Art Camp!
What a great week at art camp June 16 through 21st 2024 at Camp Wannakumbac in Riding Mountain National Park! Organized each year by the Arts West Council, this artists’ retreat is 5 days of arting bliss with creative learning, exercises, discussions, campfire songs, artist trading cards, critter cuddles, great food and more! No cooking, no cleaning just art, art and more art.
Kip, the artcamp beardog, is kept us company on our walks down to the lake and up the road the other way, keeping us safe - she is a sweetie and loves her pats. So is Camp Wannakumbac’s other mascot, a black cat named Blackcat. And did you know matching a colour swatch by mixing your own colours from black, white, red, yellow and blue paint is no easy feat as acrylics dry slightly darker than they look when wet. Another exercise we did was painting the same scene using a white canvas and then a canvas underpainted with orange/red just to reinforce the difference underpainting can make in unifying and energizing your work. I started doing this a few years ago experimenting with how different underpainting colours can effect a work (for example using purple, turquise, rust or red.)
It was really great getting to know and learning from our 2024 Artists' Retreat Instructors - Ben Davis (Drawing), Jan Layh (Acrylics/Oils) and David Cooper (Watermedia). I spent my five days in the Acrylics sessions with Jan Layh. So much creative insight shared with us during our time there! My focus was on aspen trees, I started a few artworks and will be finishing them off at home. This is the start for me of a series of works and research on all things aspen!
A huge thank-you to the Arts West Council, the instructors and the Camp Wannakumbac folks for making our 5 days there so memorable. I’m looking very forward to a repeat at art camp 2025! Check out the Artists’ Retreat page on Arts West Council’s webpage for uptodate news on next year’s Artists’ Retreat plans!
Wishing you all a wonderfully warm and breezy summer!