Autumn Plein Air Pleasures - Part 2: British Columbia

(Well, better late than never, here is Part Two. I have been busy making art. My poor, neglected blog. But it's such a left brain process to write in here.)

After Niagara, I raced home to tackle Laundry Mountain, in anticipation of heading to some REAL mountains, the Canadian Rockies that is.

After boarding a jumbo jet for Vancouver, we took a small plane into the BC interior. Destination: gorgeous Kelowna. On the Saturday, I photographed Sleddogs on a boat cruise - the 'dogs are always such a blast. Here I am all bundled up and happy, pic by The GOAT, Lloydminster's APD/MD Poncho Parker: (what a great guy, too!)

No, those are not my crutches.

Then off to Lake Louise by car. Painting all the way.

Autumn Plein Air Pleasures - Part 1: Niagara

Hard to believe it is almost the end of September! I have been away for most of it, painting of course. It's good to be home at last, knee deep in new work to be catalogued!

First I headed to Niagara Falls for International Plein Air Painters' World Wide Paint Out.


(All Your Cares... (2006) plein air watercolour by Brandy Kitten Gale)

I must remark on the variety of weather we worked in, the skies on Saturday morning were particularly exciting to render. During the timed "Quick Draw" portion, I was painting alongside a row of others under the bus shelter in the drizzle. As the sun coyly hid and reappeared, some cheered, others booed, for their light was lost! Great fun and camaraderie.

At the lovely reception and awards on Saturday evening at Edgewater we were fortunate that John Stuart Pryce brought along his fabulous sketchbook from his Arctic Quest foray, full of gems. How I would love to work up there someday.

To my delight, I was given the honour and privilege of announcing the recipients of three of the evening's awards; here are IPAP Founder J. Baldini and I, with IPAP newcomer Garin Baker, and the two Founder's Awards winners, whose work I admire greatly - L. Diane Johnson and John Stuart Pryce:



photos by Charles Vanderslys

I was also invited to introduce Niagara Falls Canada Major Ted Salci, however he was called away at the last minute and was not able to MC the event. Niagara Falls New York Mayor Vincent Anello was in attendance for the first time, giving the Paint Out even more International cachet.


Thanks goes to Jacqueline Baldini and crew for another amazing World Wide Paint Out.
Looking forward to next year!

I stayed in Niagara Falls for a couple more days to paint, and raced home to prepare for going out West. On Sunday, by serendipitous chance in the Botanical Gardens, our group ran into Robert Amirault and Sam Paonessa, who also had also decided to stay on. Seems Niagara is addictive!


(Sam at work in Niagara's Botanical Gardens and Horticulture School. Photo by Brandy Gale)


PART 2 coming up. British Columbia, and then Lake Louise!

New Web Site

September is here, along with the exciting autumn painting season. The leaves are starting to change, and I have made some changes myself!

After many hours of effort, I am pleased to announce my brand new web site, Brandy Gale - Alla Prima and Plein Air Paintings

It's all part of a focus to stay up to date with function and design, and to make my web presence more of an asset to my pursuits as a plein air artist. Allaprima.ca shall forward to this URL now, and singlemaltcove.com and kittengale.com have been redesigned to complement brandykittengale.com's focus on plein air painting.

I gratefully acknowledge the valuable website consulting assistance of Artist Marketing Coach Alyson B. Stanfield, of Stanfield Art Associates, Inc.. Also, many thanks to Paula Lohmeier for her long-distance help with editing and fine-tuning the copy and links yesterday.

I hope visitors will enjoy the new site. Off to prepare for guests for the long weekend. Yippee!