I sat down with three painters who’d been part of a latter day group of seven that had taken on a project of painting at the Champlain Lookout every Friday through 2009, capturing the change of the seasons.
They had made notes on the conditions they experienced and the effect it had on them and I’ve included some of those below.
Karole Marois instigated the idea, having a decade or so ago painted a series of pieces exploring the changing environments of the Park and being an enthusiastic cyclist and skier in Gatineau Park when she isn’t painting.
Karl Schutt explained that the group had been meeting for Friday breakfasts for years and began to shift the location of their meals to various places near the Park before heading up to Champlain Lookout to dedicate time to paint.
As well as the changing views from the lookout, and the changing look of the Park around them, the group found they were exposed to both the elements and to various forms of living beings.
Pina Manoni-Rennick described how she erected defenses against the spring and early summer blackflies. As well as chemical defenses in the form of insect repellant, she needed to bundle herself up in a headnet. And still somehow the blackflies and mosquitoes seemed to find their way in. It got so bad that her nose grew red and swollen from the bites, one day after getting home she discovered caterpillars had inched their way inside her clothes; clearly an artist dedicated to her craft.
Karl Schutt said that as the hordes of biting bugs dispersed they were replaced by hordes of tourists.
Though the main objects of the paintings are landscapes, a few human subjects do appear, for example leaning on the wall overlooking the escarpment, so perhaps the tourists too had their influence. Karole Marois and Pina Manoni-Rennick admitted that although no blackflies were the subjects of the paintings, several did get encapsulated in the paint.
The painter s’ days were ruled by the weather and some days they would be enjoying the sunshine at breakfast time only to drive up into a cloud as they approached Champlain Lookout.
Karole Marois gained a minor obsession with the clouds, not only working them into her paintings, but even trying to take photos of the foggy obscurity that some days enveloped their perch.
But the clouds did part on most days and the result became an exhibit titled Points of View held over at the CUBE gallery.
Karl Schutt said that the exercise set a bit of a precedent for them in orienting the group’s work toward a specific exhibit to which each artist adopted a more uniform approach than they otherwise might have done.
Although they don’t plan at this point to return to a group project in the Park, Points of View has had an influence on a possible next project aimed at streetscapes in Ottawa. Painting by the artists will likely continue in the Park, but not as a group exercise.
Karole Marois emphasized the influence their time in the Park had in raising awareness of the need for protection. Early in the exhibit presentations from the Friends of Gatineau Park and MP Paul Dewar concerning Park protection took place at the Gallery.
The Artists
- Jay Anderson
- John Jarrett
- Olaf Krassnitzky
- Pina Manoni-Rennick
- Karole Marois
- Paul Schibli
- Karl Schutt
- 1285 Wellington St. West
- 613.728.2111
- [email protected]
Extracts from artists daily notes:
May 1 2009 3 PM 20 °C extremely windy
“ It’s very overcast and nature’s palette is very muted.” Paul Schibli
May 8 12 PM 17 °C
“ Great seeing the storm approaching and the cloud patterns and light that changed in seconds as I worked. ” Jay Anderson
“ My thoughts were: what am I looking at? Well it is Algonquin land over which there is still an active land claim dispute.” Olaf Krassnitzky
“ Trees now are coated in a spring yellow-green; others are tinged muted red. And the evergreens offer up dark contrasts. The farmers’ fields that cover the valley like a quilt of shades of green and tan recede into blue haze by the Ottawa River and beyond.” Paul Schibli
May 15 12 PM 15 °C winds gusty
“ The black flies are unrelenting! They’re stuck to the canvas and my palette; they crawl across the inside of my glasses. And they bite! “ Paul Schibli
“ As soon as I placed the canvas on my easel the wind decided to pick up so my easel collapsed, the canvas flew on my face, the water container flipped over and I found myself on the ground try to grab what I could. “ Pina Manoni-Rennick.
May 29 11 AM 12 °C rain & clouds
“Lookout became “look in”! All we could see was about 20 feet in front of us.” Jay Anderson
June 5 12 PM 20 °C
“ I decided to go the abstract route today, creating blue, mint green, purple and pinks to represent the different layers from the background to the foreground. ” Jay Anderson
“ Champlain Lookout is completely in the clouds, no view at all, mysterious, moody, grey. Like a watercolour. I love the change of scenery, ‘no greens’ is good.” Karole Marois
June 12 12 PM 24 °C sunny
“ I was surrounded by flies, not just house flies….but deer flies, and horse flies, they were all buzzing around me. I finished a watercolour between swatting and shooing the blasted insects. There were also caterpillars and these were crawling up everything including us.” Pina Manoni-Rennick
“Gorgeous weather and definitely a sky day. Lots of billowy clouds making shadows on the landscape.” Jay Anderson
July 3 11 AM 18°C
“ From the intersection of Fortune & Champlain Pkwys, I drove into the clouds. There was an eerie white glow that illuminated the trees, as if to lead the way to the skies. Coming up here seems to help me look at the big picture” Karole Marois
Sept 11 12 PM 26 °C sunny
“ It is quiet and eerie at the Lookout. Students are back in school and the tourists are gone. ” Karole Marois
Oct 9 12 PM 5 °C
“ It is the 2nd week of the Fall Rhapsody, and the view from the Lookout is completely in fog. Everything below in the Park is inflamed with coppers, reds and yellows.” Karole Marois
Nov 13 12 PM 10 °C sunny
“The Parkways are already closed for the winter. I hiked with Bob Rennick from Camp Fortune to the Champlain Lookout. It is calm at the top and the view is coloured with purples, raw siennas and viridians”. Karole Marois
Dec 11 2 PM – 6 °C sunny & windy
“With the first snow, I skied to Champlain Lookout with a mission to photograph the view for the other artists. The wind is so powerful that I have trouble holding on to my camera” Karole Marois
Jan 13 2010 2:30 PM – 7 °C wind chill – 14 °C
“ I skied the upper loop and saw very few skiers. I could only hear branches breaking, a pileated woodpecker and my breathing. The view from the Lookout is grey and mysterious.” Karole Marois
