FCA Calgary En Plein Air Workshop June 2016

This is my painting that I was working on in an en plein aire workshop (outdoors, on location) during the Calgary Federation of Canadian Artist en plein air June workshop. As we stood on the edge of a path along the river in Canmore Alberta, Terry Miura painted a demo explaining his shapes, colour choices and colour mixing, it was like watching magic happen. It was an overcast day with bit of sun coming through. We were all busy with our own paintings while Terry walked to each participant answering questions and making suggestions.

The day finished abruptly with a huge gust of wind that knocked my palette over and sent my painting tumbling away...no doubt it is a plein air painting with the extra dust, rocks and tumbling marks! With the heavy wind and rain just beginning we hastily packed up and ended the successful workshop. With mixed feelings it was the last workshop Tami and I are organizing for the Calgary Chapter of the FCA. I am looking forward to taking workshops with Caran and Sheila as the new organizers.

FCA Calgary En Plein Air Workshop June 2016

These two paintings were worked on in Canmore, AB during the Federation of Canadian Artists, Calgary Chapter En Plein Air workshop with Jerry Markham. We had overcast skies, rain, wind and a little bit of sun but a very enjoyable time was had by all! He even gave us a demo while we hid under trees to get out of the rain! Jerry is a fun, energetic and very knowledgeable instructor, meeting you where you were in your painting journey and skills. He bounced from participant to participant repeatedly helping, guiding and discussing the paintings in progress.

Canmore Plein Air Painting Day 3

The sky was clearer on the last day of plein air painting with Linda (seated) and Debbie at Middle Lake Kettle. My easel set up and painting in progress is on the left. Below is a view of what we are seeing, painting and our set ups.

My final painting. What a memorable and wonderful time I had (Thanks Debbie and Linda)!

10" x 8" Oil on canvas panel

Canmore Plein Air Painting Day 2

I was set up for my second morning of plein air painting in Canmore, Alberta across from a board walk in town. The sky was very smokey from forest fires and the light was continually changing. I am glad I put the mountain in the background as it was soon not visible. The light green in my painting were shadows in the water that disappeared with the smoke as well. I changed the water to the new non reflective colours that were more a view of the creek bottom.

This is the view of my afternoon painting in progress on my easel with Holly resting after another swim, Debbie to the right and Linda painting sitting in a chair. Again the smokey sky was still with us and was reflected in my finished painting below.

"Smokey Sky"

Oil on board 9" x 9"

The paintings and sketch above were done today. The paintings below are our sum total at the end of Day 2.

Canmore Alberta Plein Air Painting Day 1

I am painting on a bridge near Canmore Alberta. I had forgotten my backpack of art supplies so Debbie lent me what I needed until Linda brought my painting pack when she came. You can see Debbie's easel set up to my left. We found this perfect spot on a boardwalk bridge and happily painted and enjoyed Debbie's dog Holly, having fun in the water below. 

"Bridge View"

8" x 10" Oil on Board Plein Air

$100

"Three Sisters"

Debbie had the use of a friend's cabin in Canmore, Alberta and Linda and I joined Debbie for a plein air painting experience from Monday through Wednesday. Below is the view that we painted from the balcony of the Three Sisters mountain range. We left 4 of the paintings as a thank you gift for the wonderful stay.

 Above is a photo of my easel and set up on the deck with the under painting almost completed. The top of my easel is almost pointing to the middle sister. The completed painting is below on the bottom left. It was painted completely with a palette knife.

These are the combined paintings of this view done on the deck. The great thing about 3 different artists are the viewpoints and how we each see the shapes and colours differently as well as our painting styles.