Linda Denis

We still have COVID in our community but restrictions for a mask are now almost null expect for hospitals and medical clinic here in Quebec

I recently took on the challenge of 30 direct watercolour in 30 days under the direction of Uma Kelkar and Marc Taro Holmes. Not all watercolours were successful so often I did not post but the benefits were there. When weather permitted I painted outdoors directly from the environment but tornado warnings and frequent downpours put me at the kitchen table or protected porch.
Nearby we have a large quarry with high cliffs providing a superb lookout towards the village of Wakefield, the Gatineau River and eastern shoreline. My best find was the turtle pond next to the River. It provided many sketches and watercolour paintings as I became acquainted with the marsh filled with cattails, blue irises, red winged black birds, algae, frogs and toads.

Another successful plein air in Charlevoix organized by artist John Vazalinskas. We stayed at the Auberge Cap-aux-Corbeaux, 62 rue de Nordet, Baie-Saint-Paul, Qc for 5 days. The propriétaires are a young couple originally from France, fluently bilingual.
Info@cap-aux-corbeaux.com or  418 435 5676

Who are we.
John Vazalinskas, Helmut Langeder,  Marc Holmes, Laurel Holmes, Dany Bouchard, David Kelavey, Angela Macleod, François Lacas, Linda Denis

Marc and David at the Grands-Jardins photo by Laurel Holmes

Where do we paint or photograph. If you are adventurous Grands-Jardins National Park, Tadoussac, Port-au-Persil is a full day with travel from the Auberge. But nearby the local village churches give good value with their panoramic views and safe parking. One of my first visit is the Presbytère des Éboulements and within 5 minutes Saint-Joseph-de-La-Rive, the sailors church. All views along the Saint Lawrence are spectacular you need to decide quickly and start painting.

Baie-Saint-Paul village is an architectural gem. We could pass a month here – there is so much to paint or photograph. Above is my watercolour sketched from the church parking lot. Another fabulous week passed and we so appreciated this time together.

Spring is in the air- puddles, potholes and robins and hopefully goodbye to Covid-19.
Below is a watercolour with soft pastels on paper from my kitchen table this month of March 2022. It gives me pleasure and ups my spirit to paint these colourful flowers

Pretty in Pink

I continue to follow Joined Brushes on WhatApp. Our weekly artist this week was Tetjana Yablonska (1917-2005) a Ukraine painter . I find it best to quote these words from archive.com  « possessed an inexhaustible love of life and optimism, which allowed the artist to maintain her strength and desire to paint even under the most difficult circumstances ». If you wish to follow her life of painting there is a great numbers of her works on the Internet.

The aim of Joined Brushes is to inform us about an artist weekly and then to chose a works we relate to and produce a similarity. It difficult as we are always aware of copyright and try not to infringe on this right of artists

Winter has arrived with snow, sun and comfortable temperatures. Sadly, we are entering into another lockdown here in Quebec. Omicron variant is now the dominant strain of Covid-19.

Great part about painting is it can be done in a crowd or alone in your home. Joined brushes on my WhatsApp each week presents an artist whom we might know or not with a brief background. An invitation is put forth for your individual depiction of a works. I have decided on sketches of a portrait this enhances my knowledge and strangely puts me in touch with each artist.

 Here are my interpretation of  Caravaggio, William Strang works.

To-day is winter solstice, this is what I see outside my window. Darkness around 4:30 pm today but tomorrow we start slowly back to more day light.

We are now in the 4th wave of Covid-19 here in Quebec. Good news as most of us have our two doses of the vaccine and our passport to verify this. Looking forward to group plein air painting, family gatherings and travel.

Autumn has been very kind- warm weather without a frost so our gardens were able to give tomatoes, squash, herbs, potatoes and leeks. Time to paint these gems of produce on my kitchen table

Today the leaves have almost all fallen to the earth, giving us the view to faraway hills, skeletons of trees and branches, rocks and moss. A big thanks to Mother Nature for her kindness and generosity.