In Port Stanley, the beach town where I live, summer means every parking spot in the village is either taken or has an expensive hourly fee that comes into effect once May hits.

We don't live right on the lake but just down the way on the creek where the boats dock. It's about a 15 minute walk to the beach, so that's where my trusty bike comes in lol. I've got it rigged to easily carry all my painting gear.

I went 'walkabout' and spent time exploring the nooks and crannies as I scouted out a few locations around town that would make great locations to paint.

Even though this village is just tiny, I still found places that I hadn't seen before. My husband, who grew up in the village, knew about these spots so couldn't understand my excitement at the finds, after all they were there all the time.

Folks may spot me around the village beaches with my big floppy hat and tripod setup. It's been pretty hot these last few weeks, so the hat and a spray bottle has been essential to keep the paints wet, and the artist cool.

I've been enjoying working outdoors and taking advantage of summer. I'm sure I'll look back at this time fondly once the winter comes.

I spent my birthday painting at Erie Rest beach which was so delightful!!! Here is the start of a sketch of the beach sedum. The painting changed from the the original sketch concept, but that's how the creation process works lol.

I left out much of the grass and concentrated on the sedum as I liked the shapes of the plant and the interesting shadows. The key to painting is knowing what to leave out to keep the composition strong and not bogged down in details.

The final painting is a stylized view with lots of texture and chunky paint. When I started, I didn't know how it would turn out, but I found my way through it and I'm really happy with the result. I went home had a birthday dinner and cake with my hubby to celebrate :)

The edge of 'Little Beach' is where I set-up for this painting, just by a path that leads up to a cottage road. Painting just a horizon line is a bit boring so it's always best to have some interesting shapes, like plants etc in the foreground to create contrast and interest.

Painting in progress...the sun moved around quite a bit while I was there. The key to plein air is to layer. By the time the sketching part was done things had already changed. People came and went so I left them out as it was just the beach I really wanted to capture.

Here's a closeup of the finished painting. It has an almost tropical feel for a beach in Canada. The sumac trees add some nice lines, and I always love some good shadows. The shadows didn't show up in real life until I was close to the end, so they were the final part.