Summer Plein Air 6/6 - Pinhey's Point Historic Site

Our summer landscape painting group

Tuesday was the last day of our six session summer landscape painting with famous Canadian artist David W. Jones. I am going to miss David and this great group of landscape artists.

David chose Pinhey's Point for our last painting session and I realized that I had accidentally ended up in that general area last fall. I had blogged about a fall road trip in October 2014 where we had attended an estate sale that was located next to a graveyard and old abandoned church.

Pinhey's Point is 30 minutes west of Ottawa

 I later researched the location and discovered that this was St. Mary's Church and Cemetery (N45.439722, W75.953056) erected in 1828 by Hamnett Kirkes Pinhey.

Blog Post: "Art Journal Pages", Oct 2014

I was excited about this last session. I was curious about what the area would look like in the summer.

Pinhey's Point Historic Plaque

Pinhey's Point, located on the Ottawa river, is exceptionally beautiful from every angle. 

Sketch from "Kite Arial Photograph" (KAP)
(see link at bottom of page)

The cumulus clouds were incredibly robust and plentiful. I could have easily passed the day just sketching the clouds as they rolled by.

Sailboats taking shelter in the bay at Pinhey's Point

Pinhey's Point provides a pretty little bay which serves as a very popular day anchorage, and a convenient overnight anchorage for sailboats. There were five sailboats anchored there when we visited on Tuesday.

Sketch of view from the bottom of the hill

View from the bottom of the hill

I made several small quick sketches as I explored Pinhey's Point. 

The sailboats anchored in the bay

The pines on the Point

I sketched the five pines midway down the Point. I liked the reflection of the pines in the water of the little bay.

Pinheyès Point reflection

I learned from David that access to the Point was closed to the public sometime ago. This is because it was found that the large number of visitors was endangering the ecology of this small strip of land.

Because it was our last session, we arranged a potluck picnic which was enjoyed by all while we were regaled with David's stories of his interesting encounters with jazz musicians. What a lovely way to spend our last day together.

The picnic lunch

Celebration of summer painting

The artists: 'The Group of Ten' (one person was missing unfortunately)
and our wonderful teacher David W. Jones

Although I painted eight landscape paintings, not one of them was ever entirely finished when it came time to leave the location. This is partially explained by the fact that I get carried away with sketching while I am exploring the location and generally didn't start painting until after lunch. This left me only two hours!

But I did learn something about painting, something about the landscape and something about myself at every single session.

Below is the painting I started after lunch on our final day. I loved the colours!

My easel with my two hour acrylic painting

Many Thanks David W. Jones!

I am reposting the video I posted earlier about our wonderful summer landscape teacher David W. Jones. He has been teaching art courses for a LOT of years and plans to continue doing so. If you have enjoyed these posts and are thinking of trying one of David's courses, check with the Ottawa District School Board.

If you are reading this on email, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdvsD0RGlpU


The Kite Aerial Photographs of Pinhey's Point are here:
Pinhey's Point, Ottawa River - Kite Aerial Photography 2012-7