Les Éboulements, Qc

For many years, usually the first or second week of April a group of plein air painters make their way to Auberge de Nos Aïeux. Some like the comradeship of a group outing while others do their own thing. In the evening after supper the comments start:  Water is deep, here we climb over snow banks or wow you nailed it. Yes, we need to get in touch with nature.

Allison Robichaud makes the pilgrimage to Les Éboulements every year. This year he brings with him his most recent book, titled  Plein Air Painting by a Plein Air Master. It is a great read, loaded with helpful hints, advice and stories. He sells the book at cost : 25$  delivered by post. Here is his email,  robisnow at ebtech.net   Below are a few images of Allison paintings completed this spring. The snow was plentiful, the fog heavy and the wind bone chilling.

This spring I went to paint at the local church, the big one on the hill not the small sailor’s church at the edge of the river in St-Joseph- de- la Rive. The church yard is empty and lots of space to park and I get out of the cold blowing wind. In the past an elderly lady comes to chat with me but not this year. She tells me about the theft of doves and angels from the tombstones. Then we talk about all the young children buried here. As she says, it only in recent times that we have our children for life. I feel melancholy and start to paint the Angel with the missing leg.

Linda Denis, Cast Iron Angel Tombstone, oil, 2014