A Painting Excursion in the Marsh

McQueen's Slough in June - watercolor sketch by Angela Fehr

I turned a should'a into a did'a today. After years of good intentions, I packed up the kids and went to McQueen's Slough to paint en plein air. Read about our visit on my personal blog here.

I didn't have time to paint an actual painting, what I ended up with is more of a sketch, and a half-finished one at that. Everything kind of turned out the same value, and I tell myself that 1. it is just a sketch, and 2. I am new at this on-the-spot painting thing, and so I'm allowed to suck at it a little.

It's so inspiring to be painting outdoors. The birds are everywhere, singing their hearts out, and the breeze smells good and the Canada thistle was skewering my butt (bring a stool next time, Ang!). And the kids were squealing and skipping, and exploring and it was all so clean and simple and peaceful. I had forgotten my watch so we were late for lunch and naps but they are still sleeping now - all that fresh air.

I'm thinking to get up early on Saturday and do some more painting at the slough. It's only ten miles from my house, so it's not a big day excursion which suits me just fine. And if I go Saturday morning, I can leave the kids at home and have more time with less distraction.