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Monday, October 15, 2007

Grand Manan Island

Back in September, I led a painting workshop on Grand Manan Island, the "Queen of the Fundy Isles." My group stayed on Ingalls Head, near the center of the island, where we had easy access to a number of excellent painting spots. If you haven't been to Grand Manan, it's an island bigger than Campobello and farther removed from the mainland. In fact, it's a 90-minute ferry ride. But once you're there, there's no end of painting! We had bold cliffs, historic fishing villages, lighthouses -- everything you'd come to expect in the Canadian Maritimes. (See some photos here.)

The workshop week was modelled on my Campobello Island workshop. That is, it consisted of five half-days. If you're not familiar with my Campobello workshops, briefly, you learn in the morning with the group and then have the rest of the day free to explore or paint on your own. Since I was removed from my normal environment, I found myself with idle time in the evenings. So, I instituted an evening event -- an optional, "paint-along" session without instruction, to which everyone was invited. All seemed to really enjoy these bonus sessions! I did, too, since we were able to witness and capture some beautiful evening light.

My paintings are finally dry, and I've scanned them in. Here are five of them, all 9x12s, oil on panel. (By the way, they are also for sale. If you're interested, please drop me a line.) You can click on the thumbnails for larger images.

I'll be doing this workshop again next year, June 15-20. Please go here for more information.

Tomorrow, I'm off to Sedona, Arizona, for the 2007 Sedona Plein Air Festival. Thirty artists from across the US and Canada have been invited to this prestigious event. I'm just as excited as last year, because I'll get to paint some spectacular scenery and work beside top-notch artists such as William Scott Jennings, Jeanette LeGrue, John Poon and others. Stay tuned!

"North Head Wharf"
"Seal Cove Fish Houses"
"Southern Head"
"Southern Head Cove, Fog"
"Swallowtail Light, Evening"