Monday Sketchout at Anita's Place

Last Monday was a hot and sunny day which was perfect for sketching and painting in Anita's backyard. Anita had timed our visit for the opening of her white poppies. Of course I remembered how wonderful her homemade soup and bread was from a previous visit so I looked forward to it again. She didn't disappoint ... she had a wonderful, perfectly spiced sausage chowder. Homemade bread accompanied it and cheesecake made by Ruth finished off our delicious lunch.

The group that came out this Monday included Analee, Sylvia, Jim, Ruth, Anita, Luanne, Bernice and myself (Shirley). I find as some others in the group that it's fun to do portraits of people painting ... it's a nice change from doing flowers or other garden subjects. Luanne as a subject never disappoints as she always wears a really colorful top. Nice day in Anita's garden!

Luanne - Wonderful bright top

Jim - Hats are interesting

Like the simplicity of the chair shapes and shadows

Anita's poppies

The Charleswood Gang

Just needed a little white pencil crayon

St. Boniface Cathedral

Today started out as one of those glorious beautiful days. The sun was shining with a slight breeze. Charleswood Art Group members were to meet at the St. Boniface Cathedral for 10:00am. I wanted to work with my oil paints today so I arrived earlier and was set up to paint for 9:00am. Today I brought along a piece of Arches oil paper to try. The old façade of the cathedral that remains is a stunning piece of architecture. It has a large circular opening in the upper part through which the blue sky was visible. The whole cathedral façade is too large a subject so I chose to focus on the doorway openings. The copper roofing of the newer structure was visible through the doorways and slashes of light were hi-lighting the steps. What was interesting to me also was that the façade circular opening showed up on the front lawn as an elliptical hi-light. I really enjoyed my painting time today. After 10:00am a few different student and tourist groups came to the cathedral for a tour. A few dropped by to see what I was painting.

Besides myself, Ruth, Anita and Ginette came out today. They chose to start with watercolor sketches of the Human Rights Museum and some later sketches of the cathedral façade. After sketching/painting, the plan was to have lunch at Chez Sophie. Unfortunately ... just call me stupid while packing her art supplies in the trunk, locked her keys inside. I had to sit and wait an hour for CAA to get me into my car so I could retrieve my keys. Because of this, I also didn't get photos of anyone else's sketches. I hope the rest of the group enjoyed their lunch!

Learning Lesson of the day: Always make sure you have your hands on your car keys or at least make sure you put them away. At least I had my phone with me to call CAA.

St. Boniface Cathedral

Fort Whyte - A day to draw boats

The plan was for the Charleswood Group of sketchers to meet at 10:00am at Fort Whyte. Angela and I were going to meet earlier with our usual oil painting gear. We decided to postpone the plein-air oil painting until tomorrow in hopes of better weather. I made the last minute decision to head out to Fort Whyte with my smaller sketching/watercolor bag just in case some Charleswood members showed up. At the very least, I could get a cup of coffee.

I was only at the center for a few minutes when Ginette found me. I was very happy to find her and together we walked outside the center to find a spot to sketch. The woman at the desk said it was OK to just go outside without paying if we weren't hitting the trails. We walked down to the area where the sailboats are docked. Two women were there and when we told them what we were going to do, they offered us a couple of lawnchairs. Mine had a cup holder which meant I had room for my takeout coffee.

This morning was going to be about learning to sketch boats. In our part of the world we don't often get the opportunity to draw boats and they are very challenging to draw! We weren't there for too long before a group of high school students from Vincent Massey came for an outing in the sailboats. This was great as it gave us some additional sketching opportunities. We were very comfortable in our "matching" bluejean jackets and weren't bothered by the warming and cooling of the air as the sun couldn't make its mind up whether to stay in or out. This was a lot of fun this morning and the lessons learned today are: Don't always wait for "fair weather" to paint and Just pick a spot and you will always find lots to paint. This was a good day and thankyou to Ginette for coming out and keeping me company.

A sketch from Sunday outing at the Forks

First sketch of sailboat

Vincent Massey girls waiting for their turn to sail

Preparing to launch

Final boat sketch - Lund boat and sailboats docked

 

Charleswood Art Group at Leo Mol Garden

The weather was perfect today ... not too hot; just nicely temperate with the sun shining. The tulips are out in full bloom in the Leo Mol Garden at Assiniboine Park. I arrived for 9:00am and set myself up in front of a scene where large lilacs framed a Leo Mol statue. This was particularly appealing because at this hour the trees were backlit.

Four other Charleswood members arrived at 10:00am and I departed for an appointment. Arrangements were made to meet for lunch at the Qualico Family Center. There were five of us for lunch at the Qualico center. Over lunch, other locations for sketching were discussed. It was agreed that the next two outings respectively would be Fort Whyte and Market Square. Let us keep our fingers crossed for good weather the next two Mondays.

Getting started ....

Statue and Lilacs by Luanne

Tulip sketch by Roberta

Another sketch by Roberta

Backlit statue and lilacs by Shirley