WEST TO EAST with a Paint Brush!

September 2008 was a wonderful, unique month for two Canadian Plein Air painting buddies. They managed to paint in both BC & Quebec during September.
In mid September, John Alexander Day (Ottawa based artist) joined BC artist Deborah Czernecky for a week in the Victoria area. It was a great week of painting on location for them!
Deborah recounts highlights of the trips in her usual entertaining manner:
Even the weather co-operated fully - the gloomy, gray blanket delayed its usual fall arrival!

In typical BC style, many wildlife sightings occurred including seals within 12 inches, Bald Eagles circling above, whale bones on the beach, painting (very observantly) under the flight path of Canadian Geese and White Swans, to mention just a few. Did you know that Canadian Geese poop 3 lbs of stuff daily? Under a different type of flight path, the duo were treated to a show by the Snow Birds Aerobatics Squadron while painting at Fisherman's wharf in the Inner Harbour.







It wasn't all fun and games! After hiking with painting gear through the Rain Forest for what seemed like eternity (to some) to find that unique, isolated West Coast Beach scene we were surprised to discover a road nearby, that would have made the 30 minute hike (according to
John's watch) a five minute drive. As one says, you're not a true islander until you drive the Pat Bay highway with the 450 cars that just got off the Super Ferry - all "rushing" to the same place. John was having a good painting day until then! However, all was well in the end, as he painted the setting sun over Esquimalt Lagoon later that evening.

At the end of Sept, both artists joined the Les Ensemble plein air painting group for five days of painting the Fall Colours in the Eastern Townships in Quebec. Deborah met up with John in Ottawa. With John's unique navigational skills, they sailed through Montreal (cell phone
capital of Canada, every car must come with a cell phone) and found Sutton in record time. Upon arrival, they found the Fall Colours at their peak and truly amazing. It was wonderful gathering every day with the other artists in the dining room. Morning coffees were barely drunk
before the maps were out and artists were charting their locations for the day and sharing information. Between the rolling hills looking into Vermont, the Sugar Shacks hidden behind the trees, morning fog and seeking permission to paint on various parcel of land it was another
successful painting trip. On the way back to Ottawa, it was great having John's IPhone, so Tim Hortons was never out of range!
Wrapping it up here .... "that's quite the backyard we have here in Canada!" pipes Deborah.
Deborah Czernecky and John Alexander Day are represented by Tay River Gallery, fine art gallery in Perth Ontario. View works on the website at www.tayrivergallery.com