Today was the first plein air outing with a group of fellow artists from the Manotick Art Association, led by well-known artist Charles Spratt. This was my first time painting plein air in oil and I was a bit nervous about it, but what a pleasure it was!
Charles had emailed the driving directions to a place called Oxford Mills, Ontario, about a 1/2 hour outside Ottawa, a couple of days before the excursion. We were to meet at 9:30am at the Maplewood Town Hall. So this morning I pulled together all the supplies I figured I would need and headed off with directions on my phone. Unfortunately I realized shortly into my trip that I forgot my sun hat, and it was 36 degrees Celsius today with the humidex. Doh! But there was no time to turn around, so I resolved to find a spot with shade to do my painting.
When I found my group of fellow artists, Charles took a few minutes to give some instructions and suggestions on where to find scenes to paint. He also mentioned that there were a lot of ticks in Oxford Mills. He wasn’t kidding. At least three ticks jumped on me while I was painting!
After Charles concluded his instructions, I got back in my car and drove around till something caught my eye. I didn’t have to go far before I spotted a beautiful old barn by a river. I wanted something simple to paint, this being my first time doing plein air, and only two hours to get it done, so this seemed like a good candidate. I knocked on the door of the home that was on the property to ask permission for me to set up in their field to paint the barn, and they were happy to oblige. What a beautiful little spot it was, with the birds chirping and a stream trickling along beside me.
The end result:
I’m pretty happy with how it came out, though I can see now that I made the windows too big. If I decide to make this a larger painting, I will be sure to correct that. That’s the beauty of paint studies; they allow you to work out the kinks ahead of time!
At noon all the artists headed back to our starting point at the Maplewood Town Hall to show each other what we had painted and chat about next Thursday’s plein air location in Manotick. These outings will go from June to September every Thursday, and I will be trying to do as many as I can, weather and work permitting.
Amanda Bennett Art 