Plein Air with Dominik Modlinski

It was a wild weekend of weather as the FCA hosted a seniors weekend of plein Air Painting. Seniors descended into the badlands area for a painting experience.  It was about ten years since I first tried to hire Dominik Modinski to come to Calgary, finally we had the opportunity to paint with him. The challenges of the weather and elements were definately a factor. Friday was so windy l think everyones easel toppled over at least once and the mosquitoes, well the mosquitoes were definately the most challenging part of the plein air experience.  The first day we learnt more about our Instructor. He gave a presentation and we were all awed by his painitng experiences from Alaska to Patagonia and around the world. One day 2 we went to Atlas Coal Mine and the structure and buildings provided a good composition.  On Saturday we painted between rain showers and wind, It was cooler than expected. DOMINIK chose a river scene and although the weather proved to be a third entity we were able to learn some elements within the scene that on a sunny day we would not have been exposed to.  Day four the wind and rain pelted down so hard we were forced to retreat inside for some colour studies and demos by Dominik.