Mucking Around

It is late April on the prairie. The land is waking up. The snow is melting and water is running everywhere. Everything is a dead shade of brownish grey. I confess it is not my favourite season. Like a woman getting ready for a night out, you have to wait patiently while the land gets herself dressed and ready. It takes some time but it is generally worth the wait.

I thought I would head outside and try some plein air painting. I haven't done a lot of it; I have found painting from reference photos very comfortable and rewarding. But my watercolour instructor insisted that we should spend more time outside. I packed my bag of paints, brushes and bottles of water, hauled my lawn chair behind me and trudged off across the farmyard. 

I promptly got my running shoes stuck to the laces in mud. Back to the house I went to change into rubber boots. I sloshed my way across the back of our property to the fence line where there was some snow still sitting under a clump of trees. I painted there and also at a spot I found where old cars have sunk up to their axels in soft ground. 

I don't think it was my best work, but I did get a feeling for painting live as opposed to a photo. The grass moves, the snow melts, and a lot of it happens while you are trying to capture it. As the prairie reveals herself bit by bit this spring and summer, I will spend more time with my paints and my lawn chair. Hopefully, I can ditch the rubber boots and paint with bare feet.