline School property

Marc Hanson doing demo in Old Town Park

Madeline Island School of Art - Barn studio building

Talking to Vanessa while painting downtown

An afternoon of painting bliss