The Artistes dans les parcs organization is, as their name suggests, a plein air group that gather in parks to paint. But at the last event of the year, Yvan lobbied for them to continue into winter, holding indoor events much as we sketchers hold events.
This is a somewhat harder task for a larger group that typically work on easels with oils and acrylics but, somehow, Denise Bujold, the miracle-worker leader of the group, pulled it off. She found a great room in a town west of us and we all headed there on a Sunday.
It was truly a social gathering because sketching subjects were limited and most of the people had brought photos along and they were painting from them. But it was also a wonderful day because we got to experience the work of others. I learned some things about oils and got to see someone using pastels for the first time. Likewise, with several sketchers nearby, these painters got to see what we do, which led to discussions of our sketchbooks.
Denise had set up several objects for us to draw. One of them was a small teddy bear in Christmas garb and he proved popular with those of us sketching. Here’s my attempt.
I’m a curious guy and with so many different activities going on I didn’t get any more sketching done that day. I was too busy watching the other artists. We also had an extended lunch period where I mostly sat listening, trying to follow several simultaneous French conversations. I always find this quite impossible. Still, somehow it’s fun.