Over the past year, I've been honing my skills with oil paints, and one of my goals has been to practice plein air painting—creating art outdoors, directly from life. This weekend, I seized the opportunity to visit both my parents' garden and the Bayfield Lavender Farm to try my hand at painting with oils en plein air. While I frequently paint outdoors, plein air painting differs in that it requires using your eyes and the actual scene in front of you as your reference. Normally, I tend to take photos of subjects that interest me and paint from these images instead. This approach allows me to carefully compose the scene before painting, adjusting aspects such as cropping or capturing the essence of how I envision it on canvas.
Some of the watercolour paintings I did throughout the workshop, all inspired by the farm.
I recently attended a watercolour workshop at the Bayfield Lavender Farm, which inspired me to return and paint the location using oil paints. It's a truly beautiful place, and I'm thrilled to have checked this off my bucket list.
The farm is entirely self-planted and harvested by the owner, who creates various products from the lavender. Situated on the property is an old house, which I learned from her website was built around 1950 for Therese Pfrimmer's clinic. You can find more details about this history on the Bayfield Lavender Farm's website here : https://bayfieldlavenderfarm.ca/blogs/news/bayfield-lavender-farm-our-house
A few images from when my friend and I took a visit to paint and read.
Experimenting with plein air painting was very enjoyable, and involves quickly capturing a scene, as the light changes constantly. My approach was to block in the main elements of the scenery and capture key shadows and lighting. The painting below represents about 30 to 40 minutes of work before we had to leave. Towards the end of the session, I noticed that the house didn't quite look right, so I adjusted by adding a bit more length to the roof and front facade on the left side of the painting.
After about 30 to 40 mins painting en plein air at the Lavender Farm.
When I returned home, I spent some time quickly touching up the painting to smooth out any areas that needed it. I also added a few more details and made sure the light and shadows were balanced nicely. The picture below shows the finished painting after an additional 20 to 30 minutes of work at home.
The final piece after a further 20 to 30 mins painting at home.
I also decided to practice painting en plein air at my parents' home in Bayfield, which is just around the corner from the Bayfield Lavender Farm. The garden was full with blooming dahlias, and the weather was perfect.
A few images throughout the garden, including Oliver and his pure joy of being outside in his playground.
While painting the garden, I was reminded of the challenges I face in capturing lush gardens without architectural elements, something I've always struggled with. It's definitely an area I want to focus on and improve my skills in. I think if I look into expanding my range of paint colors in greens and yellows, that this will be beneficial. I think this would allow for more variety and depth in my garden paintings. Despite this, I really enjoyed sitting outside in the sun and practicing plein air painting!
Attempting to paint the lush garden, and very happy doing so.
The garden was stunning, and being there made me realize how much I miss spending time in such a beautiful place. Every visit leaves me longing to return, as it's incredibly rejuvenating for me. This past weekend, I noticed an abundance of butterflies, including a few new varieties I havent noticed before. I could easily spend the entire day there!
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