Kamouraska 2016 - Part I

Blog 39

This week, I publish the first part of my travelogue of the plein air painting trip to Kamouraska. You can read my daily entries from Sunday, September 11 to Tuesday, September 13, 2016.

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Since yesterday, my friends Janis, Sharon, Bill, and I are back at Kamouraska. Usually, Janis and I drive up in one car, but this year, Janis has to go back a day early. This is the first time I was driving by myself. I still followed Janis as she knew the way.

We had a smooth trip and arrived at the house around 6 pm. As I had only slept for about four hours the night before and started the day with a fall up the stairs, I was nervous that I would not be able to drive the whole distance without a nap. Therefore, I started out with music, then switched to a CD with my French course. When I started to get tired, I switched to one of my favourite German singers, Pe Werner, singing loudly with her. I continued with another round of French, and finally had to tap into the last resource: Kiss at full volume.

It was my turn to prepare the appetizer, dinner, and dessert the first evening. Luckily, I had already made the apple cake at home, as well as the roast.

It rained heavily overnight and it was still raining by the morning. Therefore, we went to the local bakery and the supermarket. The bakery Niemand has such delicious goods that we can hardly wait to go. Luckily, it was only open from Thursday to Sunday. We would be gaining a lot of weight otherwise.

In the afternoon, the sun came out. However, it got extremely windy; too windy to paint outside. Janis and I decided to make use of the good light conditions to take some photos. We went towards St-Andre where we have often painted in the little lighthouse during stormy weather. As it was a Sunday, we expected to place to be busy but were surprised when no one was in there. There was no question what we would do. We took our equipment to the lighthouse and both managed to create two small paintings. We just made it to the house in time for happy hour and the delicious Italian spaghetti Bill cooked for us, followed by delicious raspberry strietzeln from the bakery.

Monday, September 12

We enjoyed another sunny but very windy day. First, Janis and I went to St-Denis-De-La-Bouteillerie to the “Parc Municipal” that is located at the St. Lawrence River and created a small painting with the view of “Cap au Diable”.

We continued to Rivière-Ouelle where we went to the the “Pointe-aux-Orignaux”. At the quay, it was so windy that it was almost impossible to keep my stand and take any photographs.

We drove further along the shore. We went along the Salmon River on the “Rue de la Pointe” towards the Pointe-de-Rivière-Ouelle at the St. Laurent River. There, sheltered by big rose bushes, we painted the very rough river. The water had the colour of milk chocolate, and from time to time the clouds created deep purple shadows.

As it was Janis’ turn to cook, we drove back to the house in the late afternoon. I spent a short time in the yard because it was still so sunny, but since the wind was so brutal, I went into the winter garden instead. Luckily, we have a fantastic view of the river right from the house. A great spot to watch the amazing sunsets!

Please return next Friday if you would like to read the rest of my travelogue. Please forward the link to my blog to you family and friends who would be interested in my writings. Thank you for helping me to increase my audience.