an omen of cold

As beautiful weather continues, it is defintely colder, heading toward the fall, hints of colour change here and there. The cold is nothing for die hard plein air artists. In fact, I prefer it. As the days get colder, the sun keeps shining and I'm not complaining.
Today I'm going to talk about another amazing experience I had this summer. Meeting up with an old friend-the fabulous artist Andrea Ross. Andrea lives near Huntsville now, but for years she lived in Ottawa. I don't even recall how we met, but we did, years ago, over our love of outdoor painting. I always felt I had the better end of the stick, as we painted together many times. That would be because I learnt so much from painting with Andrea. We were a bit die hard-going out in any kind of weather, freezing our fingertips off. Plus Andrea knew Gatineau Park like the back of her hand-we went there often.
When we painted years ago, it was always in pastel and we shared that love of the medium, marvelling at each others work at the end of the day. Sometimes Shirley Black from Manotick joined us as well. It was all good fun, and I relished the oppurtunity to observe what others had to say, their style by which they said, the way they expressed what beauty meant to them. Beauty of the natural sort.
Andrea lives an exemplary life. I dont know any other artist who lives so true to who she is, as a person and artist. It's so wonderful as well, to witness the evolution of an artist over a long period of time. From those early days of plein air painting in pastel, to today, where Andrea is a very fine landscape oil painter. She's a perfect example of being one with her environment. Treat yourself to a view of her work at http://www.canvasgallery.ca/ or http://www.koymangalleries.com/. My aplogies for the fuzzines of the example of Andreas' work that I have included, but you get the idea of what she does, and how well she does it.